Does BT Mobile have a 5G speed cap?

[Ollie2222]

I've just recontracted with BT mobile for another 12 months and have gone from an old 4G plan which had the extra speed add on onto a 5G plan.

I've done a couple of speed tests with places like fast.com and it now appears that downloads are capped at about 30mbps.

I'll do some more tests later when the networks should be quieter and when I have a better signal but the way it breaches and then settles to around 30mbps I suspect it's a network limit.

So as per the thread title does anyone know if BT Mobile throttle 5G or new contracts?

[clever_trevor]

HI,

Yes, so BT Mobile is capped - unless you opted for ‘speed boost’ - then us uncapped & I have this and with 5G seen amazing speeds.

Same as EE - there ‘no frills’ is capped at 10Mbs & Essentials plan at 100Mbs 

[David500]

@Ollie2222 How did you manage to re-contract your BT mobile with BT? BT stopped taking on new customers sometime ago and I thought also now existing customers from renewing their contracts and are offering deals with EE if you have BT broadband.

[Ollie2222]

Thanks for the reply and info.

I've just done a little more testing, 5G has only recently started to be rolled out in my area and we don't have full coverage yet however I've just driven across town and tested in a few locations and when closer to some of the cell towers I've regularly got between 150mbps and 210mbps so clearly there is no overall cap.

The cell tower near me doesn't seem to go more than 30mbps but I'm a little way away so I'll try and have another go when I'm closer to it.

Is the speed boost you mention the 4G extra speed add on I mentioned earlier? If not is there any way I can check in the online account?

[Ollie2222]

Like you I too thought that you had to move to EE however it appears that if you are a sim only customer (a family sim with a few sims in my case) then they can still renew contracts.

I applied for my PAC code to move to another network and after getting the PAC codes it gave me a number to call if you want to discuss options which is the standard BT mobile cancellation number.

I called on the off chance they they could offer something that would suit my needs better and I explained to a nice lady what I was after and she looked at the options available.

They offered a 12 month contract with a bit more data, 5G and my roam at home and TNT sports option for what I consider a good price so I went with it.

5G started working a few minutes later and everything has been updated.

[Ollie2222]

Just another quick follow up on this, I've done a little more testing on my local cell and the speeds aren't capped but it appears we're on the edge of a couple of cell towers and signal strength is just low.

If I use a signal strength meter and put the phone in the optimal position (held near window, arm in air standing on one leg type of thing) then it connects on band 3 5G, the signal strength is about -108dbm which will allow about 45mpbs.

In a more normal location the signal strength is about -116dbm and about 30mbps.

If I move around the house it often jumps to 4G and uses band 20 which has a lower amount of bandwidth available and I only get about 10mbps.

If I move away half a mile away the signal strength gets better and once you're better than -100dbm then you get some very quick speeds.

All of the speeds are fine for general use and when at home I use wifi anyway however it's nice to know the service doesn't appear to be capped.

[David500]

@Ollie2222 Like you I too thought that you had to move to EE however it appears that if you are a sim only customer (a family sim with a few sims in my case) then they can still renew contracts.

Thanks I might give them a call as I could do with more data.

[Ollie2222]

No problems, I hope you get it sorted too.

[David500]

Phoned BT this morning increased my data on 12 month contract for less than the EE package I was looking at and he offered to reduce the cost of the 2nd mobile which I accepted.

[Ollie2222]

Excellent, glad to hear you got it sorted.

It'll be interesting to see how long BT Mobile continues to operate and whether at some point we'll be forced to move.