[wkat4242]

I had them in Ireland. They were horrible.

First there was a stupid internet filtering proxy supposedly blocking erotic content but actually blocking a lot more, breaking many websites and forums, VPNs, etc. And also making internet access really slow. The only way to come off this was to ID at the store. This was not a legal requirement in Ireland and only three was doing this crap. All the others just give full internet access by default. I think the UK government enforces this stuff but that's no reason to force it on Irish customers. This was in 2006 or so though. I don't think even the UK had such laws back then (I know they do now).

Then I had an issue logging into their website to top up my account. I called their helpdesk (foreign) which were pure script monkeys and kept insisting my handset needed to be serviced at my expense and asking me to rub the SIM on my Tshirt. I kept trying to explain it had nothing to do with my handset but with their website which I accessed from my computer. But they just stonewalled me with their irrelevant scripts.

In the end I unlocked the handset and moved to tesco mobile. I'll never take 3 or anything from Hutchinson again.

[theodric]

If you're on Tesco Mobile in Ireland, you're on Three! They're just an MVNO.

[wkat4242]

I know. They are now but at the time they were not. Tesco mobile was on O2 (also as MVNO). I think I heard Three and O2 have merged since then or something. Or was it Three and Meteor? I don't live in Ireland anymore so I don't really follow it.

Tesco mobile didn't do any of three's skullduggery though. No filtering and their support was excellent. You could even write to them directly on boards.ie (which is itself a great phenomenon I wish more countries had). And three's network itself isn't bad. It's just the people running it.

I meant I don't want to deal with a company managed by Hutchinson again, AFAIK in the case of tesco mobile they just manage the underlying network.

[theodric]

I have a place in Ireland where I spend a minority of my time at the moment. It's LTE-only (a farm in the mountains of North Cork) so I've tasted the rainbow of available options in my muddy corner of paradise in 2021-2022:

-Vodafone was great, and had (or enforced) no fair-use limit, but suddenly started to majorly suck (~25Mbps down to 500Kbps; 60ms latency up to to 2s). 1-2 bars of LTE Band 20; no Band 28. They share a mast location with Three in my area.

-Three has no fair-use limit, but struggles to give me over 5Mbps; normally more like 2Mb. Latency 100-300ms. 1-2 bars of LTE Band 20; no Band 28. Clear signs of oversaturation during peak hours.

-Eir used to perform like Three, but recently upgraded their kit in the area to 5G: 60Mbps down, 35mbps up. 5 bars of 5G, 5 bars of LTE Band 28 and 20. Their mast is on the same ridge, but in a different location. But! 120GB fair use with absolutely soul-crushing throttling once exceeded.

I looked into the MVNO gang, but their offers are no more enticing: Tesco Mobile starts charging exorbitant rates once you exceed your data allowance, Clear Mobile is on Vodafone and throttles to 5Mbps, GoMo passes on the same data caps as Eir, etc.

My solution is a Zyxel NR7101 5G CPE with an Eir SIM in it, and a Mikrotik CPE + roof antenna with a Three SIM in it. General use Internet access on Eir, big downloads on Three; turn down YouTube resolution; go outside more often. Each SIM costs €20/month, pay-as-you-go, so I can choose to have one or both on a whim. It's not great, but it'll do! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[wkat4242]

Oh yes Eir is what Meteor used to be, right? I've been gone a long time.

I live in a big city now but I still use 4G as backup because my fibre provider can be a bit hit and miss. Fibre is usually installed on the outside of buildings here so it can be pretty dependent on weather.

I've been thinking of upgrading to a 5G CPE but there's not much point - 4G is enough for working from home and cost me only 25 bucks for the modem. And most prepaid plans here don't allow 5G yet anyway.