F**k it. I'm gonna get broadband back...

[Zombietoid]

Mobile data replacing a fixed line is absolute pish.

I buy the 35 GBP monthly 'golden goodybag' from Giffgaff, run on the O2 network. The signal in my flat on the second floor of a tower block is complete garbage. It never feels right, as it rarely has 4G. It only really has that shown occasionally. Never gives out a full signal either, unless I am outside the premises. Normally though, I have to restart my smartphone for it to revert back to 4G. Putting the phone by a window can sometimes help.

Always has H or H+ displayed instead, and sometimes I'm on forums, posting away. There's no issue. I could be typing, and go to submit a long post, and boom. I'm disconnected. This usually occurs on cloudy days. When I have to restart my phone, the hotspot has to be enabled again, so I may have lost everything I composed. God, it's so nippy.

I cannot play videos in HD either. I think they throttle your speed after you use so much data, and then you only get a noticeably better connection in the middle of the night. I don't get verification codes arriving on time either. They arrive hours after I request one.

What do you do when you're faced with this problem? I cannot even use OnlyFans. Anything I try to watch is painfully slow, and my phone ends up overheating.

 

[HLJ]

Why would you do that?

 

[Pressure]

Can't you get a new antenna for your mobile router or a better unit?

 

[HLJ]

Can't you get a new antenna for your mobile router or a better unit?

Why would anyone replace a wired connection with a mobile one?
- Lantency
- Speed
- Data CAP

A way worse on a mobile connection.

It is a downgrade in every way possible...

 

[orangpelupa]

Can't you get a new antenna for your mobile router or a better unit?

yep. and buy the one with EXT ANT port and raise an aerial antenna with a pole or on a tree or something. Dunno its illegal or not there.

also make sure your device supports all the bands available in your location.

 

[Mariner]

5G is a lot better in most regards, though availability is not widespread here in the UK as yet.

For a six month period a couple of years back, I moved my home broadband to a 4G connection as I was sick to death of the escalating prices charged by the cable company, Virginmedia. Moving away from them wasn't previously an option because there are no other fibre services in our small northern town because Openreach haven't bothered to roll them out yet. If I'd moved to another provider, I'd have been left with a ~7mb ADSL connection which is pretty ridiculous when you're 2 decades into the 21st century! A bit of a step down from the 200mb fibre I had from VM at the time.

I decided to give the 3 network a go (unlimited data with no cap at all around £20 per month at the time), bought a Huawei 4G router, an external antenna and was getting 25mb downloads with uploads around 10mb, dependent on where I installed the antenna. After six months, I gave up because the service was too flaky. The reason for this is that my house is pretty much equidistant between three different masts and there was no real line of sight to any of them so, depending on atmospheric conditions, signal quality went up and down and the connection switched between the different masts, not all of which supported band 20 (or was it band 3 or band 7?). The band where they had a heck of a lot more bandwidth to spare. If I'd been closer to a mast I'd have been getting up to 100mb download and a more reliable service (seen in tests at my office in the same town).

Now, I've gone back to Virginmedia and I'm up to 600mb and paying a small fortune (I've bought Sports back again, however). I do have to go through the whole rigmarole of signing up to a contract then threatening to leave (even confirming cancellation) before negotiating a similar deal when they phone back to keep you as a customer. I'd be very happy indeed if Openreach got their fingers out of their backsides and bothered to upgrade our local area to FTTC, let alone the FTTP they are rolling out elsewhere in the country! At least then, I'd be able to shop around for other options.

Once 5G is widespread, it ought to be much easier to have a wireless broadband connection. I'd always have a router, though. Absolutely no way you can get away with using your phone and serve all the other devices you need without some serious compromises.

 

[HLJ]

I have 5G (I am datacenter service owner for a major ISP)...but I would never go wireless over cabled at home.
Not even for 5G.

But then again, I have fiber (1Gbit/s)...so anything else would be a downgrade.

 

[Pressure]

Why would anyone replace a wired connection with a mobile one?
- Lantency
- Speed
- Data CAP

A way worse on a mobile connection.

It is a downgrade in every way possible...

I'm assuming there is a reason why he went for a mobile router.

Everyone surely knows there are better options, obviously.

 

[HLJ]

I'm assuming there is a reason why he went for a mobile router.

Everyone surely knows there are better options, obviously.

Going mobile is seldom a better solution in my experience.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

What do you do when you're faced with this problem? I cannot even use OnlyFans.

Well you know your internet has gone bonkers when not even porn is loading lol.

Anything I try to watch is painfully slow, and my phone ends up overheating.

I think using your phone is part of the problem, as you can't keep it in the part of your house where you have the best signal, not to mention you're probably burning that battery a lot more than normal.
I'd just get back to cable if you have fiber in your place. Even 100Mbps fiber (which is really bottom of the barrel speeds/costs in most of the E.U.) would be a huge upgrade in quality of life for you.

If that's not an option, see if you can get 5G at your place and use a dedicated router with external antennas for it. Though 5G routers are super expensive...

New I'm assuming there is a reason why he went for a mobile router.

I'm not sure Grace Saunders is a dude...