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Data Speeds decreased


Stephen J Spearey
Active Contributor

Until recently - the last week or so I was getting 20 megabits plus download on my phone at my home address. So were my family who are on Three so using the same mast. However, the speed has dropped to completely unusable. An upload speed of 0.3 megabits. What use is that? My wife tried to report the problem with her Three phone but got nowhere. She is going to change her network provider. I. however, am a new customer of ID mobile and was pleased with the service until now. I am not sure this is the right place to be reporting this but I cannot find anywhere on my this website to actually report faults. Why is it so difficult to report a fault?

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12 replies

Mohammed
iD Mobile Employee
  • iD Mobile Employee
  • 7962 replies
  • August 21, 2022

Hello @Stephen J Spearey,

Sorry to hear that.

It sounds like there could be an issue at one of the local masts serving the area.

What’s the full postcode of the affected area?

I will check for you and see if I can find out what’s happening.

 

Mohammed


andewhite
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  • August 21, 2022
Stephen J Spearey wrote:

Until recently - the last week or so I was getting 20 megabits plus download on my phone at my home address. So were my family who are on Three so using the same mast. However, the speed has dropped to completely unusable. An upload speed of 0.3 megabits. What use is that? My wife tried to report the problem with her Three phone but got nowhere. She is going to change her network provider. I. however, am a new customer of ID mobile and was pleased with the service until now. I am not sure this is the right place to be reporting this but I cannot find anywhere on my this website to actually report faults. Why is it so difficult to report a fault?

Okay @Stephen J Spearey, with iD Mobile get real-time assistance with your iD account and any other issues using their online chat service at https://idmobile.co.uk/live-chat.

The online chat team work between 9am - 8pm on weekdays (9am - 6pm at weekends + bank holidays).

If you can’t use iD online chat, just send a private request for assistance to iD Mobile’s social media team on facebook (using Messenger) or Twitter (by Direct Message).

Any private messages on social media, which are left out-of-hours, get picked-up when the social media team next start work.

FYI, Three UK are decommissioning their 3G network (by end of 2024), upgrading their 4G network, and deploying their 5G network. Any one of these things could be affecting you at home, or it could be a network fault.

Check for faults online at https://www.three.co.uk/support/network_and_coverage/network_support.

Anyway, good luck.


Stephen J Spearey
Active Contributor

Thanks,

It’s not just me, my next door neighbour has noticed as well. The post code concerned is [REDACTED].

I hope you can get something sorted. My wife is looking for a new contract and was on the verge of committing to a two year contract with new phone on ID mobile and is now getting somewhat cold feet. Voice calls seem OK - both making and receiving. The signal looks good. It’s just data that seems so bad.

TIA,

Steve


Tim_mac
Community Member
  • Community Member
  • 0 replies
  • August 21, 2022

I’m experiencing the same particularly bad from 9pm.  I’m in Inverness IV2 4BF and 3 have supposedly carried out work 3 times in the area over the last 8 months and it’s still shocking!  Needless to say same issue on iD mobile. (note I got a Nighthawk M5 5G router for use when I’m out and about so that’s how I know the issue is the same on iD Mobile, I’ll be purchasing another nighthawk M5 router to upgrade the Huawie B535 which is 4G, to hopefully get 5G speeds soon! 3 have got 5G masts popped up on the north side of inverness.


Stephen J Spearey
Active Contributor

It would not be so bad if Three would acknowledge that there is a problem. My wife spent over half an hour talking to someone in India who did not seem to have much of a clue. We have a MIFI router and my wife has her phone. The guy in India did not seem to understand a router with a sim card in it. If some sort of “improvement” is going on leading to an improvement in the service - like say 5G then we can put up up with a denigrated service for a while. But, please just keep us informed. Fibre to the premise is working its way to us and we were hoping 5G would beat it so that we could make our mind up as to which way to go.


WelshPaul
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  • August 22, 2022

I don't think there is any issue with Three's 5G network, I get amazing speeds whenever I get 5G signal on Three. Three's 4G speeds are piss poor though! Slow speeds and data drop outs are the norm, no matter where I go. I think this is what Three are working on improving, but only because 3G is set to be switched off soon and good 4G data speeds are needed for VoLTE to work reliably (One cannot make a call over the 4G network without using data).


andewhite
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  • August 22, 2022
Stephen J Spearey wrote:

It would not be so bad if Three would acknowledge that there is a problem. My wife spent over half an hour talking to someone in India who did not seem to have much of a clue. We have a MIFI router and my wife has her phone. The guy in India did not seem to understand a router with a sim card in it. If some sort of “improvement” is going on leading to an improvement in the service - like say 5G then we can put up up with a denigrated service for a while. But, please just keep us informed. Fibre to the premise is working its way to us and we were hoping 5G would beat it so that we could make our mind up as to which way to go.

Yep @Stephen J Spearey, in my experience offshore support often appears to be a call handler reading a set of generic scripted responses. Many of the call handlers seem to have little, if any technical knowledge, which is frustrating for anything beyond the most basic of enquiries.

 

 


Stephen J Spearey
Active Contributor

Wow, well overnight something has happened. My download speed has increased from a random 4-6 Mb/s to 34 Mb/s. Just like it used to be. Even after Three were telling us there was no problem. There obviously was a problem and they have obviously fixed it - temporarily or otherwise.

It is so good to have the service I pay for back again.

I just wish they had admitted the fault and fixed it rather than denying the fault but then fixing it😒


Tom
iD Mobile Employee
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  • August 23, 2022

Hi @Stephen J Spearey 

 

Glad to hear that you’ve seen an improvement in service!

 

Looking at the postcode you provided earlier did show on the iD Mobile Coverage Checker that your area does seem like it could be a bit of a weak spot for our signal so we wouldn’t be able to guarantee our best service here.

 

Tom


Stephen J Spearey
Active Contributor

The service was perfectly acceptable. Every bit as good as I was expecting for 4G only. It was when the data throughput fell off a cliff that I became less than enamoured.


andewhite
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Stephen J Spearey wrote:

The service was perfectly acceptable. Every bit as good as I was expecting for 4G only. It was when the data throughput fell off a cliff that I became less than enamoured.

I guess it’s a question of hanging on for Three UK to get 5G rolled-out, or deploy their 4G network enhancements. Given you’re in an urban area, 5G should be coming your way in the not too distant future.
🤞

However, I’m not sure how you’d actually find out the go-live dates for any Three UK network enhancements coming your way.
🤔

 


Stephen J Spearey
Active Contributor

Armed with the 5G map I went out testing the water locally. Funnily enough, in the fields between my village (Churcham) and the next village (Highnam) I was able to get a working 5G signal. I downloaded a 4GB file quite quickly. However, neither village (except the extreme fringe of Highnam) has 5G. I am sure it was not the intention of Three to give the combine harvesters 5G. I think the lie of the land means that these field are picking up a line of sight mast which is 5G enabled; probably some distance away.