jim_l Posted June 15, 2022 Share Posted June 15, 2022 On a related matter (slightly) I am between broadband providers at the moment, but have a Three 5g sim in my phone, which, located almost anywhere in the house, provides a very fast hotspot, including flawless HD TV and zoom calls, I am wondering... Is there any reason not to go with Three 5g for broadband ?, it seems competitively priced. Do we envisage a point by which all of the physical connections are redundant , Question fired loosely in the direction of the very knowledgeable Blatters.. Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blatman Posted June 16, 2022 Share Posted June 16, 2022 Hi Jim. How much data do you get per month on the SIM? What is their fair use policy like? If you're not a big user then 10 or 20Gb per month might be OK. If you plan on using it to "watch TV" then you may breach the data limit but more likely you could run in to "fair use" issues. Usually when that happens the mobile broadband connection is throttled by the provider. Essentially this make the connection almost unusable for anything except email. That said, if you are in an area where traditional broadband is "slow" then it would be worth a call to the sales people at whichever 4g/5g provider you want and explain that you want to use their OTA (that's Over The Air) service for all your broadband needs without running in to their "standard" fair use policy as you will be using it like "traditional" broadband. Who knows, one of them may have a solution for you. Factor in the cost of a 5G router unless they provide one or unless you're going to use a phone to run the whole thing. And if you PM me your post-code, I'll have a look and see who's offering what in the "traditional broadband" space in your area. Edited to add... I don't see all wired connections becoming redundant. OTA connections can be subject to huge fluctuations in signal strength and quality much more so than a wired connection because the OTA connections are at the mercy of weather and atmospherics. I personally dislike wireless and OTA very much. I'm pretty good with wireless and OTA connections, but if I can get a wire on it, I will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim_l Posted June 16, 2022 Share Posted June 16, 2022 9 hours ago, Blatman said: How much data do you get per month on the SIM? I have 100Gb on the sim and they will make it unlimited for another £3 a month, making it £20 (pulled a flanker on Three getting that deal including an S21, another story) I sent the Virgin Media kit back a month ago as I had become irritated watching the bills go out even when I am in another country for months (might have been a bit hasty, can't go back for 90 days) Since then I have been running an experiment hot spotting the phone and, give credit where it is due, Three are passing with flying colours , they say 'no fair use policy' my experience to date backs that up, 6Gb on three episodes of HD TV in two hours, no buffering and no issues. 70Gb in two weeks, no apparent slowing. Most times the phone is showing 5G or 4G+ and speed tests are faster than VM were on fibre. So, current situation: I don't really want to use the phone this way, thinking near constant hotspot use will reduce the lifespan of the phone, or battery ? (same thing now, they are integrated) Three do offer 5g broadband around £20 a month, hub provided, 24 month contract though. An option I am considering, buy an unlocked Huawei 4G+ mobile device and wherever I go put a local sim in? Your thoughts? Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blatman Posted June 16, 2022 Share Posted June 16, 2022 You have PM, written before I saw this. You're in a Virgin co-ax area rather than fibre, I think. If they have put fibre in, I've just added a Virgin fibre link to my house and it's really good, and they did a great deal too. 380Mb for £32 a month for a business connection. Basically that means shorter SLA's should I have a problem, but in the three months it's been running, it's been rock solid. I speed test often and it just doesn't fluctuate, and with wireless AC on my phone, I get the same speed as I do on wired. I tend to agree on using a phone 24/7 for "internet". Get a service with a router 'cos that's what they are for 4G won't give you anything like the speeds of 5G and as mentioned, weather and stuff can have a dramatic effect on the user experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barry peel Posted June 18, 2022 Share Posted June 18, 2022 BT has already changed mine. I went the route of keeping my phones,what they didn’t tell me was I would loose my answer phone as it doesn’t work with the new system. I then got BT to send me a pair of phones with answer phone capability but you still have to dial in to get any messages which they will charge for if you don’t use your phone to make calls 🙈 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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