topic Re: Extremely slow 4g data connection, below 1Mbps most the time in Mobile Data

Extremely slow 4g data connection, below 1Mbps most the time

samski — Sun, 27 Apr 2025 13:20:43 GMT

I sighned up for an EE sim as it is advertised as fast speeds, but recently after using allot of internet (i am in hospital) my speeds have seemed to been throttled or put on some sort of data manipulation. I am on an unlimited plan and have been enjoying the service, but it seems after a period of strong usage you have cut me down with out any information. Is this something you do, cut peoples service down if they use an unlimited plan allot?

Re: Extremely slow 4g data connection, below 1Mbps most the time

bristolian — Sun, 27 Apr 2025 13:22:11 GMT

Can you quantify what speeds you're achieving, normally and when you think you've been speed-limited?

Re: Extremely slow 4g data connection, below 1Mbps most the time

Chris_B — Sun, 27 Apr 2025 19:05:46 GMT

@samski EE can apply traffic management on your service once you’ve gone over 600Gb of data as an unlimited tariff has a FUP of 600Gb.

Re: Extremely slow 4g data connection, below 1Mbps most the time

samski — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 20:07:44 GMT

Is there a way to check your data usage? and is this in a month as I don't think I would have used that amount of data.

Re: Extremely slow 4g data connection, below 1Mbps most the time

samski — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 20:09:48 GMT

It seems to fluctuate between 0.6 and 0.2 during the google speed tests, but I'm sure its not this slow all the time as eventually things buffer and load. But it has defiantly got allot slower, i cant play the game i was playing before very well because of connection issues.

Re: Extremely slow 4g data connection, below 1Mbps most the time

samski — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 20:12:48 GMT

A post i made to a reply on another question i asked that actually got fixed by customer service on the phone, may give more context:

There was issues moving my account over from BT, and they cancelled it for me to setup when I moved into my new council flat, this has been delayed since I am in hospital for a while so I don't currently have a EE broadband, and I don't seem to be paying for it either (something I didn't realise would happen). If I have to pay extra money to get the full speeds back I would be happy to, as it may be a while before I move into the property, and I am relying on mobile data. Do you think this could be the problem, and would I be able to resolve it with extra monthly payments?

Re: Extremely slow 4g data connection, below 1Mbps most the time

samski — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 20:25:00 GMT

The reason i wrote here is because amazon streaming keep cutting out due to the speed, and taking a long time to buffer and giving very poor quality, I don't think I'm being limited at certain times, but maybe because I have such a cheap deal and am not currently paying for the broadband.

Re: Extremely slow 4g data connection, below 1Mbps most the time

bristolian — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 20:42:20 GMT

"Stay Connected" data, which is available when you've exhausted your normal data allowance, is capped at 0.5Mbps

I vaguely recall that other restrictions are set at around 10Mbps. All of which makes me think your issues are far more to do with either direct-DL congestion, or a localised fault resulting in congestion.

Re: Extremely slow 4g data connection, below 1Mbps most the time

samski — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 23:54:54 GMT

Perhaps it is direct-DL congestion (whatever that is), or a fixed fault , I just tested the speed as I have not had any problems for a few hours, and it was over 14Mbps so i think it may be sorted. Is direct-DL congestion lots of people in the are using the same tower or something like this? , i haven't checked the times of the low bandwidth but this may make sense as i am in a city.

Re: Extremely slow 4g data connection, below 1Mbps most the time

bristolian — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 07:08:22 GMT

Congestion is indeed where the amount of usage demanded of your serving site/sector exceeds the capacity available - and is the natural consequence of being on a very busy cell.

Being in a city shouldn't automatically mean getting congestion, networks are designed to cope with this - by using a combination of additional capacity, higher concentration of sites therefore covering less area, etc.

Re: Extremely slow 4g data connection, below 1Mbps most the time

chistery — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 07:16:28 GMT

You say you're in hospital? Could it just be you're inside and the building is blocking the signal?

Re: Extremely slow 4g data connection, below 1Mbps most the time

bristolian — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 07:27:43 GMT

If the building were blocking the signal, the symptom would be a loss of coverage.

Re: Extremely slow 4g data connection, below 1Mbps most the time

gedbyrne — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 10:40:08 GMT

EE aggressively packet shape over popular ports, especially if you're downloading a lot of data. Using a VPN helps (which 100% confirms the packet shaping) but not by a huge amount because they throttle the traffic anyway when there's high network use or repairs.

I got trapped with the 4G broadband and it's genuinely amazing how it's even lawful to sell this as a service.

Re: Extremely slow 4g data connection, below 1Mbps most the time

samski — Fri, 02 May 2025 18:48:05 GMT

I sometimes get good speeds, as the last reply said, and the signal is fine. I thought it may be due to me paying less now im not paying for broadband but maybe if this is the case it is some sort of automated system based on usage in the area, it seems to be at night i get better speeds, but not always.

Re: Extremely slow 4g data connection, below 1Mbps most the time

samski — Mon, 05 May 2025 17:52:32 GMT

I see your just a visitor, but do you know if i can pay for an extra package to get more consistent speeds, or is it that this has to be done to allow for the huge amount of people using 4G...

Re: Extremely slow 4g data connection, below 1Mbps most the time

samski — Mon, 05 May 2025 17:53:42 GMT

Sometimes i get ok speeds, i guess it depends how busy it is in the area? i guess i call support tomorrow see if they can help.

Re: Extremely slow 4g data connection, below 1Mbps most the time

bristolian — Mon, 05 May 2025 18:15:09 GMT

Coverage is not dictated or impacted by traffic volumes. 3G had an element of cell-breathing, but that quirk was limited to that specific technology.

Re: Extremely slow 4g data connection, below 1Mbps most the time

samski — Tue, 06 May 2025 10:37:42 GMT

What could be the issue then, I have less than a Mbps this morning, but had over 10 last night in the early hours, its extremely sporadic, my signal is still fine, have been charging my phone, is satellite coverage sporadic? I just want to have 2Mbps at least through the day. Is this something i need to call support for?

Re: Extremely slow 4g data connection, below 1Mbps most the time

Leanne_T — Tue, 06 May 2025 11:21:37 GMT

Hi there @samski

Thanks for coming back to the community.

I would suggest getting in touch with our tech guides and they can get the connection looked into for you.

For ways to get in touch, please see our Contact Us page.

Let us know how you get on 🙂

Leanne.

Re: Extremely slow 4g data connection, below 1Mbps most the time

samski — Mon, 12 May 2025 11:02:27 GMT

After speaking with your customer service a couple of times, I now have a clearer understanding, not of my issue, but of what type of company EE is. Whilst they did have some generic actions for me to take that could help some people, the very polite and seemingly helpful support hung up on me at the time she told me the previous conversation she was finishing her shift, then promptly closed the case. Through the conversation she was not able to give me any coherent reason as to why i was having such fluctuations in signal (it took me 7 minutes to even be able to get onto this website), and all i can assume is that whatever the underlying reasons are that they do not want them to be public facing due to prioritising a pretty face rather than honestly delivering a service. I will try and call back again at some point this week when less angry, ,but they need speed tests for the slow speeds, and all the speed tests keep failing because the speeds are to slow, when they do work i get some at around 2mbps, and only late at night or the early hours do I get anywhere near advertised speeds. I'm guessing, (as apparently they don't know the truth) that there is only so much bandwidth on a 4G tower, that has to be shared between everyone using it, and there is only one tower in signal range, perhaps the reason they don't explain this is because other companies get priority, or it just makes their offered speeds seem unrealistic for most. Can understand why there are people roaming these forums with unconfirmable theories on why the service is so poor, this must really grind some peoples gears. Hopefully the next technician is able to help or at least explain, as I will not be buying broadband from a service that cant be explained even by the technicians.