Three's Broadband Unlimited 5G Silver is atrociously slow

[H_8935]

I just signed-up for the 3 Broadband Unlimited 5G Silver plan this and installed the ZTE MC801A 5G Hub this past Thursday (it's Sunday night now). Three's coverage map claims my eircode/address is in the 5G coverage area and two different Three's sales people, both online and at a physical store, also guaranteed my address has 5G coverage, but that apparently is a lie.

The ZTE MC801A 5G Hub only connects to 4G, no matter where in my apartment I try to set it up. I tried all rooms and even plugged it outside and still, it only connects to 4G+. 

That would be an issue since I was promised 5G, but it would at least be less of an issue if it was a 4G connection with somewhat reasonable speeds, but I'm averaging* 1.5 mbps download speeds on a plan that was advertised as up to 500 mbps.

For comparison, I ran the same speed test on the same exact spot in my apartment at the exact same time with two other devices using Vodafone sim cards. My 4G-only Android phone on a Vodafone data plan got 137.7 mbps and my wife's iPhone on a 5G Vodafone plan got 329.7 mbps.

* For a few hours on Saturday, download speeds were a little higher, but the maximum I got was 19.4 mbps, which is still a far cry from the advertised 500 mbps.

I contacted Three's support on Thursday right as soon as I noticed how slow this was and they told me that my area was undergoing scheduled maintenance until 18:00 of the next day (so early Friday night). They assured that as soon as that maintenance we completed, my device would automatically connect to the 5G network and get the advertised speeds. Of course, that didn't happen.

Thankfully, I am still within the 14-day return/cancellation period. Selling a 24-month contract to an address where they provide speeds of only 1 or 2 mbps is borderline exploitative.

[Three_Stacey]

@H_8935 Sorry to hear about your experience. I can understand your frustration especially since you were advised there is coverage in your area. Unfortunately, while the system may show that there's coverage in your area other factors that can influence this such as line of sight and building materials.

If you're willing I'd suggest contacting Customer Care on 1913 or our messaging team by clicking here so that they can raise an investigation into your coverage. 

[H_8935]

Hi Stacey,

Thanks for the suggestion. I followed it and contacted Costumer Care on 1913. The person I spoke with seemed genuinely interested in helping, but nothing worked. They verified that according to Three's system, my address should have 5G. We then performed several troubleshooting attempts, including reseting, restarting, and changing the device's location. Nothing we attempted fixed it.

Ultimately, I'll be returning the device before my 14-day trial period ends so I'm not stuck with a 24-month contract that only gives me 1.5 mbps speeds.

[Three_Stacey]

Thank you for letting me know the outcome of your conversation with Customer Care @H_8935. As none of the troubleshooting steps helped I can understand your decision.