Last Updated on January 13, 2024 by Tim FitzGerald
I have a Smarty SIM in a router which I use in the caravan and when I go away from home. I have had it for some time and it has always worked well. I chose Smarty as it uses the Three network and offered lots of data for a small cost.
All was working well on December 8 and 25 (2021) – according to my Ookla logs, I was getting download 48Mbps and upload 18Mbps.
In the first couple of weeks of January 2022, I have no cause to use this router. Then on January 12, my son wanted to borrow it for a sports event that he was organising and he wanted a backup internet access method for logging scores. I got the router out to show him how it worked and found it didn’t work! No problem, or so I thought; I popped the SIM into another router but that didn’t work either. The sports event went well and he didn’t need to use a spare router/SIM.
I reported the issue to Smarty (Jan 16) and I explained the problems I was having:
— Windows, Android and iPad devices on the router wifi get ‘no internet’ errors
— Windows device gives a wifi connection error, iPad reports “no internet connection”
— was working OK before January 2022
— didn’t work in either router
I advised Smarty that my nearest cell site was eNB ID 1657
Smarty offered to send me a new SIM – fair enough.
The new SIM arrived (Jan 19) and I went away for a few days to the north of England; I took the router as I expected poor internet service where I was staying. When I arrived, I powered up the router and it worked; it worked very well – download 13Mbps and upload of 3Mbps. Strange, I thought. Not working at home but working well away from home.
When I returned home (Jan 25) I tried the router/SIM again – no internet. Voice was OK but there was no internet connectivity with Smarty/Three. So I swapped out the Smarty SIM and put in a Plusnet SIM – changed the APN and the router worked fine with Plusnet. Back to Smarty and changed the APN back – no internet.
I took my router/SIM to a friend’s house a few kilometres away and tried it there – it worked fine. The problem seems to involve my local cell site. Back on the phone to Smarty
— was working in December
— didn’t work in either router
— SIM has been changed
— does work well on other cell-sites
— does not work on my local cell-site
Smarty put it down to poor signal coverage; but I saw 4 or 5 bars on the router. Smarty said there were no network issues reported in my area. A load of rubbish – just try to keep the customer happy.
I looked at the user interface of the Huawei B535-232 router in some detail.
I noticed I could change the router to 3G – I did this and it worked at 3G. Yes, I had an internet connection, but slowly – <10Mbps.
The UI showed some useful info including the cell-id:-
CELL_ID 12841728 — RSRQ -5.0dB
RSRP -96dBm — RSSI -77dBm — SINR 17dB
No poor signal here
Location of the serving mast
Looking at cellmapper.net, it became obvious that I was not connected to my nearby cell-site eNB-id 1657 as first thought; but to eNB-id 50163 which, according to cellmapper.net had first appeared at the end of December 2021. The blue spot is eNB-id 50163 or at least where its signals are strongest. My home location is several hundred metres SW of eNB-id 50163 off the yellow road.
I put the Smarty SIM into an old phone and ran the Cell Info Lite app to collect information.
Note the 4G indication always shows upload data but no download.
The screen capture below was taken near the blue spot on the cellmapper.net map below.
Judging by the signal strength the mast 50163 is a few hundred metres away
I thought I would try to report it to Three directly, but I had no Three SIM and no Three account. After trying several times, I spoke to Three customer services who offered to report the issue to the customer services manager. Oh yes… voice was working as I was using the SIM in the phone with which I called Three.
Feb 5 – I am now fairly sure the site in question (eNB 50163) is located on the Fire Station tower on the A30 (GU15 3UH). I got much stronger signals in the vicinity of the fire station. Cellmapper reports the location of eNB 50163 rather more accurately after I took a walk to the Old Dean shops. I believe the site is shared with EE and is in direct line of sight (through some trees) with my house.
Old Dean Residents
Some residents on the Old Dean estate are also experiencing the same issue. See this Facebook post on Feb 4, 2022 and this Facebook post on Feb 14. Residents are pretty hacked off with the situation. They confirm the problem started early in January 2022. I have asked them to report to their network provider (Three, Smarty and IdMobile). Some users who reported the problem say that Three acknowledges the problem, while others say they are fobbed off with the ‘poor signal’ or ‘use 3G’ excuse.
Below are some of the stories from Facebook
- I’ve just reported it. They have said that yes there is an ongoing issue in the area and it is taking longer than expected to fix. That’s the first time in 3 weeks of dialogue with them that I have been given that information.
it will be repaired soon! - I am with IDmobile and found out they use Three masts. I’ve had no internet data/access for almost 3 weeks. I had only been able to message them re the issue to be told, yes there was planned work in the area and on 3 separate occasions told it will be resolved in 2 to 3 days and still nothing. I was offered £20 compensation and told it would be completed by the end of today.. and it has not been!! Once I’m in Bagshot it works, so it’s got to be a local mast. I eventually spoke to a real person who told me they had planned work in this area….a heads up would have been helpful…
- My daughter can’t get her data to work on the Old Dean and some surrounding areas. After many phone calls and live chats they said that they can’t see anything wrong. They advised that she just use 3G, which isn’t that good!!
- Thanks, so not just me then, the issue for me is the standard “1 to 2 days to rectify” lie. Probably what they are told to say but just be honest and if they don’t know, then say that! I’d respect them more if they didn’t just read from a script
- I’m with 3 and have been told by them 3 signal ok. I had to change settings to 3g to get a signal as 4g was not working
- I know the issue was raised but my provider ID mobile (seems no one has even heard of them) are claiming Three mobile are saying there is no issue. I can’t complain or communicate with Three directly as I don’t have an account with them
- I’ve been in store and got an exact same answer, the only thing I can advise is to go into your network settings and set it to 3G only as anything 4G or higher doesn’t work
- Haven’t had a signal for nearly a month, messages come through when I get to Pennyhill or the bottom of the hill towards Camberley
- I’m now looking to go to another provider as I’ve had enough
it will be repaired soon!
Customer services?
It’s now Feb 9 and the problem still exists – I have been in touch with Smarty customer services, almost on a daily basis, but they seem to have lost interest. It seems to me that they cannot escalate a technical problem. I suspect the customer service scripts are designed to deal with problems in the customer realm, but cannot deal with a problem in the network realm.
I have tried communicating with Three via Twitter and Facebook but always get fobbed off to the Smarty helpdesk team. Neither the Three nor Smarty helpdesk seems to be able to report a network issue to the Three network team. Not a really helpful helpdesk.
Feb 15 – Almost as a last resort, I searched for and found the email address of the CEO of Three and wrote to him. I got a reply the next day and the issue will be passed to the relevant team; hopefully, we’ll get a resolution.
Is the problem solved?
Feb 17 07:30 – Overnight, the faulty eNB 50163 mast looks to have been shut down. I am now connected (slowly – due to poorer signal) to other masts; the water tower on Black Hill, and the Maultway/Red Road junction.
Feb 17 10:30 – It appears that the eNB 50163 is operational again and 4G data is working – (perhaps for the first time on this mast) !!
I wonder if it’s a case of “turn it off at the wall, wait 30 seconds and turn it on again”
Something is going on?
Feb 17 16:15 – I noticed erratic performance from time to time. Speedtests would either run well, not start or not complete.
I noticed that my connection was flipping between bands (1, 3 and 20). Signal strength measurements are up and down. I wonder if the work has been completed yet. I’ll keep monitoring for the next few days.
Feedback from Facebook
Here are some comments and feedback for Three from the Facebook posts on Feb 17
- UPDATE 07:30 – overnight the faulty Three mast at the fire station has been shut down. Hopefully, it’ll be fixed and brought back into service soon to restore normal Three UK service to OD residents. By 10:00 it was back online and working normally.
- I just wish that the network will admit and communicate that they must have multiple reports of issues and that it will be addressed, ,that’s all I want. I dislike being told that there has been no other indication from other users that there has been an issue. I accept and am undertanding that services, especially technology connection is subject to weather, new buildings and updates can effect connectivity, I just disdain ignorance, lack of communication between departsments/partners and being treated like I’m an isolated complaint. Communication is key and realistic time scales are all I require actually
- I did speak to someone and they credited me £20. But asked when it was going to get sorted and couldn’t say!
- Same, I was refunded my monthly paymemt and for me it’s not really the point. I just want to know if and when it will be fixed!?!? I’m with IDmobile who obvs use other providers masts and in the 4 years I’ve been with them, I’ve never had an issue but I just want acknowledgement and confidence that they know there’s an issue. Everytime I speak to anyone they just tell me 3 mobile claim the connection is good and it obvs isn’t. Come on!!
- Still waiting for an update from my provider who assure me that Three mobile connection is showing as “strong” in this area although we all know that’s not the case
It’s worth noting here that some users of Three, Smarty and IdMobile SIMs are (anecdotally) reporting other intermittent issues – poor signal, no data, unable to make or take calls – during January and February this year. They also report poor response from the helpdesks and from the retail outlets and they are not at all happy with their providers.
Some issues remain
It would appear that the technical issue has now been addressed and resolved. I hope so. However, in my opinion, that leaves Three with its real problem as yet unresolved.
This technical issue was reported by me to Smarty customer services a month ago and almost every other day since. Anecdotally, this was reported to the local Three shop and to Three customer services. The Smarty and Three customer services teams, as well as the Three retail outlets, do not seem to be able to escalate technical issues to the appropriate teams within Three.
I hope Three are able to address this issue with a view to improving users’ customer service experience and restoring the reputation of Three with its customers and ex-customers.
Oh Well – It’s not fixed
Feb 18 23:45 I noticed there was no 4G data flowing again. The same problem is back!
The node came up at about 10:30 yesterday but was faulty again after about 36 hours.
I’ll report it to Smarty tomorrow. When I reported it I was advised that Smarty ‘can see some planned maintenance work is scheduled, which is due to complete on 20/02/2022 – Sunday’. I guess this is the tail-end of the work done Feb 16/17. Well, we are in the middle of the weekend and there’s not much more that can be done until Monday.
Feb 21 – 07:30 – Monday morning – still no 4G data on eNB 50163 4G
Feb 21 – 11:45 – Node eNB 50163 is down again – off the air – I am connected to eNB 1657
Feb 21 – 15:30 – I also notice the EE co-located node eNB 29082 seems to be down
Feb 22 – 09:30 – Same same – both down still
Feb 22 – 14:00 – Both nodes are UP again – 4G is not working on Three eNB 50163
It’s working again
Feb 24 – 15:20 – 4G is working again with a good B20 signal
Local users report they are able to get 4G data for the first time in weeks.
Feb 27 – 18:00 – It’s still working – it’s been working for three days…
eNB 50163 – 4G Not Working Again
Feb 27 – 23:15 – 4G is not working
Feb 28 – 09:00 – 4G is not working – 3G and voice OK
Feb 28 – 14:35 – 4G working again
Mar 1 – 10:50 – 4G is not working – 3G and voice OK
Mar 2 – 16:25 – 4G remains down
Mar 5 – 18:00 – 4G remains down
Mar 7 – 09:30 – 4G remains down
Mar 9 – 11:30 – 4G remains down
Mar 11 – 19:30 – 4G remains down
Mar 13 – 14:30 – 4G remains down
Mar 18 – 07:00 – 4G remains down
Mar 18 – 14:00 – eNB 50163 – down – work being carried out
Mar 18 – 20:00 – eNB 50163 – UP and working again – 4G OK
Mar 19 – 18:00 – It’s continuing to work well
Mar 20 – 09:00 – It’s continuing to work well
Mar 21 – 11:00 – It’s continuing to work well