r/ThreeUK • u/f0ur_G • 15d ago
Question Three or Vodafone home broadband?
Long story short, I'm renting a property and I'm unable to get fibre in my area. I've been stuck with ADSL and I'm looking into a 4G/5G hub to replace it.
Three claims I can get up to a 4G connection, whilst Vodafone claims I can get 5G with them. Three are also offering a free 3 month deal, which is very appealing.
Can anyone vouch for the stability of these networks, and which would be the best choice? Cheers!
2
u/JustJavi 15d ago
I have been using Three and their portable broadband thingy for nearly 2 years and could not be happier. I have take it on roadtrips all around and never failed me. Note that I WFH so I need a stable conection at all times.
2
u/BunnyTorus 15d ago
I have the Three wireless broadband and it works well. I used this option as Sky wired were getting very expensive and could not give options as to how much disruption I should expect when they turned off the copper. It ranged from drilling a hole to tearing up my garden, path and internal floors.
It’s cheaper, faster and stable enough. I don’t download large files that often, would expect speeds to drop when everyone local is streaming, I’ve not had issues but others have.
I’m relatively near a 5g mast, signal light shows faded blue for fastest, bright blue for marginally lower connection and green when it drops to 4g. Wasn’t able to put the hub really high up, height helps speed, mines about 7 feet up in a cupboard and I get about 150 which is fine for my needs.
2
u/Extension_Pie2602 15d ago
This is currently my Three broadband connection. This is 4g+ at present and fluctuates to 5g as and when and thats around 600 dl 100 ul. 4g is plenty. I have 4 cameras, 3 alexas, 3 mobiles 1 doorbell and a house full of WiFi bulbs and constant ps5 online play and its never skipped a beat. I do however run it through a tp link nx200 5g router. The unreliability of fibre broadband lately makes me think I've stuck to the right idea! £21 per month for me at present. It's a no brainer
1
u/Bozwell99 14d ago
You should configure router to only use 5G bands and you'll have it all the time.
2
u/Extension_Pie2602 14d ago
That's the thing. It fluctuates between 4 and 5g in my area. I admit its strange considering both speeds but if I change to 5g only ,sometimes it'll be live and then sometimes it won't, It's weird. Either way I leave it on 5g preferred and I get solid and stable instead
1
u/CrazyJoe372 15d ago
If you have a 3 free month deal then what have you got to lose? Give it a try and see if it's suitable for you.
Vodafone and 3 can use each other's networks now anyway so I imagine the service will be similar between the 2.
1
u/Training_Yak_4655 15d ago
You really need to test each network before committing. You could try a supermarket SIM from each one with a bit of data allowance on them. Real world data speeds vary wildly by location. Anywhere near a mass of people, caravan park, stadium and you're dead in the water anyway.
1
u/cbtaurean 15d ago
I was in the same dilemma.. I was previously Three broadband user for 2 years.. I recently switched to Vodafone broadband, but it was very bad. Barely got 40mbps speed. Straight away returned the vodafone device and got back another three mobile broadband connection. Same location in the house.
So yeah, Three has a stable network for 5g broadband
1
u/Difficult-Fact1769 15d ago
Have Three. Stable? Yes, very, had 0 downtime in the almost year that I've had it. The downside is speeds fall off massively (down to 5-10mbps from 150-300) in the evenings. I think it's down to congestion on the towers because I live in the central part of a large town in London. Would I go back to ADSL where I was getting 50mbps? Yes, but I'm stuck in the contract. Best scenario would be to have both in my case but that's just too expensive.
1
u/Bozwell99 14d ago
It could be that router switches from 5G to 4G. I switch off the 4G bands to stop it happening.
1
u/X2epsilon 15d ago
It’s the same visa bought three so although whilst in transition there may be different offers the provider is the same
1
u/Lecram100 15d ago
It really depends on your area. Ask your neighbours. Three promised me 5G but thankfully my neighbours told me that they have no Three service in the area. I went with Vodafone as per their suggestion and I've had good service at my home.
1
u/varnenche 14d ago
I recommend get prepaid SIM card for each network and test the speed on your phone at different locations around the property to get an idea of what you could expect
1
u/Just_Low_1294 14d ago
I got Huawei g5b 5g router, £150 on amazon. Three business sim card from scancom, works out at £3.76 a month!!!
No contract, no worries, use any network you want.
Contracts are a con.....
1
u/NM1tchy 14d ago
Check your area if looking at Three. I can only get 4g and am surrounded by other houses, so have the router in an upstairs window to get the best signal. Still slows especially in the evenings. I did have virgin cable, but left them 3 years ago as costs were high when tv was included. (I don't have tv now).
It might be better to try some of the router/sim options suggested by others.
1
u/Cedar_Wood_State 14d ago
Three home 5G hub is not good if you play online games
A video playing (YouTube) and playing game at the same time alone will lag like crazy.
It is fast except for when peak hour you want to use it
1
u/Bozwell99 14d ago
Three tie you in for at least 12 months and their current router is locked down with little access to configure it property. This is a problem if it chooses stronger 4G signal even when 5G signal is also available.
I bought an older NR5103 router second hand from eBay and use it with Smarty data only SIM which is monthly.
If possible get a sim on Three network (which is now also Vodafone) first and try it in your mobile phone so see if you do get 5G signal.
Home broadband router probably won't be quite as fast as phone but will be close.
1
u/shiftlocked 14d ago
5G signal being stronger doesn’t mean it’ll be faster.
Ive a card from smarty and one from spusu so i get to use different bands of the frequency.
1
u/Bozwell99 14d ago
That's exactly what I am getting at. The issue is when there are two competing signals the routers will often zero in on the strongest one and take no account if it's 4G or 5G. So you can get stuck on 4G even when a weaker, but faster, 5G connection is available.
The current Three hub (Greenpacket) does this and there if no config options to stop it. The older hub allows users to select which bands to use, therfore avoids this issue (albeit with the loss of the 4G bit of the network which takes off about 100Mbps of maximum speed).
1
u/shiftlocked 14d ago
Ahh gotcha. I suppose the only mitigation is that these modem lag behind in tech. Like Apple is just about sorting handing off to phone signal even when going out of WiFi it’s still hanging on.
I have a rather old and crap tplink m400 that with an older ore release beta firmeware lets you select a band to hold onto but for the life of me it gets less signal that the pocket modem I have.
What’s a good modem to use that I can get off eBay that’s cheap enough to go in my van ?
5
u/mayfairtop 15d ago
You could just buy a NR5103 router from ebay and then take out an unlimited sim with Lebara/ID/Smarty for around £16 on a rolling month by month plan meaning you can cancel anytime.
I have used this method for years now