Strong 4g Signal - Poor Download Speeds

[Davlon]

I recently activated a unlimited data only plan sim, which I’m using in a Huawei Mobile Wi-Fi 2 hub. The 4g signal strength is max bars but the download speed is often between 0 to 6m, although upload often far better at 10 to 15m (if only it was the other way round!). 
22:30 last night I was getting 25mb download  and very stable for the rest of the night. But in the morning back to flakey speeds of no internet connection to 2 to 8m.

My question is - do Smarty deprioritise unlimited plans placing them at the bottom of the connection priority?

Thanks for any help - Dave…

[Chalkychap]

Have you checked for network faults/problems in your area @Davlon?

Check this online at https://www.three.co.uk/support/network_and_coverage/network_support, , using your postcode.

That said, SMARTY claim they don't inhibit bandwidth in any way - see the help article:

https://help.smarty.co.uk/en/articles/1155178-our-policy-on-data-shaping-and-network-throttling 

Three UK, SMARTY's owner and parent, do have an active bandwidth management policy, so these two positions don't appear to corroborate. 

[Davlon]

Hi @Chalkychap - I did check coverage and status and both reported good/ok.  The setup is for use in a static caravan I recently bought - so, I’ll be using it properly in the DN17 postcode area about 45 miles away from my current Wakefield testing area .   I’ve already researched the coverage at DN17 and it’s very good, plus it’ll be less populated than Wakefield. 
I’ll report back in the next couple of days and report the caravan performance.   I’ve bought another manufacturer hub as well just to cover that base, which I’ll try if the current one is poor at DN17. 
As a side point - my iPhone is BT mobile and that does 70mb download acting as a hotspot in exactly the same Wakefield location. 

thanks Dave…

[Chalkychap]

How do you check the coverage @Davlon?

All the online coverage checkers are based on computer models, which rely on making numerous assumptions to create the models. This means that predicted coverage at any given location is sometimes different to actual coverage at the given location. 

BT Mobile use EE's network, and it's generally true to say this network has more features and functionality than other UK networks. There's a clear price premium for this though.

[Davlon]

Hi @Chalkychap - I just used the basic Smarty coverage checker and signalchecker.co.uk.  The advantage of 3 is you can test without entering into a 2 year contract - so I’m happy however it goes. What I can’t get my head around is the major speed performance for ‘upload’, my last test was 0.6 download 17.8m upload…  it kinda speaks to a congestion problem as download is utilised more, so my good signal is reflected by the good upload results??  

[Chalkychap]

Okay @Davlon, there's around 85 million mobile customers in the UK, and the big four networks market share is approximately: 

Three UK - 9.3m customers, 296,000 cell antennas, 31.5 customers/antenna
Vodafone UK - 16.9m customers, 383,000 cell antennas, 44 customers/antenna 
EE - 26.1m customers, 490,500 cell antennas, 53 customers/antenna 
O2 - 31.3m customers, 490,100 cell antennas, 64 customers/antenna

These crude statistics suggest Three should perform well, but Three utilise something they call TrafficSense™ to manage demand on their mobile network. Here's what Three UK currently say about this: 

It’s the way we manage traffic on our network to give you the best possible experience. We’re always making sure to meet network demand in the right way, so our approach might change. Right now, here’s how TrafficSense™ works.

We’re here for you, which means we want your experience to be seamless. In times of high congestion or network issues, we might need to take steps such as rerouting bandwidth from quieter places to places with higher demand. It’s only to make sure things are running smoothly across our network.

Nothing there to explain how this could impact one's experience with mobile data down/up throughput. Network congestion, due to large numbers of concurrent users is no doubt a factor.

[Davlon]

My take on it @Chalkychap  - the bandwidth is available on my device it’s just biased towards upload.  Some guy has been sent to the mast I use to improve Wi-Fi calling and got a little too enthusiastic. 
I’m at the caravan tomorrow - so part 2 soon! 🙂 

[Chalkychap]

Thanks @Davlon. Pretty sure provider's Wi-Fi Calling service is not delivered via cell towers in their mobile network.

The Wi-Fi Calling service uses a Wi-Fi network as route to wider Internet, and the network provider's application gateway servers, which handle the traffic to your Wi-Fi network. 

Good luck at the caravan park 🍀

[Davlon]

Hi @Chalkychap - performance at the caravan was great.  Steady 28m download 20 upload - works a treat.  

Dave…

[JJP2]

We have had plenty of posts recently about people using Smarty as a replacement for a replacement in static caravans - The likes of @Strandloper @MSF and I have answered many questions on such scenarios - The issue you are experiencing is because static caravans have metal sub frames, which act as a signal blocker. 

Some people have had success fitting an antenna to the roof of their caravans. May be worth investigating this for your static caravan.

[JohnWall_921896]

Can guarantee if you check the signal of your destination before you move, it will state there are no problems.

When you get to the location it will state there is a problem and engineers are working on it,also there is a huge amount of users at the moment that's causing slow speeds.

They're liars and such a bad company. It's why they offer a tempting price on their Unlimited plan. They collect a lot of money from the 1st top ups and don't care that majority of customers don't top up the next month.

Quick bucks and then they'll run to be never heard of again. Well under the title Smarty anyway

[TTHF]

Totally agree with this, this company is a farce.

We travelled the length of the UK and had the exact same excuses at every post code we stopped at from their help desk. 

I'd cut your loses and leave. They're a bunch of crooks

[JJP2RidesAgain]

What vehicle are you travelling in ?  If it’s a motor home or caravan, it could be acting as a faraday cage, which you probably haven’t considered. 

Whst device are you using ? Are you trying to use smarty as a replacement for fixed line broadband, expecting to consume a lot of content. 

Smarty isn’t a farce by any means - If it was, it wouldn’t still be in existence, people would have left it in droves of course !

To be frank, a lot of people who whinge and moan on this forum are suffering from ‘operator error’ ! 

At least you only have a thirty day term with Smarty, so you can easily move networks, whilst at the same time freeing up bandwidth for us customers who know what we are doing, appreciate a value for money mobile phone service for whet it is. We know we are paying for a Ford Fiesta, and accept that, whereas some of you are paying for a Ford Fiesta, but expect to get Ferrari levels of service ! 

Time to go sign that expensive two year contract ! 

[TTHF]

Hi there, 

Thanks for the reply, covered a lot of this on the post below. 

I don't think it's a stretch to expect decent service regardless of price. 

I was on Plusnet mobile for years before they closed down their mobile branch and they were excellent. Roughly the same price as Smarty.

My wife is with Talkmobile who are also as cheap and their service is also excellent.

Acknowledging terrible service with the excuse of cheaper prices is surely not the message you want to be sending about a company?

[MSF]

@TTHF  Totally ridiculous accuse the company of being crooks......unless you have some documentary evidence that you can present to Trading Standards, local police etc.

There are many people who have their needs met and therefore find the service just fine. I accept that it's not apparently working for you and that is indeed unfortunate. The good thing is that you are now tied in for less than a month - although you could get a fresh sim with another provider right now and port your number to them, thus wasting what is left on this service that doesn't do it for you.

[TTHF]

You're right, that is excessive, apologies. 

I'm travelling with 2 others, one on EE and one on Vodafone. All signals speeds were checked outdoors in multiple major populations centers across the UK.  EE and Vodafone were consistantly above 10mbs, Smarty was roughly 700kbs.

We swapped SIM cards amongst phones to rule out hardware issues. Same result. 

Smartys website read coverage in all areas was 'Good'.

When speaking with a help advisor, 4 separate postcodes were provided where network connectivity had been an issue and the reply was exactly the same as the contributor above - there is network maintenance going on in those locations. 

If that's not considered farcical then I don't know what is. Even if he was right and maintenance was coincidentally going on at 4 separate locations across 200 miles, that is surely considered terrible service. 

Perhaps not a bunch of crooks, more complete incompetence?

[MSF]

@TTHF  Thank you for modifying your comments.

The comparison was made with EE and Vodaphone sims - I wonder whether a Three sim would have given a better result.

I totally accept that Smarty is not working for a number of people and that is a pity really. I think that Hutchison, the owners, have decided to grab another slice of 'the cake' that is mobile telephony in the UK by producing a sub- network of their Three offering that perhaps does not have all the bells and whistles.

A large number of people are attracted by the price and of those many will find it meets their needs at present and so they stay. Others find it unacceptable and leave. Thing is, Hutchison still ends up with more customers than they would have had on Three alone.

It all works well for me at the moment, but I could well envisage changes at some point and then I would be off to another network that meets the need at an acceptable price as fast as my little fat feet could carry me!

[JohnWall_921896]

I think it is very strange that when you check coverage you get that "They know about a problem in your area and engineers are working to fix".

It's LIES. 

[JohnWall_921896]

SNAP.

2 days ago I activated my 1st SIM from Smarty. My download speed is a disgusting...

0.70 Mbs. My EE speed is 75 Mbs.

I can say I WILL NOT TOP UP AGAIN. I JUST WISH I'D READ ALL THESE COMMENTS BEFORE PAYING 

[hnrgunawardana]

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@Davlon wrote:

I recently activated a unlimited data only plan sim, which I’m using in a Huawei Mobile Wi-Fi 2 hub. The 4g signal strength is max bars but the download speed is often between 0 to 6m, although upload often far better at 10 to 15m (if only it was the other way round!). 
22:30 last night I was getting 25mb download  and very stable for the rest of the night. But in the morning back to flakey speeds of no internet connection to 2 to 8m.

My question is - do Smarty deprioritise unlimited plans placing them at the bottom of the connection priority?

Thanks for any help - Dave…

I have recently moved my phone to Smarty, It's download speed very poor ,some times It goes to 0 - 400 Kbs, My Post code is BL1 . Im already checked coverage of my area, It showed ok, that's why I moved to Smarty. now should I go to another provider?

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[SamIles_2736988]

I'm having the opposite trouble, download speed is ok, but upload is barely there at all, have ordered a giffgaff sim to compare.