Three Mobile Broadband Reviews

The worst Internet service ever!!!!!! Everything everyone else says on here is absolutely true. The only positive thing I can say is some times, weekdays, upto 18:00 I can watch Netflix for a few hours, bbc, itv 4od buffer all the time and My5 don't even bother. After 18:00 and weekends it stops all the time, have to keep resetting it. I have been without any service for hours at a time. Like now for instance. Customer service lie, in fact fight back!! I would bet staff at Three don't have or use it. I have 3 phone, now just sim contract after years of huge bills, I use it as a hot spot, in the same home as my broadband and get a better service (tho that also buffers like crazy) DON'T BOTHER WITH 3 BROADBAND, PLEASE BELIEVE THESE REVIEWS

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

Non stop loss of service. Dreadful customer dervice

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

Without a shadow of a doubt AVOID 3. Aside from their absolutely abysmal connection speeds, they claimed they hadn't received the package with the contents of the broadband router when I tried to cancel. When I phoned their foreign, outsourced and rubbish 'contact us' number that they supplied on their fictitious bill, they told me they would investigate my claim and get back to me, instead of this they just moved it on to a debt collection agency (i presume as a scare tactic). Awful Awful company from start to finish.

Although three are undoubtedly cheap, their customer service is just a total joke so I have left them.

I was formerly with Relish who provided 4G home broadband in London. Customer service and broadband was slick, efficient and helpful. Three bought relish and customer service turned to an absolute joke.

This year, they contact me to terminate my contract early (without my consent) as my contract with three was being moved to the wider three group (yes, it didn't make much sense to me either) so they were terminating my contract early and offering me the same service for more money. How kind of them.

I agreed to stay, but the experience has been so bad I've cancelled after the first 3 days. Even trying to stay was painful - I was asked to contact them which I did so and was told I would receive a call back 2 weeks later. That call back never came.

Eventually the new service started but speeds dropped from 140mbps (5G) to 10mbps over night. I spent a couple of hours trying to reach customer service to find out why but couldn't get through to a human. Eventually I decided to cancel as the service was so bad. I say I've cancelled, but in fact I very much doubt my contract has been successfully cancelled. After 4 hours on the phone and webchats trying to cancel the contract, I still don't think they've done it properly - I rang back to check and they had already messed up the cancellation. I have had no email confirming the cancellation and have written two letters as a result. I fully expect to be billed for my first month, or more likely to receive a threatening letter as I already cancelled my direct debit to them.

If you want your broadband provider to be as hard work as this in order to save a few pounds, three are the company for you. If not I would avoid them like the absolute plague. I have probably wasted 10 hours on the phoen and chats over the last few weeks trying to ask basic questions or make basic changes which should take minutes, and I still don't think they've got it right.

There's nothing wrong with the advisors. The systems are just set up completely wrong so you get put through to the wrong person who then transfers you and more often that not you are cut off in the process. Then when you do get through to the second person they also tell you they are the wrong department. This happened several times until I just couldn't bear it any longer.

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  4 stars
• Reliability
  4 stars

Unbelievably terrible experience, do not use 3 for their home broadband.
Early into our contract the wifi was awful - fluctuating all over the place and unusable half the time. We called support and were told that we had to call while the wifi was actively down and this had to be a problem three days in a row for them to do anything about it. As it's wireless wifi, they specifically don't guarantee any minimum speeds, so you actually have to be fully offline to my understanding.

Now that our contract is up, we called to cancel it, only to find out that our wifi hub is outdated and has been known to be faulty for a long time now (Huawei B311). Never mind the half hour of flat out refusal to cancel the contract while trying to negotiate for us to stay on. It's beyond me that they weren't recalled and we weren't notified at all.

I used their webchat service to attempt to register a complaint about the fact that they were continuing to knowingly provide a faulty service and that we'd generally had terrible service for the duration of the contract, for service for future customers.

I was told it was our fault, then threatened that they would waive the contractual 30 day notice period, leaving us without wifi completely until the new provider sets up in a couple of weeks.

Seriously, just don't even bother. I'm completely floored by the whole experience.

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

My 4g Broadband from 3 is all but useless. A complete waste of money. It used to work but for the last 6 months it is 1mb down download/ less than 1mb upload and it periodically just drops out . At the moment I just use my phone as a mobile hotspot. Waste of money.

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

its a pity i have to give 1 star because they dont deserve it.I have to log in every 5 minutes so its impossible to do anything.I contact customer service who blame everything they can think of weather.location.congestion ect but what it boils down to is they charge for something they dont provide..Absolutely useless,dishonest company..do not waste your money.

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

it works well at the first one month, but one day, they suddenly blocked me getting into some public websites,which i used all the time. i have to call them to unblock me and now the speed is terrible and unstable, i can't even use it for my work zoom meeting. and the funny thing is I can't even log into my router, Three is obviously monitoring people, very doggy!!

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

I have full signal on my router but my speeds is about 1 mbs , most of the time it’s lower than that , I’ve seen speeds of 10kbs which is rediculas ... I’m stuck with this contract for another year! It also just cuts you off the internet for no reason it just stops !!! I was told it would be perfect for Xbox live , this was a massive lie , you cannot compete with someone with real internet because you are lagging so badly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It even struggles to run Netflix! NOT HAPPY!!!

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

I went to the 3 store to ask about their mobile internet. While I was there I was told about the 4g homefi, 300mbs and only £22 a month wow! I signed up and cancelled my sky contract. The best speed was just over 15 meg at 5 AM. Before 10 am I could get 4 to 5.5 meg after that 1 meg was fast weekends we often couldn't even get on Facebook. My first complaint I was told it was because of the unlimited service and they are working hard to solve the problems. My second contact when I asked to cancel my contract was agreed without any argument. If you are considering 3 4g homefi I would suggest you ask them to put the download speed for your postcode in writing.

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  2 stars
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

The only thing I can't wait for with Three Mobile, is until my contract ends and then I will never ever use this company ever again for mobile broadband. it is absolutely useless

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

Very rarely does the speed reach 20 megabits. It never does in the evening and often stops working completely. The wifi unit itself also crashes often needing to be reset in order to get any connection. I have been with three many years but this service has let them down terribly

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

As is often said in these sites. If there was lower than one I would give it. Appalling service, appalling speeds, total lack of interest if youcontact the shop. All in all, I am suprised they are still in business. Just absolute *****. And I NEVER normally bother with giving reviews. So that's how bad it is.

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

I have expected much more from a company such as Three.

The Three guy at the Chester shop said I should get "tier 1" reception and I should not believe the negative reviews. He was wrong on both accounts.
The TV that needs only 3mps gives me distorted picture. Even the simple internet browsing takes a long time.

My advice is only to use them if there are no other options.
I will be disconnecting the service the minute my cable service is connected.

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  2 stars
• Reliability
  1 star

Pretty much is realist here what others have truly said in their reviews... Awful, very slow connection (on SIM only) everything slowed down. Previous provider EE. I had no problems. Customer service abysmal. Left me waiting an hour twenty minutes, then, as others have said, they ended the call... Don't do it. Cheap but not worth it...

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

Its been a frustrating and ultimately unsatisfactory relationship with 3. I've just now cancelled my broadband after many months of poor connectivity and customer service, worse than other companies I deal with that are also working form home during Lockdown.
How does an existing customer, since 2011, feel when you find out your provider offers an unlimited broadband for about half the price of my current contract? That they finally admit your router is old and will send you a new one after many previous calls where excuses were made, e.g. work in your area, reboot your device, reset it etc. etc. Too many excuses, not enough interest in resolving the issue until I finally rang in to cancel. Too difficult to make a complaint (no complaints email address!)

• Satisfaction
  2 stars
• Customer Service
  2 stars
• Speed
  2 stars
• Reliability
  1 star

terrible service.
the broadband was down within the first week of service. The device looked as if it had been used before, the sim card was already installed. I couldn't register on the website as the password they gave me didn't work and I never received the mail to reset the password. So I had to call, I couldn't go through the first day. The second day, I waited 1:30h and gave up. They have literally 5 songs on repeat, hurting your ears I'm sure on purpose, an actual torture.3 ppl asked for my details and put me on hold again. I was so fed up I decided to cancel my contract, and waited for another 30mn to talk to someone. It's the most ridiculous service you can imagine. It might be cheap, but it definitely isn't worth your time and energy.

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

On my first night of using the mobile router I knew I made a big mistake. Incredibly slow connection which in reality was worse than using my mobile as a hotspot. I couldn't register online as it kept wanting to send my an ID to the telephone number of the mobile router. Customer service is very elusive.

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

Lamborghini and Maserati don't need to advertise their products because their state of art quality screams for itself, mouth to mouth.

Unlike terrible service quality by 3 that needs to drop their prices to pathetic levels AND sponsor Chelsea to desperately attract customers.

Here is the horror story, on Sunday I walked in the store to get my SIM card checked for not working since I hadn't topped it up for over a year as I was abroad doing business and being their customer for 4+ years, I was expecting that I wouldn't need any identification to confirm that im their client.

However, I was sent back home to get an ID. I went back to the store then I was told that they can't accept my EU ID since DOB and pic are not on the same side. I wasnt even told beforehand so I had to go another round to get my passport.

After spending 2 hours in store, observing the employees STRUGGLING to get their customer support service colleague on the phone to sort my issue out, I was told to come back on Monday and try again.

On Monday, still the same STRUGGLING story, so they decided to go Live Chat, which is something I coud do myself at home and save myself time of my life and money.

Eventually after 30 minutes I was told that my SIM would be delivered to my address in 1-2 working days.

However after 3 working days nothing shows up, I go Live Chat and to my huuuuge disappointment, I was told that my SIM hadnt been placed in delivery by mail yet.

Causing me to lose even more money because people were unable to contact me.

Beyonf awful, I would rate 3 with ZERO stars if I could.

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

Customer service is terrible, as soon as my dongle broke, they did not want to know, tried to cancel as I was out of contract, sent many letters, chats, all were not replied too, They referred me to a debt agency and it will soon be in the hands of the Ombudsman.

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  3 stars
• Reliability
  3 stars

The worst thing about Three mobile is their customer call centre, most of the tel operators have a pitiful command of English and sometime completely impossible to understand. I am 100m away from the mast the speed is down to 2Mb at peak times

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  2 stars

Don't sign up for broadband with this company. like other sunscribers the first 4 weeks was good. After 4 weeks the speed is between 2mbps and 12mbp and constantly drops signal. The router is useless, 4G poor, 3G bit better but poor speeds. As for 5G ready they can't get 4G ready. Customer service is basically non-existant. I'll give them another month. If they can't provide the service they advertised they wont be getting my money. I've seen other posts on here where people still pay for a bad service, if we all refused to pay they would soon buck their act up.

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

Best speeds I ever got were 7MBPS, usually closer to 1MBPS. Consistently cuts out once per hour, for about 5 minutes.

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  2 stars
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

Very slow, signed up for a Three mobile, first month or so I was getting 30mb then it has steadily decreased. I even bought an external antenna for a new router to try and improve reception. At best on an occasional time we can get 17mb now, but usually is around 7 - 9mb with 3mb upload. A computer guy I know said that Three will be just throttling my bandwidth and slowing my speed down. My external antenna faces a mobile tower in direct line of sight, but because Three 'piggy back' off the tower rather than own it, they get limited bandwidth on it as well so all in all it's crock of sh*te.

I will change to another supplier when the contract ends but I think the UK as a whole just does not have a good enough internet infrastructure for a modern economy.

• Satisfaction
  2 stars
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  2 stars

We took up a contract in March as we had just moved into a new apartment and they assured us that the contract could be cancelled whenever and we would only be charged for data used.
2 weeks after taking up the contract (April 2020) we tried to cancel as we now had a better deal (better service and price) and they said we could not cancel due to COVID and to wait until they reopened their cancellation service and we would be refunded due to the wait as we were no longer using this service.
Now in June, we tried 3 times to cancel and we've had various excuses (computer system is down/not able to cancel atm), I finally got through today via telephone and was not able to understand the person on the other line (terrible signal on their end which is ironic) and have been informed that there will be no refund and that they are going to take another £30 next month prior to cancelling!!
Avoid this company at all costs!!!!

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

The first few weeks of mobile broadband via Huawei router were good - high speeds, low latency. Convienently, after the 14 day cancellation period had expired the connection nose dived and hasn't been the same since. I can't even explain why this is bad, it's just inonsistent. For example, once I am actually onto Youtube or Netflix or whatever and I'm streaming then it's fine, but loading the basic website or google etc takes so long - I'm talking 5-10 minutes just to load google search results. Again, convienently, when I do a speed test it gives good results! But this doesn't actually translate to the usability of the connection.

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

I've switched to 3 from post office broadband and the difference is just huge.constant speeds between 40-75 Mbps. I am very satisfied with them, for now.

• Satisfaction
  5 stars
• Customer Service
  3 stars
• Speed
  5 stars
• Reliability
  5 stars

Wasted hours on the phone and on chat getting consistently passed from pillar to post. They won't cancel my contract and want over £300 for the pleasure, they're a total joke, I can't even return the huawei cube thing as all the shops are closed, had to cancel DD
I could go on for hours but they've already drained my will to complain
Don't get involved in this nightmare, Think I'll try watchdog
0 rating should be an option in this case

I don't social distance from my router and the signal is shocking, I'd advise anyone wanting to use this company to go elsewhere.

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

I have been a happy three customer for 15 years until now. I took a broadband Internet for home. I ordered a Huawei AI Cube for £25 a month on 21st October 2019. It was unlimited and speeds were averaging download 30mbps and uploads 60mbps. I had no issues. But since Febuaray 2020, download speeds were averaging 7mbps and upload 25mbps. It still was slow but not a big issue using 8 devices which was lagging. But when ever my children were trying to connect their PlayStation, Three was slowing down the bandwidth by throttling it. After doing speed tests it went down to 600kbps which isn't even 1mb download Speed. It wasn't. Effecting Ytube or Netflix. I rang Three (date can't remember) on Feb 2020, they said their doing an update in my area and should go back to normal in couple days. But speeds were already normal when connecting other devices. Now Coronavirus started can't get through phone but I had an online chat with a technical team and they said on 23rd May which was after 4 weeks things should go normal. But the issue is when I connect PlayStation, Three throttles the bandwidth to lose connection. I told three the speeds only went down when ever I connect the PS4. They couldn't help. I have screenshot the chat for my reference. I rang again today but couldn't get through. Chat was referring us to technical who don't want to talk about bandwidth throttling as they ignore this issue. I have no issues using other devices. Three slows down to under 1mbps when trying to play online. PlayStation only needs minimum 12mbps. Todays 28 May 2020 and still the same. We use no other devices when connecting PlayStation. I already raised a complain to Ombudsmen which I have no idea if they will take action or claim back my wasted £25pm 24month contract. What can I do?

I’ve had a mobile with three for many years now and have found their cover both here U.K. and abroad great. What a lot of people who go for home broadband don’t realise is that it’s base reception with be as good or bad as their mobile signal. However, and this is the most important thing with a home broadband Wi-Fi one may need a on outside arial connected to the receiver to boost the signal. I have the Huawei B535 that I use in my motorhome with a roof mounted arial. One the arial is fitted it’s essential to tell the Rueter to use the outside aerial and there’s a video on YouTube that will tell you how to do it,

• Satisfaction
  5 stars

I have used three mobile broadband for more than 5 years. The broadband has been fine. My issue is not with that. When trying to cancel my contract, I have had to jump through hoops which are just not acceptable. I have spent hours on the app, live chat, email, phone numbers and 'contact us' forms. All getting me nowhere. It's a roundabout of excuses and 'try other' methods...This is massively unfair and looks setup to try and stop anybody from cancelling which is very unethical. I finally got through to somebody who 'understood' my frustrations yet could still not cancel my contract even though that was the department they worked in?! I had to cancel my direct debit as had no other option, now I receive a unpaid bill and the threat of my information passed onto a debt collection agency! After yet more phone calls, just three this time, I spoke to another lady who has said I will have to be charged double the amount that the letter I have just received says??!! This is a joke and feels like a huge scam and disservice to a loyal customer of years. It's even more unreasonable when I have barely even used the service for the last 3 months. Lastly, I have managed to speak to someone who says they will be able to cancel the service but she has to contact another department and will phone me back within 3 working days...So my case is still not resolved. I have even said I am happy to pay the amount for the one month cancellation but think it massively unfair to have to pay an extra month on top of that (is that even legal?). I will certainly not be using three ever again and will be moving my pay as you go service to a rival company asap.

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  2 stars
• Reliability
  2 stars

I have recently started a 24 month mobile contract at £18 per month to use with a Huawei E5573Bs-322 device. I now know what the "Bs" in "E5573Bs" stands for :(
The issues I have found already in the first month include:

1) When loading webpages it will more often than not, freeze half way through loading and require me to refresh the page.This seems to be especially bad when the webpage requires a secure connection using TLS. I also have three mobile internet on my iphone, strangely this has no issue loading such pages. even when the huawei device and my iphone are next to each other, my iphone performs fine but my laptop using the huawei device struggles. In addition, if I get my iphone to use the wifi from the huawei device I observer the same freezing issue with websites. This leads me to believe the device (Huawei) itself is the route cause of the the websites freezing, not necessarily the poor internet speed.

2) My internet speed routinely drops below 1 mbps. Now as I alluded to above I have an iphone that uses a Three mobile SIM aswell, now I can line up my Huawei device , my laptop which uses wifi and my iphone using its own SIM , next to each other on the table and my iphone can register 20gbps download speed and my laptop will register below 1 mbps. Again this points to the Huawei device being the problem.

3) at times my internet connection on both my iphone and Huawei device (which both use separate Three mobile SIM's) will just drop out for an extended period of time. This points to the coverage being crap.

All in all very disappointed with the quality of service here. really unreliable.

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

Shockingly bad. Its now basically unusable and I have to use my 02 phone to tether to my computer. So annoyed. It cuts off all the time and everytime I try to upload a file it basically renders the whole broadband useless. Customer service (in India) just tell me to move my router - after 45min chat... How many more times can I move my router??? I wish I could give less than 1 start but I can't

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

This 'three 4G Huawei broadband' is the worst broadband I have ever used. It's completely unreliable and useless. There is always this hesitation by the network to open any page on my computer that I end up canceling and clicking it until it goes. This happens to be my worst broadband contract ever. And to imagine that I will be stuck with this rubbish for two years is completely sickening.

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

Absolutely useless, constantly shows as 4g but no connection whatsoever. And attempts to contact anyone is another pointless exercise. Their website cites no problems and brilliant service where I live. But nothing could be further from the truth.
Another company that lies to its customers, takes their money, but really cannot be bothered to actually provide the service they are paid to provide.
I am so tempted to cancel my payment as I should imagine they would definitely contact me then.
Frustrating, unreliable, dishonest in their service claims, avoid at all cost

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

8-10mb for the price of 5G. Last time I take contract with Three.

• Satisfaction
  3 stars
• Customer Service
  4 stars
• Speed
  2 stars
• Reliability
  4 stars

Network has been playing up in my area for a month now, complained via live chat 10 days ago and I was promised it would be sorted and I would receive a call with next steps. Call never came so I called to cancel my contract. Rather than the usual 30 days the rep disconnected it on the spot. Now I don’t have internet for working or staying connected with anyone. They’ve turned it off in an instant but told me it takes 3 days to turn it back on. They’ve told me to call a number to speak to someone that they know isn’t being manned, and at the same time told me that they won’t get anyone to call me. I know times are difficult at the minute but you really need to get a handle on your ability to provide your service and the way you allow your staff to represent you. I’m now seeking an alternative supplier while I wait for a call that I doubt will ever come.

• Satisfaction
  1 star
• Customer Service
  1 star
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  1 star

In a "good service" area, yet getting top speeds of 5 Mbps and average daytime speeds of 1-2 Mbps. I suggest getting a fibre connection instead, this is simply far too slow

• Satisfaction
  2 stars
• Speed
  1 star
• Reliability
  3 stars

Not happy,and not a leg to stand on as going mobile home internet doesnt have a minimum speed promise, only 3 months into an 18month contract and i cant count amount of times i have taken sim out of Huawei router, reboot run a speed test and in evenings when im home from work between 6pm to 11pm my average download is between 1mbs to 4mbs, so forget netflix or play call of duty online, soooo much buffering and lag its pointless trying. in the 30 days try period when first into this contract i was getting roughly 20mbs download and about the same upload. Like i say now lucky to get 5mbs down and 1mb up. i Want out i dont want offers or money off, this was a really stupid choice thinking this would replace a landline internet service. Reminds me the days of dial up the time it takes to load pages, and buffering on youtube its like ive gone back 15 years! Just need to find out how much this crap gonna cost me to get out of contract?

• Satisfaction
  2 stars
• Customer Service
  4 stars
• Speed
  2 stars
• Reliability
  1 star