Broadband and Data

[Merox]

Hi, I’ve been a 3 Mobile broadband Customer for the past 8 months with the Huawei B525 router.

My problem is that the internet drops on all wi-fi devices and also the cable connection to my home computer at the same time even though the router still has the full five signal bars and wi-fi is displaying on the router.

Sometimes, the internet returns by itself after a short period – but most times I have to either turn off and then turn the Router back on again – or reset the Router by holding in the reset button for several seconds – even though all lights are on - on the Router

This happens constantly when I am connected, roughly every 20 minutes or so.

I have called the Three help line many, many times with this problem without out success. They have sent my problem to the Tech team on a few occasions (quoting me a case number (e.g. 2845824 or 2848896) but the Tech team says that I am not being disconnected each time and because I am receiving the minimum requirement of 1 Mbps from Three, that I cannot cancel the contract.

I have changed out the Sim as suggested by the help line and I also returned the Router as suggested by them as well which left me for ten days without an internet connection.

I received a new Router which made no difference whatsoever to the problem.

I have gone through every conceivable setting on the Huawei B525 software settings with people on the helpline. I have reduced all connected items, bar one, to the Router without any change.

When connected, my lowest speed was 1.2 Mbps with many speed tests of between 2 and 3 Mbps. On one memorable occasion at 08:15 am I received a speed of 37 Mbps.

I have wasted so much of my time and have been totally frustrated with this issue – I have three pages of A4 sheets full of dates, times, etc where I had no internet.

I understand from Three that I am living very close to the Transmitter and the Router is placed at the window facing the Transmitter.

I was with Vodafone prior to Three and had an uninterrupted connection – even though only three bars were showing on their modem. I also had speeds of between 16 and 42 Mbps at all times.

All I am asking for is for an uninterrupted internet connection at a reasonable speed – or to allow me to get out of the contract so I can sign up with Vodafone again.

Can anyone HELP me please?

[Three_Rachel]

@Merox Thanks for all the information you've provided. When you mentioned having changed all the settings on the router can you confirm if you've changed the APN and if you've tried to switch between network modes to see if that has an effect on your signal?  Ideally, I'd like to check your location as well just to rule out anything there. Can you provide me with your general location, I don't need house numbers or anything too specific if you prefer to give it here. Alternatively, you can send this in a PM and I can keep replying to you here unless my reply includes account-specific request or details. In that case, I'll pm. Thanks'

[Merox]

Don't know if we changed the APN, but we have changed between 4G and 3G without any improvement.

What do you want me to try next?

[Mac_n_cheese]

Try 3Ireland as apn or 3internet

[Merox]

Thank you Mac_n_cheese for your reply.

How do I change my APN?

[erik_c]

[Merox]

Thank you erik_c.

It was at 3Ireland and I have now changed it to 3internet.

I'm away for the day but will check it out this evening.

Speed test has given me 7 Mbps

[Merox]

Can we please do any better?

[erik_c]

You say you have gone through every conceivable setting so this may not help: in Network Settings, if you have Preferred mode  = Auto, change it to 4G only or 3G only.

Then one more thing I would try, if you still want to do any testing before taking this further with Three, is move the modem to an area of the house where the signal is less strong ( 3 or 4 bars on the router), connect one device via ethernet cable and test for a consistent internet connection.

[Merox]

Would you believe that when I changed from 3Ireland to 3internet the connection improved?

These are early days yet as we have suffered from this issue for 8 months - but for the past two nights we have watched Sons of Anarchy without interruption and having a clear picture which we rarely had!!

Could this be the problem solved?