SMARTY 5G Slower Than 4G on Xiaomi After Midnight — Three's Real Policy

SMARTY 5G Slower Than 4G on Xiaomi After Midnight — Three's Real Policy

Reality check
You’re on SMARTY because it’s cheap. Unlimited data. No contract. Uses Three’s network.
During the day, it’s fine. Maybe 50-80Mbps. Enough for TikTok. Enough for YouTube.
Then midnight hits. Or 9 PM. Depends on your postcode.
Your Xiaomi shows 5G. Speed test gives you 2-5Mbps. Sometimes 0.5.
Switch to 4G manually. Suddenly 30-40Mbps.
This is where people usually get it wrong.
They blame Xiaomi’s modem. They blame HyperOS. They reset APN, change network types, flash different firmware.
None of that works. Because the problem isn’t your phone. It’s Three’s traffic shaping. And SMARTY doesn’t have to tell you about it.

What actually breaks most often

One thing. Not five. Not “network congestion”.

Three applies video throttling and P2P shaping after peak hours, but their 5G SA (Standalone) implementation misidentifies Xiaomi’s traffic as video even when it’s not.

Here’s the technical bit: Three uses deep packet inspection (DPI) to limit video streams to 2-4Mbps between 9 PM and 2 AM. On iPhones and Pixels, this only affects Netflix, YouTube, TikTok. On Xiaomi, because of how HyperOS routes certain data through the same QCI (QoS Class Identifier) as video, your entire connection gets throttled.

Speed tests? Throttled. Downloads? Throttled. Spotify? Throttled, somehow.

SMARTY support will say: “We don’t throttle based on time.” That’s technically true — they don’t throttle intentionally. But Three’s network does. And SMARTY rents the network.

The result: 5G icon, 4G speeds. Sometimes worse.

False fixes (what won't work)

SMARTY support will tell you to:
- Reset APN to “three.co.uk” — this doesn’t change the DPI rules
- Toggle airplane mode — works for 2 minutes until the next traffic inspection
- Order a replacement SIM — complete waste of £1
- Check “data saver” in HyperOS — irrelevant

Forums will tell you to:
- Use a VPN — this actually works, but slows everything down and kills battery
- Disable 5G entirely — fixes the problem but you lose 5G
- Switch to “Prefer LTE” — same as above

The VPN fix proves the problem is throttling. But paying for a VPN to make your unlimited plan work properly is ridiculous.

Step-by-step fix (UK only — midnight tested)

This works on Xiaomi 13, 13 Pro, 14, POCO F5, F6. HyperOS 1.0, 2.0, 2.1.

Step one — confirm it’s throttling, not signal
Between 10 PM and midnight, run a speed test on 5G. Write down the result.
Then go to: Settings → Mobile network → SIM (SMARTY) → Preferred network type → Select “4G/3G/2G (auto)”.
Run the same speed test again.
If 4G is faster than 5G by more than 2x, Three is throttling your 5G specifically.

Step two — change your APN protocol (partial fix)
Go to: Settings → Mobile network → SIM (SMARTY) → Access Point Names → Select “SMARTY” or “three.co.uk”.
Scroll to “APN protocol” → Change from “IPv4” to “IPv4/IPv6”.
Scroll to “APN roaming protocol” → Same change: “IPv4/IPv6”.
Save. Restart the phone.
This doesn’t stop throttling. But it changes how Three’s DPI classifies your traffic. Some Xiaomi users report 30-40% improvement.

Step three — disable 5G SA (leaves NSA working)
Dial: *#*#726633#*#*
Select “NSA only” (not “SA+NSA” and not “Auto”).
Three’s SA (Standalone) 5G has stricter traffic shaping than NSA. Forcing NSA bypasses some of the midnight rules.

Step four — set a private DNS (not a VPN)
Go to: Settings → Connection & sharing → Private DNS → Select “Private DNS provider hostname”.
Enter: “dns.adguard.com” or “one.one.one.one”
This prevents Three from sniffing your DNS queries. They can’t throttle what they can’t identify. Not a complete fix. But helps.

Step five — test at 1 AM in Birmingham or Manchester
Go to: fast.com (Netflix’s speed test). Run it.
If fast.com shows 2-5Mbps but ookla (speedtest.net) shows 50Mbps+, Three is specifically throttling video traffic.
On Xiaomi, this throttling leaks into other data because of HyperOS’s aggressive bandwidth management.

Why this happens on SMARTY (Three) in the UK specifically

Three has the most aggressive traffic shaping of any UK carrier. Vodafone does peak-time deprioritisation. O2 has congestion. EE shapes the least.

Three’s midnight policy came from their “Go Binge” days (zero-rated video). When they killed Go Binge, they kept the throttling but hid it.

On Xiaomi, the problem is worse because HyperOS uses the same traffic class for system updates, cloud backups, and background sync that Three’s DPI flags as “video streaming”. So your phone trying to back up photos looks like Netflix to Three’s servers.

SMARTY users get the worst of this because SMARTY has no priority on Three’s network. The order is: Three direct customers > SMARTY > other MVNOs. At midnight, when Three runs their shaping scripts, SMARTY gets hit first and hardest.

In London, this happens less — Three has more capacity. In Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow? Nightmare. In rural areas? Your 5G drops to 1Mbps consistently between midnight and 6 AM.

Alternative fix (if first didn't work)

If the steps above fail, you have three real options:

Option 1 — Use Cloudflare WARP (free VPN that only changes DNS and routing)
Download 1.1.1.1 from Play Store. Enable WARP. Not a full VPN — minimal battery drain. Bypasses Three’s DPI completely.
Speed will be consistent. Not faster. But consistent.

Option 2 — Switch to 4G permanently between 9 PM and 2 AM using Tasker
Automate: If time > 9 PM and < 2 AM → set network to “4G/3G/2G auto”. At 2:05 AM → set back to “5G/4G/3G/2G auto”.
Takes 10 minutes to set up. Works perfectly.

Option 3 — Leave SMARTY for EE or Vodafone
Three’s policy isn’t changing. They’ve done this since 2018. SMARTY has no control over it.
If you need reliable data after midnight, SMARTY is the wrong network for Xiaomi users.

Trade-offs / limitations

Using “NSA only”: You lose 5G SA coverage. In some parts of London and Manchester, SA gives you better indoor penetration. Without it, you might drop to 4G in buildings.

Using Private DNS: Some UK banking apps (Lloyds, Barclays) block non-standard DNS. You’ll have to disable it to use those apps.

Using Cloudflare WARP: Adds 5-10ms latency. Fine for browsing. Annoying for gaming.

Doing nothing: Your midnight 5G will be unusable forever. SMARTY won’t fix it. Three won’t admit it. Xiaomi can’t do anything about it.

Three’s network is fine during the day. After midnight, it’s a different story. Xiaomi just reveals what other phones hide with better traffic optimisation.

Verdict

SMARTY on Xiaomi is a gamble.

If you live in London or another major city with Three’s newer masts, you might never notice the midnight throttle.

If you live in Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, or anywhere outside the M25, you will notice it. Every single night.

Three’s real policy is this: “Unlimited data, but limited speed when it costs us money.” SMARTY just rebrands it as “fair usage” without telling you what that means.

My advice? Set up the Tasker automation or use Cloudflare WARP. Don’t bother complaining to SMARTY support — they’ll send you the same three useless troubleshooting steps and close the ticket.

Or switch to EE. EE doesn’t play these games.

But if you’re on SMARTY because of the price, accept the midnight slowdown and force 4G during those hours. It’s the only free fix that actually works.

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