Original article ISPreview UK:Read More
Some customers of mobile network operator Three UK (VodafoneThree), specifically those who took the new 5G Outdoor Hub (Green Packet Y5-210MU) option for their Three Home Broadband service, are finding that the router has recently developed an annoying habit of rebooting itself once every hour.
The problem appears to have first started on Thursday 7th August 2025 and isn’t being reported by everybody. Several threads on the operator’s community forum (e.g. here and here) make reference to the issue, as do several posts via social media and some review websites. But so far Three UK have not acknowledged that the issue exists and has merely continued to gather data from those affected.
One of those impacted by the issue, Matt, suggested to both ISPreview and Thinkbroadband that the problem may have been caused by a possible Firmware update that seems to force a TR-069 inform interval of 3600 seconds and each inform event ends up restarting the modem session.
For the uninitiated, TR-069 is a common remote management service, which is what enables broadband and mobile ISPs to access, manage and update your broadband router (e.g. necessary for use as part of customer support tasks).
Matt told ISPreview:
“Customers are unable to disable TR-069 or change the interval because the firmware is locked down (and even ignores attempts to override it). My own connection — which I rely on for delivering online training sessions from home — is currently disconnecting once per hour like clockwork, which is now directly impacting my work/income.
Three’s customer support say the only advice is “reboot the router”, and there’s no escalation route that actually addresses the firmware flaw. They continue to advertise this as an “outdoor 5G broadband solution”, they even insisted I was sent a new EERO and Router but the problem is exactly the same again.”
Naturally, we’ve contacted Three UK in the hope of securing an update and will report back when they respond. But it’s worth noting that resolving firmware bugs, if indeed that does turn out to be the issue, tends to be a very slow process for most networks. This usually extends more from the manufacturer’s side than the network operator. Any changes also have to go through testing before they can be distributed in the wild, which adds another delay.
As we say, ISPreview hasn’t yet seen similar complaints from every user of the same kit, although we aren’t currently sure whether they’re all on the same firmware version. Customers who report the issue are on hardware version 1.0 and firmware version: Y5-210MU_V1.3.5_ThreeUK. Mind you, it’s not the first time an issue related to connection drops has cropped up with this specific device (mega thread).