Three.ie being sneaky with their allowance

Rumple Fugly · 07-11-2014 11:17am #1

I've been a Three mobile broadband customer for years. I live in a very rural area and was delighted when the national broadband scheme came about and upped the allowance to 40gigs a month instead of the 20g we got before that, even though I never got near using 20gigs, unless I really tried!! Recently though they've done away with the NBS and have cut our allowance down to 15gigs for the same price as we were paying for 20! That's not the sneaky thing though....
I've noticed that even though I have nearly two weeks left of my allowance, somehow i have 10gigs used already, with fairly light use. I have a feeling that Three.ie is making us burn through our allowance faster so we'll upgrade to their next package, which is 34.99 for 60gigs. Not an isolated case either, a friend of mine couldn't connect to her internet and when we checked her allowance, it was all used up with a week to go until it topped up again, and she had gone 1.3gigs over her limit, they're charging her €75 for that 1.3gigs plus €20 for the original 15gigs!
Treating long standing customers like this is a bit below the belt and were both considering leaving Three.ie for a more reasonable alternative.

07-11-2014 11:43am

Rumple Fugly wrote: »

I have a feeling that Three.ie is making us burn through our allowance faster so we'll upgrade to their next package

That's a pretty serious allegation to be making, and pretty easily verifiable, so it would be insane for Three to do it. Record your own usage and you'll soon know

BeerWolf · 07-11-2014 11:55am

I'm currently with their 60GB package and I had a similar experience of data allowance getting used up.

I've had my router having handled only 54GB for that month (I reset it's counter on every monthly reset), and yet somehow I've gone over the cap into 60.35GB. My connection is strictly through that router, and I don't use it anywhere else but at my house... so I seriously don't understand how 6GB was magically used up when my router says otherwise...

ED E · 07-11-2014 11:59am

Lots of providers do byte rounding, that could account for some usage.

Also remember three count on every 30 DAYS not every month.

07-11-2014 12:05pm

BeerWolf wrote: »

I'm currently with their 60GB package and I had a similar experience of data allowance getting used up.

I've had my router having handled only 54GB for that month (I reset it's counter on every monthly reset), and yet somehow I've gone over the cap into 60.35GB. My connection is strictly through that router, and I don't use it anywhere else but at my house... so I seriously don't understand how 6GB was magically used up when my router says otherwise...

Possible reasons:

Does your router track downloads and uploads?
Does it measure in Gibibytes (1024^3 bytes) or Gigabytes (1000^3 bytes)?
As ED E mentioned, are you sure you're measuring the same days that Three are measuring?

BeerWolf · 08-11-2014 6:07pm

28064212 wrote: »

Possible reasons:
Does your router track downloads and uploads?

Does it measure in Gibibytes (1024^3 bytes) or Gigabytes (1000^3 bytes)?

As ED E mentioned, are you sure you're measuring the same days that Three are measuring?

1. Yup
2. Not sure, it shows it in MB or GB... but the current download / upload rate is measured in "MBits/s".
3. I'm well aware of the day it resets.

AlanS181824 · 09-11-2014 1:57pm

Is the NBS being renewed now or what?

BeerWolf · 09-11-2014 2:37pm

AlanS181824 wrote: »

Is the NBS being renewed now or what?

Don't think so.

Rumple Fugly · 25-11-2014 3:22am

I'm going to pull this thread back from the brink because I'm still suspicious of Threes allowance. I have another example of data getting used up quicker than it used to be and I'm sure there are others out there that have also noticed this. My dad has Three PAYG broadband (€15 month = 1gb) and it only lasts him 3 weeks before he has to top up again. Now, 1gb isn't much, but he has this service the last 18months and never once used up even half of it, now it's all going in 3 weeks! And all he looks up is Facebook!
Surely somebody else on here has noticed their data disappearing quicker?

I'm going to tackle the Three section on Boards to see how they'll fob me off and tell me i'm only imagining it.

wheresmybeaver · 25-11-2014 8:13am

Rumple Fugly wrote: »

I'm going to pull this thread back from the brink because I'm still suspicious of Threes allowance. I have another example of data getting used up quicker than it used to be and I'm sure there are others out there that have also noticed this. My dad has Three PAYG broadband (€15 month = 1gb) and it only lasts him 3 weeks before he has to top up again. Now, 1gb isn't much, but he has this service the last 18months and never once used up even half of it, now it's all going in 3 weeks! And all he looks up is Facebook!
Surely somebody else on here has noticed their data disappearing quicker?

I'm going to tackle the Three section on Boards to see how they'll fob me off and tell me i'm only imagining it.

Facebook now auto-plays all videos in your timeline (with sound muted), it's a big data-guzzler and pain in the ass. Tell him to go to the link below to turn it off:
https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=videos

Nono Toure · 25-11-2014 8:34am

I too seem to be having issues with my usage going quicker than usual.

I get 15GB per month, before I'd never go over 12 or 13GB max, I keep track of it every 2nd day, and my month starts on the 6th of each.

According to Three's website, I've used 11.5GB in 19 days, so I'm now left with fúck all for the remaining 11 days!

This has been happening for the last 4 months.

If you're contacting Three on their boards.ie page, feel free to copy & paste this text from me.

dalta5billion · 25-11-2014 8:37am

Anyone want to fund an accurate test?

(I'll do it for 30 grand plus expenses

)

matt-dublin · 25-11-2014 8:41am

Top/IP overheads could account for it? I would have thought approx 5-10% maybe?

Also dropped packets between the router and masts would possibly be counted

ItHurtsWhenIP · 25-11-2014 4:12pm

Rumple Fugly wrote: »

I'm going to pull this thread back from the brink because I'm still suspicious of Threes allowance. I have another example of data getting used up quicker than it used to be and I'm sure there are others out there that have also noticed this. My dad has Three PAYG broadband (€15 month = 1gb) and it only lasts him 3 weeks before he has to top up again. Now, 1gb isn't much, but he has this service the last 18months and never once used up even half of it, now it's all going in 3 weeks! And all he looks up is Facebook!.

Does he have automatic updates on? He should do (for safety sake), but didn't M$FT drop a massive patch package early this month? Also Adobe patches can be sizeable too.

ED E · 25-11-2014 4:27pm

If he's on FB, its likely autoplay videos.

Nono Toure · 07-12-2014 10:25am

This is getting ridiculous. According to my dongle and 3's website I've used 5GB since yesterday even though my phone says I only used 125mb yesterday and I had my laptop only on for 2 hours using basic internet. Anyone else having this issue??

perrier · 07-12-2014 4:42pm

There's definitely something up a I have the same problem. I have the 60G for €34 for the last couple of years and never got near the limit. Since June this year we have been hitting the limit constantly and had bills up to €110 for exceeding it. We are getting max download speeds of 1.5mb/sec so it's almost useless.

perrier · 07-12-2014 4:44pm

There's definitely something up as I have the same problem. I have the 60G for €34 for the last couple of years and never got near the limit. Since June this year we have been hitting the limit constantly and had bills up to €110 for exceeding it. We are getting max download speeds of 1.5mb/sec so it's almost useless.

AlanS181824 · 07-12-2014 5:08pm

This is disgraceful carry on from Three and they've a lot of explaining to do.

I live in the town so I can get a relatively quality connection but I noticed that it tends to be Three's customers who live rural and Three is their only option that get affected by this!

matt-dublin · 07-12-2014 7:25pm

U should change the wifi password in case someone else is using it

perrier · 07-12-2014 11:14pm

I've been using a dongle for the last two months and with 6 days to go I've only 4GB left on my allowance.

ralphie · 08-12-2014 2:23am

I'm having this problem too.There's definitely something going on here.

Bog Standard User · 08-12-2014 2:37am

do you have facebook on you and your family's phones? using a 3g wifi hub device in your home? if yes go into the facebook app settings > video > disable video autoplay.

it will kill your allowance if there is 20+ hd videos trying to preview play at the same time. video autoplay also eats phone credit when you are out n about

Just a little Samba · 08-12-2014 2:44am

Just get a 3pay sim with 20 euro topup and put that into the dongle/router. Problem solved. You now have unlimited data for 20yoyos.

paconnors · 08-12-2014 2:56am

Just a little Samba wrote: »

Just get a 3pay sim with 20 euro topup and put that into the dongle/router. Problem solved. You now have unlimited data for 20yoyos.

Not according their terms

Three continuously monitors network performance to ensure that the service received by customers is not impacted through a minority of users placing high demand on network resources (e.g. large bandwidths over long periods). Should your data usage exceed 15GB in a 30 day period and your usage affect other network users, we reserve the right to limit your Service.

Bog Standard User · 08-12-2014 2:56am

Just a little Samba wrote: »

Just get a 3pay sim with 20 euro topup and put that into the dongle/router. Problem solved. You now have unlimited data for 20yoyos.

i dont think phone sims work in dongles

Rumple Fugly · 08-12-2014 3:27am

I'm glad I'm not on my own with this problem. I tackled Three on their forum about this but got fobbed off with Facebook autoplay excuses. They also said that they can't manipulate customers allowance to use it up faster but to be honest I don't believe them. When I was on the NBS a couple of months ago my Internet usage reflected the allowance usage but as soon as the NBS was done away with my allowance seems to be frittering away even when my Internet is switched off! Something fishy definitely going on!

Bog Standard User · 08-12-2014 3:32am

Rumple Fugly wrote: »

I'm glad I'm not on my own with this problem. I tackled Three on their forum about this but got fobbed off with Facebook autoplay excuses. They also said that they can't manipulate customers allowance to use it up faster but to be honest I don't believe them. When I was on the NBS a couple of months ago my Internet usage reflected the allowance usage but as soon as the NBS was done away with my allowance seems to be frittering away even when my Internet is switched off! Something fishy definitely going on!

most ips usage graphs are delayed by 24hours and not realtime

if u turn off your dongle you have to wait another 48hours to pass to see the drop in usage (24 hours for the day you had it on then 24hours to see it was off)

Nono Toure · 08-12-2014 10:46am

Just a little Samba wrote: »

Just get a 3pay sim with 20 euro topup and put that into the dongle/router. Problem solved. You now have unlimited data for 20yoyos.

This is what I plan on doing. I know of a guy who does this and it works as far as I know. Has anyone on here tried it?

Just a little Samba · 08-12-2014 11:09am

Bog Standard User wrote: »

i dont think phone sims work in dongles

They do.

paconnors wrote: »

Not according their terms

Three continuously monitors network performance to ensure that the service received by customers is not impacted through a minority of users placing high demand on network resources (e.g. large bandwidths over long periods). Should your data usage exceed 15GB in a 30 day period and your usage affect other network users, we reserve the right to limit your Service.

They claim to, but I've done it myself for longish periods and have mates still doing it.
Three never cut any of us off or trottled our speeds.

Was sharing a house with 4 lads and we were all using an old samsung as a WiFi hotspot for a month and a half and besides the fast that it was pretty slow if someone was streaming or downloading we never had an issue.

Mate worked for 3 and in a salestraining thing they told him, straight up "nobody has ever had their data cut off for using more than 15gb on PAYG, it's not worth the effort to monitor it that closely" and they nolonger have a 15gb "fair usage" policy anyway, it was done away with.

Three.ie being sneaky with their allowance

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