Three

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Anyone use their network for mobile phones? Are they reliable? Good coverage? What's the 3G coverage and speed like?

Thanks.

[Vectis]

Yes.

iPhone, iPad and MiFi.

Brilliant coverage and throughput, especially the HSDPA+ MiFi which often has a higher download speed than my landline!

I've travelled extensively with it and in places where there's no O2 signal for miles (wifey's iPhone) there's always a 3 signal.

Due to the fact that they only use one of the higher frequency bands (1800? IIRC) indoor penetration isn't as good as some of the lower frequencies from the 'established' operators like Voda. That said, my MiFi is sitting on my desk showing a full signal right now.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Contract is up and 3 are the only company to offer unlimited data. I can get a Iphone 4S for £49 on a £33 month contract and £110 cashback via Quidco.

[Charlie Brown]

Rubbish.

Their 3G is good but customer service is shocking. Never again. I'm with Orange now and they're really expensive. Last months bill was £162! O2 are the best. Tesco is meant to be pretty good too.

[Vectis]

Contract is up and 3 are the only company to offer unlimited data. I can get a Iphone 4S for £49 on a £33 month contract and £110 cashback via Quidco.

Well they have a 14-day no quibble returns & cancellation policy so why not give 'em a try?

I've never had to use it mind. Always had top notch service and I've been a phone customer for 3 years and a mobile broadband customer for about 5.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

More details about their customer service being shocking please CB?

[marting]

More details about their customer service being shocking please CB?

3 hourson the phone and an expensive phone bill later and three separate phone calls to cancel my mobile broadband contract they will not take no for an answer very pushy.

[Corabar Steve]

You can go round & round in circles a bit with their customer service, but the actual service has been great for us with various phone & broadband services.

[Corabar Entertainment]

Phone, USB dongle (now pretty redundant for me, but Steve still uses his) & Mifi here.

Agree completely with Martin about coverage - superb! - Except for in my Mum's dining room for some reason :lol: - and, of course, their prices are very hard to beat.

Haven't found the service very competent (as in they mucked a few things up during the ordering and initial set up stages, and finding stuff on their website is a nightmare with contradictory information / broken links etc). However, when contacted directly, very apologetic, and they do sort things out. Just be prepared that things might go wrong initially / they might not get it right first time.

[WWDJ]

I've got the Ipad and Iphone both on 3. Coverage seems to be good and in the areas where i've made comparison with my wifes Iphone on Orange (mainly when she is moaning about no signal, i've always had signal)

I guess like any phone I've had hit and miss losing signal when travelling, but every phone on every network i've ever had has done that to be honest so it is no worse than others.

I called customer service about my Ipad contract which it seems based in India, but they did do what I asked, so all good there.

Nice that you can tether other devices to the Iphone as a hotspot and not have any additional charges. (I'm 3 months into my contract and no extra charges so far)

They do charge you to call voicemail though which is a bit bizarre nowadays and had resulted in a quid or two extra each month so watch for that if you use that service a lot.

[Charlie Brown]

More details about their customer service being shocking please CB?

http://blogs.which.co.uk/technology/mobile-phone-networks/3-rated-worst-network-operator-for-customer-service/

http://www.techdigest.tv/2011/04/3_and_t-mobile.html

I'll share my experiences this evening, just going to see Grandad. :beer1:

[Jiggles]

Nothin but positives from me here about three. CS is great web you get past the Indian accents. I have canceled two contracts with them an they did it with out fuss. I had some billing issues as well and they were happy to sort that out for me. Coverage is stupendous and I regularly get about 4meg download speeds. Their packages are the best out there for the price. I don't think I will ever change providers! Been with O2 and in comparison they are crap!

[DazzyD]

I have USB dongle on 3 and used to have a PAYG phone with them until I recently brought my phones together.

IMO, light years ahead of T-mobile on the CS front and don't get me started with BT!

As for quality of the actual service, they upgraded their network a couple of years ago and coverage is now brilliant. I'm with ASDA mobile, which I believe piggy-backs on to the Vodafone network, and I can get a 3 signal signal in areas where the ASDA phone struggles.

Other than what others have said, I've not much more to add!

[mikeee]

I'm with Three, no major problems. Customer service is hardwork as it's based in India. Go in to your local Three store and deal with a real person. Three, I believe work on a PCN (personal comms network), as opposed to a mobile network, and it does give much better coverage, but out does dodgy areas as with any other network. My only failing with Three is, I let my daughter persuade me to go for Blackberry's :-)

[Paul James Promotions]

Rubbish.

Their 3G is good but customer service is shocking. Never again. .

My experiences have been quite the opposite. I've been with Three since October when the iPhone 4S was released but O2 were unwilling to do me a decent contract renewal deal. My girlfriend and I took a bit of a gamble and took out two seperate contracts from Three, the 'One Plan', £35 a month.

Thus far, my experience with both coverage and customer service has been first class.

I have called their customer service line about 5 or 6 times, not with problems but for general queries and just with general interest to see how helpful they actually are (queries on international call charges, billing etc) and on every occasion my call has been answered within about 20 seconds and dealt with promptly.

Their website is pretty useful. "My Three", where you log on to check your bill etc is very good, it gives you nice easy access to previous bills etc.

Coverage wise, again, excellent. Occasionally when you are 'in the middle of nowhere' you might struggle to get a fast 3G signal, however in general it is much much better than it was with O2. As an example, a couple of weeks back whilst away for a weekend in Great Yarmouth, I was getting over 9mbps on the holiday camp, and had my iPad tethered (included in Three package) to my phone watching the footy on Sky Go for the full game with no buffering / image distortion whatsoever. Generally at the office and around home I am getting around 3-5mbps.

All in all, one of the best things i've done within the last few months.

Hope this helps.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Thanks Jamie - how does the tethering work? I pay £10 a month for 1Gb on my Ipad as well as £35 for my Iphone and am thinking it's going to be a bit unnecessary if Three is a lot faster.

[Paul James Promotions]

The tethering is included within the unlimited data package.

You just activate it in your iPhone network settings.

The iPhone then sets up a WiFi network and you simply select and connect to that network on your iPad. You can have several devices connected at the same time (5 IIRC), which can be a combination of laptops, iPad's other iPhones etc.

[Vectis]

how does the tethering work?

Turn on personal hotspot on the iPhone and it becomes a wireless bridge for other devices too, so the iPad connects over WiFi to the iPhone which in turn connects to the web over 3G.

Dead simple, even you could manage it ;)

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Turn on personal hotspot on the iPhone and it becomes a wireless bridge for other devices too, so the iPad connects over WiFi to the iPhone which in turn connects to the web over 3G.

Dead simple, even you could manage it ;)

Thanks :boxer2:

So, I am actually paying £10 a month for nothing at the moment, as I'm sure you can use tethering with 02 and I have unlimited data currently...

[Paul James Promotions]

So, I am actually paying £10 a month for nothing at the moment, as I'm sure you can use tethering with 02 and I have unlimited data currently...

From what I can remember whilst I was with O2, you do have to pay extra for the tethering. When you try to activate it on your phone it directs you to the O2 website.

[Glenski]

Hello

I was with Three on contract last year, but due to shocking customer service and constant 'Identity theft' leaks [within house - even after upping security and passwords/phrases] i cancelled my contract with them ...

Due to the number being my business number and on all my flyers, cards etc i kept the phone under a PAYG service.

I do use their 3 Dongle though on PAYG and it is brilliant service and very fast on HSPA+

Thank you

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

From what I can remember whilst I was with O2, you do have to pay extra for the tethering. When you try to activate it on your phone it directs you to the O2 website.

That's what it's doing...

[Jiggles]

Yeh 3 give you the all you can eat data which allows you to teather as said before. Unlike the other providers that will charge you the earth for using it. All round Daz moving to 3 will be like night and day more of everything you need and no nasty surprises!