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Thread: Using 3 Mobile (4g) as home broadband?

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    Formerly known as Andehh Andeh13's Avatar
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    Using 3 Mobile (4g) as home broadband?

    Hi Guys,

    Due to on going issue with my BT Landline I am looking at moving over to 3 Mobile and using their 4G Network and data allowance for Broadband purposes.

    From what I gather; they offer £32/month for unlimited data for 1 month rolling, or £20 for a 12 Month contract for unlimited data - all at 4G speeds, which would be 25% fast then my best speeds with BT - approx 40mb/s with 3.

    Is anyone with 3 mobile who can comment on their 4G speeds & up time?

    Has anyone ever considered using them as a home Broadband provider, rather then Mobile network.

    On the surface, it all seems too good to be true. Faster speeds, for less money my current BT Land Line? Whats the catch?

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    Super Moderator Jonj1611's Avatar
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    Re: Using 3 Mobile (4g) as home broadband?

    If your using it for home broadband something like this may suit you :-

    http://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Devi...0&colour=Black

    I dont use them for home broadband however my phone is on three and never had any problems apart from the odd mast upgraded or whatever
    Jon

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    Re: Using 3 Mobile (4g) as home broadband?

    I used 4G for home broadband for an 18 month period without issue. Latency is twitch based online gaming might be an issue but otherwise it was fine (and it is still possible to game, I played Elite Dangerous online during this time)

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    Formerly known as Andehh Andeh13's Avatar
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    Re: Using 3 Mobile (4g) as home broadband?

    The Latency is an issue for me as I do enjoy a reasonable amount of online gaming, what sort of ping/response were you looking at?

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    Not a good person scaryjim's Avatar
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    Re: Using 3 Mobile (4g) as home broadband?

    The only thing I'd warn abut is potential contention issues - I used to use 3's 3g mobile broadband as my main driver years back, and it varied massively with time of day, sometimes slowing to barely dial-up speeds. Eventually I dropped it and went back to landline for consistency. With the new infrastructure and 4G it may well be better than that.

    What are the issues with your landline? Sometimes broadband providers can get stuff fixed that BT/Openreach don't bother about. Again this is going back a few years, but my stepdad had all kinds of issues with his broadband; it wouldn't sync at all with his providers router, and when I went up with a replacement router it did but with huge attenuation. His original broadband provider just didn't care and eventually cancelled his contract and refunded him - he switched provider, the new one sent an engineer out, they made a simple hardware change to his line, and he got full speeds with no issues. So if you're having problems and your current provider won't sort them, it might be worth trying a different provider...

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    Re: Using 3 Mobile (4g) as home broadband?

    I use mobile broadband via 3 as my home internet connection. 4g is fine for youtube, films, web browsing etc. I don't online game on it so cant comment on that aspect. We have routinely had 5 devices connected and viewing/downloading simultaneously with no issues. The Huawei wireless router is basic but does the job.
    We have had very few issues, no network during storms last year for 2 days was the worst.

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    Re: Using 3 Mobile (4g) as home broadband?

    Quote Originally Posted by Andeh13 View Post
    The Latency is an issue for me as I do enjoy a reasonable amount of online gaming, what sort of ping/response were you looking at?
    If I remember correctly it was around 50-80ms typical. This was with EE based in Sheffield.

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    Senior Member watercooled's Avatar
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    Re: Using 3 Mobile (4g) as home broadband?

    Radio capacity on LTE is a more finite resource vs what people are used to with fixed line broadband, which is why comparing peak speeds isn't everything. You might find you don't get that 40Mb/s consistently throughout the day, and the same likely applies to latency - a more congested radio interface means speed will drop and latency/jitter will increase. It wouldn't take too many people abusing the 'unlimited' package (e.g. for frequent, large downloads) to degrade local performance, which is partly why unlimited packages aren't nearly as common on mobile as they are on fixed line. Having said that, Three make reference to TrafficSense which AFAICT is some sort of traffic management/prioritisation service which I imagine would be intended to lessen the impact of this sort of traffic, which would make a lot of sense.

    I agree with scaryjim, depending what the problems are, it might be worth looking into getting those solved for your main broadband, particularly if gaming is a priority, because of both latency and the large downloads required.

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    Re: Using 3 Mobile (4g) as home broadband?

    This is worth a read through

    https://kenstechtips.com/index.php/t...-data-reviewed

    Personally I wouldn't do it - I have used 4G broadband for a week last year when some toerags stole a bunch of cable in our area taking out all the phone lines, and the latency was unbearable for gaming. It was fine for general internet use and streaming videos though....most of the time. You need a really good, solid signal and to not have the rest of your street doing the same thing (Which was likely part of my speed issues in my enforced trial ).

    I'd be looking to get my line fixed rather than moving to 4G broadband at the moment - I am paying £30 a month all-in for Sky Fibre (80mb, unlimited) *including* line rental on an 18 month contract/deal, and it's been rock solid with no issues. Nice low latency too so gaming is unaffected

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    Re: Using 3 Mobile (4g) as home broadband?

    Just be aware of the pricing of any mobile contract at the moment as they are all likely to go up at the end of March.

    https://www.trustedreviews.com/news/...e-rise-3661926

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    Re: Using 3 Mobile (4g) as home broadband?

    Just be aware of the pricing of any mobile contract at the moment as they are all likely to go up at the end of March.

    https://www.trustedreviews.com/news/...e-rise-3661926

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    Re: Using 3 Mobile (4g) as home broadband?

    Three don't increase the price of SIM-only contracts like that, at least they haven't for as long as I've been with them.

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    Re: Using 3 Mobile (4g) as home broadband?

    3 increased my contract in March last year, as did vodafone

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    Re: Using 3 Mobile (4g) as home broadband?

    Read what I said, carefully.

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    Formerly known as Andehh Andeh13's Avatar
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    Re: Using 3 Mobile (4g) as home broadband?

    Thanks guys, we are approaching our 14th engineering visit over this issue, yet it continues to persist. It's a mixture of EMC/interference from within our property combined with a separate external interference. I spent 2 days in the dark & without heating with all electrics turned off at the Fusebox this week - with only an extension cord from my neighbors to power the Fridge, Router and my laptop. It cut the issue down by 70%, but the internet connection still died twice during the night. This has persisted across 2 ISPs.

    Hence why I am considering desperate steps - reliable internet speeds!

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    Senior Member watercooled's Avatar
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    Re: Using 3 Mobile (4g) as home broadband?

    I've just realised you'd started a thread on those problems, I understand the frustration now!!

    I wonder if said interference would cause any issues for 4G?

    If having your electrical supply off markedly improved the situation then that implies there's at least some sort of problem in your house, because that shouldn't be happening. I assume there's minimal phone wiring in the house, no extensions being used, etc? The connection restarting during the night isn't necessarily an indication of a fault, e.g. it could be re-syncing due to noise clearing up (I imagine it would take longer than that though).

    I'd be going around checking appliances, power supplies, etc. Even things like energy saving light bulbs. Have you had any electrical inspections recently? It's perhaps less likely but it could indicate there's a loose connection causing arcing somewhere. Sorry if I'm repeating what you've already tried, I understand it's frustrating trying to troubleshoot an issue like this.

    Also did you hear any more back from the SFI guy from Openreach?

    Lastly, I think you said Virgin's not available in your area? Because coax should be less susceptible to external noise vs Openreach's unshielded copper pair.

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