Three 5G Prepay Speeds

ECO_Mental

Hi,

My heart (sorry my whole family) is broken with my current BB, 15mb down sky DSL :(:(:(

I live right in the middle of Cork city near UCC and there seems no sign of Eir or anybody pulling fibre down our road. They did pull ducting and coiled it up on the telephone pole outside my door 6 months ago, but I seriously think that was just to troll me....:mad: as nothing else has been done.

Anyway I am only renting and moving out in 3 or 4 months so I don't want to sign up to any long term contract but I was thinking of buying a cheap 5G phone and getting a 5g pay as you go plan from Three. I will then use this as a hot spot for the house.

My questions are what realistic speeds could I get? (I do have 5G coverage according to their map)

Do they have monthly download limits?

Do the pay-as-you go phones allow hot spotting..(I had a PAYG before and I think it barred it)


with 2 teenagers looking down the barrel of the summer holidays and myself and my wife both working from home, we are desperate at this stage to get any sort of improvement on our current situation.

smuggler.ie

Your place for info https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1147

chiral_fluid

5gbroadband.ie is your best bet

rolling contract and speeds vary between 300-1000 mbps in my area.

Orebro

Forget 5G for a while.

First, do you have anyone with a Three connection in the house? If so, do an internet speed test and see what the results are.

If not, head to the Three shop in Wilton and purchase a €20 pre pay sim card with all you can eat data, pop it into a phone and do a speed test with the phone. Also hot spot it and connect a laptop to the wifi and see what the speeds are like.

If you're getting anything half-decent (Say, 20Mbps or more) then get yourself a 4G+ router - I highly recommend this model: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wireless-technology-Configuration-Archer-MR600/dp/B08N5CHH2Z/

These routers do what is called carrier aggregation - basically it combine signals from the Three tower to give you faster and more stable speeds, so will be far superior than using a phone.

If you get this going with Three you won't regret it - it will be far superior than the speeds you are experiencing at the moment.

Back to 5G - I wouldn't get too hung up on it at the moment - if you get a solid 4G/LTE signal then you're laughing. Plus the 5G isn't available outside of contract whereas you can use Three on a rolling 30 day basis so no commitment.

Orebro

chiral_fluid wrote: »

5gbroadband.ie is your best bet

rolling contract and speeds vary between 300-1000 mbps in my area.

Never heard of this company - looks very expensive.

chiral_fluid

Orebro wrote: »

Forget 5G for a while.
Plus the 5G isn't available outside of contract whereas you can use Three on a rolling 30 day basis so no commitment.

Not true. 5gbroadband offers 30-day rolling contract.

Orebro

chiral_fluid wrote: »

Not true. 5gbroadband offers 30-day rolling contract.

I was talking about Three.

5gbroadband looks ultra expensive - do you know what network they use?

ECO_Mental

Orebro wrote: »

Forget 5G for a while.

First, do you have anyone with a Three connection in the house? If so, do an internet speed test and see what the results are.

If not, head to the Three shop in Wilton and purchase a €20 pre pay sim card with all you can eat data, pop it into a phone and do a speed test with the phone. Also hot spot it and connect a laptop to the wifi and see what the speeds are like.

If you're getting anything half-decent (Say, 20Mbps or more) then get yourself a 4G+ router - I highly recommend this model: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wireless-technology-Configuration-Archer-MR600/dp/B08N5CHH2Z/

These routers do what is called carrier aggregation - basically it combine signals from the Three tower to give you faster and more stable speeds, so will be far superior than using a phone.

If you get this going with Three you won't regret it - it will be far superior than the speeds you are experiencing at the moment.

Back to 5G - I wouldn't get too hung up on it at the moment - if you get a solid 4G/LTE signal then you're laughing. Plus the 5G isn't available outside of contract whereas you can use Three on a rolling 30 day basis so no commitment.

I do have a 4g router as when I moved into this house Eir couldn't even get a space on the cabinet...they had to wait until someone dropped off! So I went to Three and bought one if their routers and got a pay as you go 4g data sim. I was not impressed...speed was up and down it was bad. I eventually got sky as they had space. I might call into the 3 shop again and reactivate the data sim. But I really do need the extra bandwidth 5g could give me. Both myself and the missus are full time at home.

berocca2016

chiral_fluid wrote: »

5gbroadband.ie is your best bet

rolling contract and speeds vary between 300-1000 mbps in my area.

Their website is full of Typos, grammatical errors and no contact details except a mobile number and an email address in which they've spelled broadband wrong.... wouldn't exactly fill me with confidence!

Orebro

ECO_Mental wrote: »

I do have a 4g router as when I moved into this house Eir couldn't even get a space on the cabinet...they had to wait until someone dropped off! So I went to Three and bought one if their routers and got a pay as you go 4g data sim. I was not impressed...speed was up and down it was bad. I eventually got sky as they had space. I might call into the 3 shop again and reactivate the data sim. But I really do need the extra bandwidth 5g could give me. Both myself and the missus are full time at home.

If you can’t get a good 4G signal then you’re not going to get 5G either. It’s worth another go if you haven’t tried in a while as there may have been cell tower upgrades in the meantime. Also if it works I would recommend getting the router I linked to above - I doubt the one you got from Three is great - do you know the make & model?

ECO_Mental

Orebro wrote: »

If you can’t get a good 4G signal then you’re not going to get 5G either. It’s worth another go if you haven’t tried in a while as there may have been cell tower upgrades in the meantime. Also if it works I would recommend getting the router I linked to above - I doubt the one you got from Three is great - do you know the make & model?

I have a Huawei B525 router and I think I will give this another go as I was lying in bed this morning and I got 83mb down and 36mb up :eek:(I am with 3 on my phone)....if I got that I would be the happiest man in Ireland.

Also I have improved my network structure here as well. I have a Unifi Dream Machine Pro and 24 port POE switch and a scattering of Unifi Wifi6 Access points set up:p (I building a house so I have these for the new house..)

Maybe half the problem with the last time I tried the wifi signal was weak in a number of rooms from the Huawei router old house with solid walls everywhere...I have good wifi coverage now:P


I will reactivate my 4G data sim and give this another go.

Jimbobjoeyman

berocca2016 wrote: »

Their website is full of Typos, grammatical errors and no contact details except a mobile number and an email address in which they've spelled broadband wrong.... wouldn't exactly fill me with confidence!

No word of coverage either.
Just a form to sign up and pay them.

Even less confidence.

Oz91

Eir published their 5g broadband for 44.99 euro with 12 months contract. It looks better than Three’s offer as three offers with 24 months contract. Anyone experienced with Eir mobile 5g network? Is the speed good?

chiral_fluid

Orebro wrote: »

I was talking about Three.

5gbroadband looks ultra expensive - do you know what network they use?

In my area it was Three but I believe they also use Vodafone.

chiral_fluid

berocca2016 wrote: »

Their website is full of Typos, grammatical errors and no contact details except a mobile number and an email address in which they've spelled broadband wrong.... wouldn't exactly fill me with confidence!

Yeah, the website sucks. The company is great though. Also their speeds and pings are comparable with ftth.

Also they may offer dynamic public IPs (Three can't, many other providers can't).

Also they are flexible on price, you may negotiate a better deal in case there are other comparable offers in your area.

chiral_fluid

Jimbobjoeyman wrote: »

No word of coverage either.
Just a form to sign up and pay them.

Even less confidence.

Better email them first. They answer quickly.

ECO_Mental

Well I got it up and running now and it is miles better than my landline Sky DSL..I am getting around 30-40mb down and about 20-30mb up. I have seen 85mb down this morning:eek:. All in all its a vast improvement and I think we will see a big improvement next week when working from home hopefully especially with the huge increase in the upload speeds. Both of us are working with MS 365 and use Teams everyday so going from about 1mb up to 20-30up should make a massive difference

One curious thing is my phone is on the 3 network as well (Samsung S20) and I can get 100mb+ down easy on this(173mb is the most I got!) ...I know the phone is a 5G phone but its not connecting to the 5G network its saying 4G+ How come I cant get these crazy numbers on my Huawei router that is 4G also.

Also bit worried about monthly limit of 750GB, the woman in the shop said you will never touch the 750GB limit but I know I will bust through that easy...4K Disney+ streams and a COD Black ops update I am already at 100GB in 2 days..Need to keep an eye on this

ED E

The FUP is going to be the bane of your existence in short order. Signing up for a contract is a very poor move. PAYG sim, unlimited data.

Your S20s radio is much better than most of the LTE routers. The modern units are on par but many are only CAT4.

ECO_Mental

ED E wrote: »

The FUP is going to be the bane of your existence in short order. Signing up for a contract is a very poor move. PAYG sim, unlimited data.

Your S20s radio is much better than most of the LTE routers. The modern units are on par but many are only CAT4.

Thats what I have done PAYG...I didnt sing up for any contract. I think Im going to on hold on to my Sky BB for a month or two to see how the FUP works out with Three. I think the penalty for going over the 750GB is fairly steep and I can always fall back on the Sky instead of paying the fees

Ten Pin

Well I got it up and running now and it is miles better than my landline Sky DSL..I am getting around 30-40mb down and about 20-30mb up. I have seen 85mb down this morning:eek:. All in all its a vast improvement and I think we will see a big improvement next week when working from home hopefully especially with the huge increase in the upload speeds. Both of us are working with MS 365 and use Teams everyday so going from about 1mb up to 20-30up should make a massive difference

One curious thing is my phone is on the 3 network as well (Samsung S20) and I can get 100mb+ down easy on this(173mb is the most I got!) ...I know the phone is a 5G phone but its not connecting to the 5G network its saying 4G+ How come I cant get these crazy numbers on my Huawei router that is 4G also.

Also bit worried about monthly limit of 750GB, the woman in the shop said you will never touch the 750GB limit but I know I will bust through that easy...4K Disney+ streams and a COD Black ops update I am already at 100GB in 2 days..Need to keep an eye on this

Be aware that peak times might not be as fast so give it a week to get a better picture.


4G+ is capable of over 200Mbps (and higher on higher spec routers).

When 4G was released, it was actually a 3.5G protocol. But the networks needed a marketing buzzword to push sales. 5G is similar in marketing terms, most 5G is probably 4G but the marketers can't sell 4G twice as consumers will ask why they paid for a 3.5G service with a 4G slogan.

5G includes 4G spectrum. The additional 5G band was (and still is) being used by wireless ISPs for 4G. One of them is trying to sell it as 5G to jump on the marketing bandwagon.

The point to remember is that most consumers won't see any appreciable difference between 4G+ and 5G so IMO it's better to wait for the inevitable lower prices in a couple of years

Ten Pin

Thats what I have done PAYG...I didnt sign up for any contract. I think Im going to on hold on to my Sky BB for a month or two to see how the FUP works out with Three. I think the penalty for going over the 750GB is fairly steep and I can always fall back on the Sky instead of paying the fees

Presumably it's a 30 day SIM only plan as 3's PAYG broadband only has a 30GB allowance.

A PAYG phone SIM includes unlimited data at a cheaper price and no excess usage charges.