Poor signal, drop outs better on 3G

Please remove or ignore the above post as I have just diagnosed a faulty antenna.

Hi @genawin 

It’ll be worth noting that iD Mobile SIM cards aren’t officially supported for usage inside a router, this may affect the ability to use the SIM.

Tom

Thanks Tom I didn’t know that , The new antenna has sorted it but I still find that 3G is far superior to 4G  , I’m a bit nervous that when they turn the 3G signal off later this year that I will have very little signal but hopefully the good signal I'm locking onto will just become 4G fingers crossed ?

Hi @genawin 

During the 3G switch off it’s possible that Three UK are looking to upgrade areas that may rely more on 3G, however we wouldn’t be able to confirm/deny specifics on this.

Tom

Update - As you can see it’s been 4 months since my last post and I have tried 3 different antennas and 3 different routers as I did find ounce the 3G was switched off I had to rely on 4G but my signal was poor at best and intermittent , I have just about run out of ideas and so have looked into other networks and by far the best results are with EE , It’s a shame really as I have been with iD for the last10 years and just to make matters worse I found out today it will cost me  £210 to leave !!☹️

Just out of interest Martin, are there any digital TV aerials near the external antennae (some claim to suppress 4G signals and although very doubtful I wonder if this might be messing things up). I helped a friend of an old neighbour whom had an external antennae up high and it wasn’t working too well (the extension cable from the router to the antennae wasn’t the best quality. In his case he moved the antennae down to the gutter (granted it was a bungalow) and he sighted the router closer to the then shorter run (he ended up putting the router in the loft) and all of his smart TV’s etc worked fine - he had from memory 3 streaming in either HD and one in 4K and were fine.

The other thing to try is to put the iD SIM into an unlocked phone, enable 4G only and see if the speeds are near to what the 3G used to be?

Also I did help another guy out somewhere on these forums with his router setup, he had the routers data connection set to auto. When I suggested he adjust the routers setting to manual and pick 4G only (and not auto 5G/4G/3G/2G) his speeds were better than 3G.

(an hour or so here may save you wasting an additional £210 if the iD 4G works)

Thank you very much for your reply Daz , The antenna is nowhere near any other aerial.

I have tried the sim in an unlocked phone and walked all round the outside of the house and garden it’s not good that’s why I’ve had an antenna on the very top of my house for the last 15 years.

As for adjustment of the last 3 routers I have tried every combination it’s been a big challenge which I normally rise to and enjoy but I think I’ve reached the limit of things to try which hurts because it feels like I have failed 😔, but I fully appreciate your time to reply to me, Thanks again ,Martin.

EE it is then by the sounds of it Martin.

Or just make use of the 3G until that goes completely in your area (set the router to 3G only so you’d know when the 3G has gone completely as you’ll lose the connection) - the 3G masts are being reconfigured and thus put back into service as 4G ones to give the end goal of a better 4G.

Judging by the £210 to leave I’m assuming you’re tied in to a 12/24 month contract?

My best guess is that although 3G is being phased out it has, for many of us (myself included) a stronger signal than 4G. And again due to every man and his dog jumping onto 4G (for 4G/LTE calling) the 4G is being overwhelmed and thus is congested. My phone has a shocking 4G signal in the day but (since 28 December) it can be 3 bars of signal. And during the day when I make or receive a call the 4G drops to 3G.