3 mobile service

Flexy

Have been thinking of getting mobile broadband for my laptop.3 deffinatly have the best prices and I live in Dublin so coverage should not be a problem.
But I have heard mixed reviews about there service,so I thought I would go and experiance it for myself at the weekend.
I went to there new shop on Grafton st,It was quite busy when I arrived so it took a few mins befor the sales guy could get to me.When he did the quality of info he gave was first class,he was pateint and attentive to my long list of questions unfortunatly my 7 year old daughter who was with me at the time was not so pateint,luckly another staff member saw this and disapeared out the back of the shop only to reapear with a balloon in her hand which she gave to my daughter silencing her protests with a smile(a great touch of first class service).The only slightly downside to my experiance was at the end of the conversation with the sales guy he tried to sell me a mobile phone which I was not interested in(all I wanted was broardband).But I guess sale men will be sales men.
I will deffinatly be returnig to there shop this weekend,This time with the correct identification.I only hope that if I ever need to use 3s customer service department it will be as good as the service I recieved in there shop.

cormie

I'm probably going to sign up for the three broadband 10GB/€20 per month package too. The only thing putting me off is having to pay €150 up front for a service I have no experience of, if it was just the €20 per month I'd just right in!

Flexy

I asked the sales guy in the shop what i could do if I did not like there service,He told me they have a 14 day money back service if you dont like it.Sounds like win win to me

cormie

That seems fair enough. Is it best to buy online or in one of the shops do you know? Is either any cheaper?

Flexy

Not to sure I will go to shop,I live close if theres any prob I can pop in quick at the weekend to sort it.Although a freind told me you dont need to go through the whole ID thing if you order on line.

AlmightyCushion

I have found 3 staff in the shop to be excellent unfortunately their call centre staff are meant to be rubbish.

Sponge Bob

3 customer service / accounts and tech support are dreadful although their billing is accurate unlike a lot of telcos .

Most of the time its an Indian reading a script in front of them ..and if you are lucky its dealt with somewhere in Scotland albeit still pretty useless.

cormie

How often do people need support though? In the 8 or so years I've been with o2, I've only called service maybe 5 times, can't imagine me needing to call three much at all either

Just having a look at the three site and I see there are 2 choices with the package, the usb or the laptop card one:




Huawei E220
> Get faster email and internet access on your laptop
> Download speeds up to 3.6Mbps on 3's HSDPA 3G network
> Send and receive texts from your laptop
€129.00 €49.00


Huawei E630
> Get faster email and internet access on your laptop
> Download speeds up to 3.6Mbps on 3's HSDPA 3G network
> Send and receive texts from your laptop
€129.00 €49.00


Does anyone know the difference? is it just one can be plugged in with USB and one can't? USB would be handy in that I could use it on a desktop too, but the card would be better to use with the laptop as it wouldn't stick out as much. Is that the only difference I wonder?

godskitchen

cormie wrote:

How often do people need support though? In the 8 or so years I've been with o2, I've only called service maybe 5 times, can't imagine me needing to call three much at all either

Just having a look at the three site and I see there are 2 choices with the package, the usb or the laptop card one:




Huawei E220
> Get faster email and internet access on your laptop
> Download speeds up to 3.6Mbps on 3's HSDPA 3G network
> Send and receive texts from your laptop
€129.00 €49.00


Huawei E630
> Get faster email and internet access on your laptop
> Download speeds up to 3.6Mbps on 3's HSDPA 3G network
> Send and receive texts from your laptop
€129.00 €49.00


Does anyone know the difference? is it just one can be plugged in with USB and one can't? USB would be handy in that I could use it on a desktop too, but the card would be better to use with the laptop as it wouldn't stick out as much. Is that the only difference I wonder?

Pray that you wont have to call them about anything!

Get the USB Modem, you wont be able to use the E630 on your desktop without extra equipment,

cormie

I don't have a desktop which would sway me towards the card one, but I'd say there'll come a time I wish I had have picked the USB one so I think I'll just go for that:)

cormie

Hey, can you buy the vodafone modem (which looks the exact same as the 3 one) which sells for €49 and then just use it with the 3 service instead of buying it from 3 for €129 and save yourself €80?

cormie

Do carfone warehouse, xtravision and all the other non-3 stores sell these too I wonder? Perhaps with better deals?

Sam Vimes

cormie wrote:

Hey, can you buy the vodafone modem (which looks the exact same as the 3 one) which sells for €49 and then just use it with the 3 service instead of buying it from 3 for €129 and save yourself €80?

i wouldn't be sure that the vodafone modem will be unlocked to allow a 3 sim card and in order to get the vodafone modem for €49 you have to sign up to a year contract with vodafone so you'd owe them €479 for the year. and 3 won't set you up a contract unless you get the modem.

so in short, it might be possible but would result in a saving of -€399

culabula

Apart from the trifling matter of two contracts the Vodafone modem is definitely locked.

cormie

Ah well, worth the thought:)

mcaul

I can vouch for the three service - get the usb thingy, it will allow option of PC access.

I've had it since end of Jan and no problems except in the first couple of weeks when I had e-mail issues.

Have had no requirement to call customer service since.

Their basic customer service is very good for account queries, coverage etc etc, but just don't ask anything technical.

At €20 a month it beats everything.

Average speed is from 800kbs (at edge of coverage area) to 2mb close to transmitter.

mcguyver

Whats the upload speed like anyone?

mcaul

The upload speed is quite slow - varies between 50kbs & 120kbs

mcguyver

Thats prety slow alright I rang them and asked them they said it would be 3.6 too :rolleyes:

Sam Vimes

mcguyver wrote:

Thats prety slow alright I rang them and asked them they said it would be 3.6 too :rolleyes:

3 customer care were wrong? noooooooooooooooooooooo!

culabula

mcguyver wrote:

Thats prety slow alright I rang them and asked them they said it would be 3.6 too :rolleyes:

Hilarious!

Sponge Bob

They have apparently run out of cards (temporarily) owing to unprecedented demand although a few shops still have them. Ring ahead to check first .

Bulmers

just been thinking about the mobile broadband offering from 3 and it cant really be a big money maker for them, €20x12=€240/yr per sub (assumming no one exceeds limits) not much really compared to what a bill on a phone would earn them..

just came to mind from a different poster who said when he was asking about a modem, they tried to flog him a phone...

seems to me a good way to do this now to get someone onto their network as a phone user would be nice bundles of broadband and minutes etc...

Sponge Bob

they have way fewer than 100k postpaid subscribers and this is a good way to up the number of subs quickly. It helps them grow at double digit percentages q on q and get they market momentum they badly need. Meteor did this with txt for life promotions.

adding a phone does not add a subscriber , the datacards are the cheapest and fastest way

ladylorenzo

AlmightyCushion wrote:

I have found 3 staff in the shop to be excellent unfortunately their call centre staff are meant to be rubbish.

In the 4 months since I joined 3, I've had to ring Customer Care more times than i did in the 7.5 years I was with my previous service provider and to say that their Customer Care is rubbish is putting it mildly. They are absolutely F*****G useless..seriously. Anyone who is even considering going with 3, think long and hard. I had my phone stolen on Fri nite from a pub in Bristol and when i called up to cancel it, it took the CS Agent almost 10 mins to figure out what i was telling him(I was saying 'lost' - he was hearing 'blocked' and kept asking me for my PUK code despite the fact that I had chosen option 3 which is for Lost/Stolen Phones in the customer services menu). Given that i was calling from the UK on my friend's irish mobile phone, the unwarranted lengthy call cost a fortune.
I then went to Carphone Warehouse to get my replacement phone and when I asked for a replacement SIM, i was told that with 3, i could only be given one by a 3 store(this was never the case with my previous provider)
So I went to the 3 store where I was told it would take 24 hours for the SIM to be activated. That was 28 hours ago so I called Customer Services again today only to be told that it was in fact 48 hours!!Joke. With my previous provider, its always within 1-2 hours.
So fed up with 3 that I wrote a letter of complaint to Head Office today and i never complain!!Yes, thats how bad they are.This isnt the first time I've had problems with 3 either - I can go for up to 7 days without being able to receive or make any calls.
So anyone who is thinking of switching over...I seriously wouldnt recommend it!