yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Networking] ahmadcentral:
See now that sounds a bit like traffic sense. If you know anyone on three or have a three pay as you go sim do a speed test with them at the same time. Also when you say anything other do you use p2p. because i know for a fact that is throttled. Also which plan are you on?
[Networking] otester:
Where you originally referring to individual throttling/heavy user throttling?

I am on PAYG All You Can Eat £15 package.

Today I'll run a test between ~2:45pm and 3:15pm to demostrate the throttling of HTTP tethering using a download manager with a speed/time graph.

My findings so far (throttled on both phone/tethering unless stated otherwise) between 3pm-midnight...

HTTP - Full speed on phone, tethering throttled to ~0.1-1Mbps.

Usenet SSL - Between 1/4 to 1/2 available bandwidth.

OpenVPN - throttled to 0.10-0.5Mbps.

Haven't tried torrent without a VPN but I'd expect it'd be the same as Usenet or less.
[Networking] ahmadcentral:
There's your problem. Your on a pay as you go package so tethering is not allowed anyway. Even if you report it to three they won't do anything because they'll say you're tethering against t&c. I remember being able to tether on pay as you go with an old sim but as soon as my mate got one from a three store he wasn't able too. My old sim still works for tethering btw. (I'm on contract with a new sim now).

Weird how you're getting slower speeds on the phone though. But yeh, if you're on the one plan or a plan with tethering supported then i'd contact three and complain but they're just going to refer you to T&C. Also just like all other networks (i've tried) torrents are throttled heavily.

Not much you can do tbh without a valid case.
[Networking] otester:
While the One Plan is tempting, I've heard tethering even on the One Plan can be slowed down quite a bit at peak times.
[Networking] ahmadcentral:
Maybe.

For me it seems to be alright. Usually get around 6mbps when at home tethering. Does peak to 12mbps. Tbh i don't do speed tests all the time so haven't noticed any slow down at peak. Works for me so i'm happy.

I've been doing some tests on Three (and i know people on another forum who've been doing the same as well with T-Mobile/Three) and i've seen 15-20mbps down constantly on DC-HSPA+ devices like the S3 LTE, iPad3, iPhone 5 etc... it's really impressive. Shame my phone doesn't support it. But hey thats for me to sort out with a new phone next year.
[Networking] otester:
Hmm, think I might get the 1 month SIM-only and see how it goes.

Just as long as they keep the heavy user thing away I'll be alright since I'll quite happily chew up 500GB a month.
[Networking] ahmadcentral:
HOLY ****!

500gb on 3G. Do you not have broadband at home or something. Max i've ever used on 3G was around 60-70GB and i thought that was a lot.

Yeh you can't go wrong with the One plan as there are no T&C against tethering so theoretically you should get uncapped speeds with no throttling for tethering.

Found this on three trafficsense page-

So thats why on PAYG you're being throttled. Btw have you tried using a VPN client. EDIT: just seen you did.

Let me know how you get on in the month. If you really are able to use as much data as you say you do without three doing anything then thats impressive.
[Networking] otester:
My home broadband is terrible, 3Mbps on a good day, generally 2Mbps, only worth while for the gaming ping which is constantly 25ms.

When I move out I'll get FTTC then I will only need 3G for travelling.

Only thing that is making me a little hesitant is last time I had a contract with 3 it took ~10 requests to get a cancellation to the same guy, oh boy was he persistent...

Also the anti-tethering is protocol based since I am able to download via Usenet while tethering at 1/4 to 1/2 speed.
[Networking] ahmadcentral:
Yeh three customer support is terrible. They're ok if you have a simple request. But even then it can take them ages. I guess just ask for a pac code and use it. they can't deny that.
[Networking] otester:
Thats what took ~10 requests to get, the PAC code... lol.

I just hope the VPN throttling was related to the anti-tethering stuff so if I get The One Plan it'll be normal-ish.
[Networking] ahmadcentral:
It should be, i'm on the one plan and haven't experienced any of this throttling stuff since once back when it started. thankfully it was literally in the week they decided to stop it. Used around 30-40gb last month with no complaints. It's the main reason i use three. Was considering a move to T-Mobile as it's cheaper on a 12 month option but then they removed tethering from the full monty. Plus i was able to get a really good retention deal from Three.

So yeh apart from CS i'm happy on three. As long as traffic sense isn't implemented like it was before.
[Networking] otester:
VirginMobile is tempting, they allow tethering, I just wonder what the speed would be like compared to Three (they use EE network).
[Networking] ahmadcentral:
Now this all depends on whether you are connected to a Orange Cell or a T-Mobile cell. (this won't matter by 2015 when the MBNL consolidaton is complete) as most orange cells have older tech(HSDPA) and rubbish backhaul meaning you won't see speeds of over 1mbps. T-Mobile masts are already part of MBNL and 90% are on HSPA+ and 50% DC-HSPA+ so you'll see much faster speeds if you have a compatible DC/H+ device. Like i said i've seen 15-20mbps on DC-HSPA+ compatible devices. My old phone will get around 6-12mbps as it's H+ compatible.

I know people on EE who during peak times get booted onto a Orange cell and suffer terrible speeds so its all just depends on your area tbh and how congested t-mobile masts are.

Just had a look at Virgin Media and their plans are really good value for money. Only downside is they slow your speeds down to a crawl if you use more than 10GB. So it's not exactly unlimited, but it is in a way. People on Virgin get the same coverage on EE.

From Virgin-
[Networking] otester:
That's a deal breaker for me, shame.
[Networking] AjunNg:
I'm not sure of this is TS or not. I'm still getting decent speeds 15.00 - 00.00, but outside of them, it's back to amazing. And it happened exactly outside of 00.00

On a side note, has anyone noticed Google Play downloads are much slower than normal? It seems like it's capped at 100kb/s. In other words, 1mbit/s.

Beamed from Jupiter on my Galaxy Note II
[Networking] otester:
Looks like they're throttling you by ~1/2, meaning they throttle all of us?

I get around that speed in my area normally so I wouldn't notice the difference.
[Networking] ahmadcentral:
Can you post speed test results at 2:50pm and 3:10pm. Also do you another three sim/anyone else on three near you that you can do a speedtest with.

This sounds like what people on Orange have been experiencing recently due to MBNL upgrades. But i doubt it's what you're getting.
[Networking] jonmorris:
I'm on Orange and regularly go to a location that has been enabled for DC-HSPA. On my Three dongle, I can get speeds of 20Mbps.

In the same place, on Orange, I get ridiculously low speeds - like 0.03-0.1Mbps, or if I'm lucky it might jump up to 1-2Mbps. My handset isn't DC-HSPA compatible, but it does support HSPA+ and when I used HSPA+ on Three at the same location, I was able to get 13-14Mbps.

I don't know exactly how they're merging the networks together in all locations, as Orange was quite a late entry into the network sharing agreement that T-Mobile and Three formed. It does seem that since 3G roaming came in between T-Mobile and Orange, Three users have been made to suffer.

There are occasions at my home where Three drops me to those same stupidly low speeds (and very high ping times) so I guess as said above, I'm now on an Orange cell site.

I don't therefore think my experiences are anything to do with TrafficSense, although during the busiest times of the day, it might cause similar results. One day I guess I need to do a series of tests before and after 3pm, as it might just be that the slowing down happens around about the same time, but purely by coincidence.
[Networking] ahmadcentral:
Yep, somethings up MBNL end. Especially with Orange. It's like they've lost their entire backhaul or they're running off emergency backhaul. I think it could be something to do with the 6000 Orange masts being merged into MBNL (T-Mobile and Three) and the upgrades not being complete yet and people on T-Mo/Three being shoved on these Orange sites with stupidly slow speeds.

People on MBNL Networks all seem to be experiencing slower speeds in one way or another during peak times and i think it's all down to Orange merging.
[Networking] jonmorris:
Conspiracy theorists might say Orange has good cause to mess up 3G data speeds to make EE 4G more enticing!
[Networking] otester:
If the coverage was anything near 3G coverage then I'd agree, otherwise they're just pushing people to move to Three.
[Networking] jonmorris:
I don't believe for one second Orange is deliberately crippling the 3G performance, but it probably isn't in such a rush to fix things in areas where it has/is rolling out 4G.

The problem is that while 4G is excellent (I got speeds of up to 48Mbps near my home, and EE is capping at 50Mbps at the moment - so perhaps next year when other networks launch it will offer the full 100Mbps, and after that category 4 for 150...), there's NO WAY I am going to pay what EE is asking for such a small amount of data.

I can see people are upset about slower speeds on Three from time to time, but hopefully it will be sorted out in due course and then you can enjoy unlimited data for speeds of up to 42Mbps. When Three releases a DC-HSPA MiFi, it will be even better. No way am I paying £110+ for a E587 from eBay/Amazon, even if it will be unlocked.
[Networking] otester:
Best option for DC-HSPA+ is the Nexus 4 at the moment.
[Networking] jonmorris:
Yes, but I am not blown away by the design of the phone (or the glass back) and its lack of memory expansion. If there was a 32GB model, I'd consider taking the 'risk'.

Mind you, it's so cheap for what it is, I might just be tempted to buy one and then resell it later on. Thankfully, Google has made it impossible for me to get one - and won't even let me reserve one, having opted to say 'Sold out' as if that's it - never to be seen again. I do wish Google could sort out how it retails products.

I am not after one on contract, nor paying £399 with O2 or Three over the Google unlocked price.

Great as the Nexus 4 is today (if you can get one), there will be loads of devices with this spec - and higher - at CES and MWC next year. I will continue to hold out for the MiFi, which is an easier and more convenient way of sharing mobile data than impacting on my phone battery life.
[Networking] otester:
Problem with MiFi is you're limited to 15GB.
[Networking] cirian75:
Wrong thread me thinks :laugh:
[Networking] otester:
On my PAYG AYCE SIM I was getting 0.1Mbps tethering between 3pm-midnight.

Got my One Plan 1 month SIM today, just done a speed test (tethering)...

Sweet (ping is higher than off-peak times though like others mentioned - usually 50-70ms).
[Networking] asdrewq:
hi all,

My speed problems have not gone away. I did the pre-post 3pm test - there was no obvious change in data speeds, however I am still convinced something is going on on a network level.

One thing I have determined - If I reboot phone, re establish connection and immediately run a speed test I consistently get a 9mbit+ result. A bit of light usage and soon enough it is crippled again. This result is repeatable.

All through this my upload speed remains a consistent ~1.5mbit/s
[Networking] otester:
What user agent are you using on your phone?

If Three get any hint of non-phone HTTP browsing they will throttle you (unless you are on the One Plan).
[Networking] cirian75:
mwhahahahah
[Networking] cirian75:
125m clear line of sight to a DC-HSPA 42mbps upgraded mast ;)

and a LG Nexus 4 that is DC-HSPA 42
[Networking] otester:
According to map my nearest mast is 1-2 miles away, I get 2/3 bars if I put my Galaxy S3 on my shelf.

I assume the mast is HSPA+ 21 as I am not on the list of "ultrafast" sites.

If I go outside it's better, highest being nearly 12Mbps.
[Networking] asdrewq:
I am on the one plan, using wifi tether through stock android 4.1 on sgx3
[Networking] chazam:
I live under a mast.... :p
[Networking] jonmorris:
That's really nice - beats the speeds I've had on my various tests, and it's nice to see a good upload speed too. A lot of my work involves uploading files to Dropbox, so a good upload speed is important.
[Networking] chazam:
I've been very impressed with three on the nexus 4. DCHSPA+ is more than enough for me, especially as my landline broadband is around 2meg up and 300 down on a good day.

Unlimited tethering is awesome too. :cool:
[Networking] otester:
Does it say One Plan on your bill?

I ask for clarification because many seem to be confused, they think they are just because they have AYCE data.
[Networking] asdrewq:
I see. Yes definitely on the one plan here, as stated on bill and in my3. Do you think I may be being throttled as a non one plan customer?
[Networking] otester:
Possible but you shouldn't be.

How long is the contract? 1-month rolling?
[Networking] ahmadcentral:
How much data have you actually used. Because i don't know anyone who is being throttled on the one plan period. Even sim only or contract i don't know anyone being throttled. It's only people not on the one plan/payg customers who complain about throttling (because they don't read the T&C)

How much data do you use?

What do you use the data on? P2P etc...

Can you post screenshots of 2;50pm-3:10pm

Have you tried moving out of your area and doing a speed test

Have you compared another Three phone with speed test at the same time?

Have you used your sim in another phone?

I consistantly get speeds of 5-10mbps with my mate getting 10-20mbps on his iPhone 5
[Networking] asdrewq:
24 months, started in late september.

You are definitely onto something. It appears to be tethering that is causing me to be limited. I have not tethered this evening, and have got consistent 9mbit+ speedtest results over the last hour. Immediately after tethering and opening an email they dropped to 1-2mbit.

This does not explain the ~50kb/s results I got 12 miles away at work but that could have been an anomaly.

According to the usage stats on the phone I have used:

8gb in September

11gb October

15gb November

Phone and tethering combined.

I occasionaly used p2p during its non throttled hours, and it was fine. I never used it after 3pm, and the speeds then on p2p were very snow anyway (as I expected)
[Networking] ahmadcentral:
That's pretty low data usage, which is surprising. And i find it weird that you're getting low speeds from three when tethering. Keep watching it and see what happens.

What i don't understand is that if i used 28GB this month and i think it was 35-40GB last month (my stats reset every month) why i or my colleague (who also uses 20gb+ on Sky go etc... haven't been affected.
[Networking] m3cab:
Very slow one plan

Just signed up for 24 month one plan from carphone warehouse. Bought this so I would not need land line broad band.

Last night at 3am I was seeing dial up speeds, that was on my first day using it, and was tethered.

Sometimes speed would pick up, but not a very good expirience.

I went back to carphone warehouse, they advised me to contact 3, and if 3 is at fault, cpw will exchange my contract/ phone, but there are no deals in the current market that allows tethering unlimited data.

Surely I'm entitled a refund? A product not fit for its purpose?
[Networking] otester:
@asdrewq

@m3cab

Are you both on phones purchased from 3?
[Networking] m3cab:
What speeds are you seeing p2p?

At the speed I'm getting , I'll be very surprised if I even use 1 gig a month
[Networking] ahmadcentral:
This is NOT related to throttling because they are outside the hours. Are you in a poor coverage area. What speeds do you get during the day and at different locations? and ffs m3cab, read the T&C. p2p is throttled at all times, more so during peak times like every other network does. Thank god you're not on T-Mobile where they block tethering & p2p

@otester. Does not matter if the phone is from Three or not, i've never used a phone from three. always buy my own.
[Networking] asdrewq:
OK, it is 100% tethering that is being limited. I purchased instore from 3, on the one plan, in september.

I have just done some research, and downloaded a useragent switcher extension for firefox on my laptop. By spoofing a samsung galaxy s2 user agent I can download the test files from thinkbroadband.com at 1.4Mb/s+ over wifi tethering.

So who do I yell at to get this fixed? I don't want to keep this useragent on permanently - lots of webpages do not display correctly.
[Networking] ahmadcentral:
email their head office, Call centre will get you no where. I don't know an email address but i'm sure if you google it you'll find one due to the amount of complaints three normally get.
[Networking] otester:
This is why I recommend getting your own phone and getting PAYG/1-month contracts, then if a company screws with you, you can leave or swap package etc.
[Networking] m3cab:
Yes I'm all for throttling p2p, but averaging dial up speeds? And when on 0kb/s up and download, still can't browse.

Daytime is still the same as far as I noticed so far, but I've noticed in areas with five cellular bars reception, 3G flies. At home I only get 2 bars
[Networking] otester:
So am I, all the more bandwidth for those P2P-ing over VPN's :D
[Networking] m3cab:
Mine purchased from carphone warehouse.

---------- Post added at 08:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:33 PM ----------

Any free VPN providers to try out ?
[Networking] otester:
Don't think you'll get any decent performance out of any free VPN's, hard enough finding a decent paid one.
[Networking] AjunNg:
Has anyone experienced really bad Google Play store download speeds?

This has happened since 2 weeks ago, no matter the time, it only downloads at about 100kb/s.

And it's not my phone as other downloads are at peak speed, and when switched to wifi, Play download speeds are also at peak.

Anyone? Even if you don't, would like a response!

Beamed from Jupiter on my Galaxy Note II
[Networking] otester:
Fine here, super fast.
[Networking] AjunNg:
Any one have an idea on why my download speeds are capped to 100kb/s on Google Play only?

Beamed from Jupiter on my Galaxy Note II
[Networking] DjeMBeY:
Never had a problem with 3UK and some months I've used 100GB+!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Are you sure you using tethering on One Plan???

Speeds are awesome tho!!! :D
[Networking] m3cab:
3 have just confirmed to me, that there is no technical issues with my service area, and that the service is running at full capacity.

They offered me £8 a month discount, which in my eyes are admitting they are at fault.
[Networking] m3cab:
Does anyone have an email address for 3 uk for complaints?
[Networking] ahmadcentral:
This is a very old thread so i'm not sure if the email address work anymore

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=1621275
[Networking] asdrewq:
good news!

whatever was wrong with my connection appears to have been fixed. I had it submitted to the technicla team for review on the helpline.

Not only is it fixed, the speeds have vastly improved. I'm now hitting 15mbps download, and 3.6mbps upload! This is with a standard samsung galaxy s3. No DC-HSDPA or 4G.

Very impressed. Lets hope it stays this way for a while.
[Networking] m3cab:
15mbps, if that was the speed I'm getting, I'll have no issues and I'll be happy to see out my 24 month contract at £36 a month
[Networking] ahmadcentral:
What did the tech guys do?

Btw mcab are you sure you're on the one plan. Thats the only plan they don't throttle tethering on. Try ringing up customer services and just see what the technical team say about it like asdrewq did.
[Networking] m3cab:
I specifically asked the twats at carphone warehouse for the one plan after researching for a plan to suite needs. The one plan is the only plan currently for unlimited data with tethering
[Networking] DJDrew:
My speed seems to be limited now too. I went for a couple of months using a few GB's and I was getting between 500 and 600 kB/s. I am now getting around 90kB/s and it's been like that for a few days. I hope it is only temporary!
[Networking] ahmadcentral:
If its like that before 3pm then its a local issue

If its speed drops between 3pm and 12am then its throttling. But this all depends on what plan you're on and hkw you're using the data
[Networking] asdrewq:
For reference as to what was wrong:

The 2nd line tech support said that some settings on my one plan account were as they would be for a pay & go sim, they simply changed them back.

very strange that they needed changing at all as it worked fine for a few months beforehand...

Anyone experiencing slow tethering on one plan - tell tech support to verify the settings on your contract account are correct.
[Networking] cirian75:
Ive put this on the FB AllYouCanNibble page
[Networking] m3cab:
Three customer service is pretty good

Although on my contract when I signed states "3 does not offer a 14 day return policy", they are accepting mine for a return for a full refund.
[Networking] skezza:
I think I'm going to give them another ring. More and more apps that require the use of data are causing the "Are you using your phone as a modem"

This is ****ing bang out of order!
[Networking] otester:
Did you purchase the phone from Three?

Even when tethering (with a non-Three phone) during peak hours on a non-One Plan PAYG SIM I never saw that message.
[Networking] ahmadcentral:
Do you use Onovo? If you do uninstall it.
[Networking] Eazz:
Personal Argentina -> 500mb x month at 100kbs average speed
[Networking] skezza:
Yeah, the phone was on contract from Three, so they know what phone it is and firmware etc. They've said they will get back to me. If they haven't im going to keep ringing up and threatening to leave. Bored of this.
[Networking] skezza:
Interesting news.

Three phoned me up today to tell me they had 'fixed' the issue (ages after I first reported it) and it seems they have! :D Three support actually helping me :D
[Networking] cirian75:
Good

Any more news on three throttling?
[Networking] aslampip:
Traffic Sense still active on my device!!!!

Hi all, Traffic Sense is still active on my device..i thought they got rid of it??...Can anyone help me get rid of it please!!!
[Networking] :
not just throttled, REMOVED.

I got this for me and my flat mates to use, in a phone, after a lengthy conversation with the sales person in the three shop, we bought a payg sim with a add-on.

We were assured that in no way were there ANY limits or fair use policys in place on this product. I think we all knew that the usage would be a LOT and assured that we could use it as much as we wanted.

Three have saw fit (since the 23rd of december 2012) to REMOVE THE ALL YOU CAN EAT DATA ADD-ON in the my3 account section. The internet no longer works.

Yes the usage must of been very high

No, its not truly umlimited!

I dont think most people will come across this problem so its moot for most people but, it goes to highlight that whilst this product is better than any other competitors offer, its not truly unlimited.
[Networking] otester:
lol you bought a sales pitch from Three... :silly:

If you want proper unlimited you need the One Plan (£25 minimum).