Testing different mobile providers in apartment?

Posted by anotheruwstudent@reddit | AskABrit | View on Reddit | 20 comments

Hi,

I'll be moving into an apartment in Oxford soon. The apartment only has one internet provider - Openreach, which offers poor speeds (60 mbps down, 10 mbps up max).

I'm looking at 4G/5G home broadband as an alternative.

Is there a way I can very cheaply test out each network (Vodafone / O2 / EE / 3) with a speedtest to see what the actual speeds are in my apt?

Ex: if they have any free trials, or any travel sims etc that I can switch between networks on.

Thanks.

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JCDU@reddit

Ask your friends which provider they are with and invite them round for a cuppa while asking them to run speedtest on their phone.

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I_ALWAYS_UPVOTE_CATS@reddit

60mbps is poor? What on earth are you trying to do?

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frankbowles1962@reddit

Use the OFCOM checker first, it will give you an idea which is the best network https://checker.ofcom.org.uk

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Check the MoneySavingExpert website for deals and which providers use which network, you should be able to get a cheap monthly deal on each network to test out:
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cheap-mobile-finder/sim-only/

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Raven-Nightshade@reddit

Are you looking at home internet or mobile services?

Open reach is a home provider. You can get home internet from sky, EE, and others, but will need to pay for the landline connection from open reach unless you get cable broadband from virgin media (there used to be other providers, but virgin bought them out).

4g/5g refer to mobile and WiFi services. Fourth and fifth generation wireless signals respectively.

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72dk72@reddit

I wouldn't consider 60mbs slow..... more than enough for most things. Mobile in my experience dips in and out too much. I would stick with a physical connection.

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Sopzeh@reddit

Hey are you coming from outside the UK?

60 Mbps is the standard here - fibre to the premises is slowly coming but not very common.

I don't expect you will beat 60 Mbps on mobile. I have a 5g enabled SIM and my phone's connected to 4g+ because 5g isn't available at my house. Just tested at 17 Mbps.

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burgermachine74@reddit

It really does depend. I get gigabit speeds on a Three plan inside my house - and I don't live in a particularly notable town.

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Sopzeh@reddit

On mobile rather than fibre? That's incredible!

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burgermachine74@reddit

I don't know where the council got the money from!! We've also got fancy new message boards planted around the high street - and they've somehow managed to keep the shops!! It's so lively.

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dinobug77@reddit

That totally depends on your location. The median speed is nearly 70mbps in the uk as a whole and I would expect Oxford to have better connections.

I’ve also just tested and I get 65mbps on 5G.

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ilikedixiechicken@reddit

Maybe try an Honest Mobile eSIM? They use all four networks and switch to the strongest one when in use. You could see which one it selects when you’re in the property.

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Ruskythegreat@reddit

That's marketing bollocks. The SIM can't switch to the strongest one.

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ilikedixiechicken@reddit

How not?

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Ruskythegreat@reddit

The SIM doesn't control the network selection, the cellular chipset does and that's governed by the GSMA standards which essentially says that the network selection is random on first connection (unless the SIM is steered to a specific network).

After that, the SIM uses the last known network as long as it's visible.

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ilikedixiechicken@reddit

Interesting, thanks

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JK_UKA@reddit

You might be able to get a guide with the payg sims but it won’t show how reliable it was.

When the networks get busy then service will slow down, I used to use a 5G Vodafone router and every day at 4pm onwards the speeds would drop to under 20mbps, sometimes even lower and sometimes you’d get dropouts where it was unusable.

Overall it was a frustrating service, I was thankful for any wired service when I moved and was able to get it installed. Things are different for everyone with that service though, that’s the nature of it. It won’t be consistent in every place so it’s worth keeping that in mind and testing at multiple times over the course of a week or so.

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ref1ux@reddit

Buy pay as you go SIMs for each provider. Put them in your phone one by one and test.

Bear in mind there's a chance they'll be faster than your fixed line option, but they'll likely be less consistent.