Three -v- Vodafone

sinduff

Hiya

Am thinking of switching to Three from Vodafone ... only prob is I don't know anyone with a Three phone! Have always had a Vodafone phone, but am pretty annoyed with attitude etc ... does anyone have any idea's / experiences with Three?

Thanks 4 ur help!

ShowUsYourXbox

I've been with both (pay as you go) and i'd say vodafone are better. I get trouble with Three coverage, for making and recieving calls. Some people tell me it takes three of four calls to get anything but my answering machine. Other times its a pain in the ass to make a call.

No free online texts with Three, which i thought was great with vodafone. Also the roaming function of three is yet to be developed fully. I rang to make sure i could use my three phone in the Czech republic, but i couldn't (it's not exactly Zimbabwe, they are a European country). They told me three bill phones worked in czech, so i asked about changing over and they told me i'd have to buy a new bill pack, (ie handset and sim), then apply to have my current mobile no moved over.

Ended up buying a ten euro vodafone sim pack and using an old phone over there.

Anyway, long story short. As far as Pay as you go, goes.. i'd stick with vodafone (i'll be moving back shortly anyway).

tvnutz

I was with Vodafone since I got my first phone and was with them for years. I think overall I found them fairly expensive, especially when you look at the meteor packages. I wanted a new phone, the nokia 6280 which was only available on 3 so I decided to move. Overall I believe calls are a bit more expensive but texts are far cheaper 5c compared to 13c with vodafone (when I was with them anyway).

However the phone I got is full of bugs,something keeps going wrong with it time and time again. If I bring it back it has to get sent off for repair so I would be without my phone number for a few weeks, which I need. I believe 3 don't do upgrades on pay as you go, the roaming is very limited as someone already mentioned and the signal is crap. I keep losing the signal totally several times a day. No free online texts which was handy with vodafone.

So once I get some cash together I plan to buy a phone that works and in the process change networks. Not sure if I will go back to vodafone yet, I might have a look and see what Meteor and O2 are like.

So that is my little rant over...long story short, don't switch to 3!

darc

How about o2? Join online and you get 20% additional minutes for life on their online plans. Or Meteor and you get free weekend calls for life. Vodafone are very expensive. www.callcosts.ie for comparison costs.

sinduff

Hi All,

Thanks a mill for your advice! Still not sure what I'm going to do In the absence of any firm decision will stick with ready go for the moment!

Thanks again!!

diarmuidh

tried to make calls and send texts with my 3 bill phone while in Spain..didnt work..used my old prepay 02 one there! am using the two phones and will be for a considerable time! ringing E Europe is dead cheap with 02 prepay..not with 3..use the 02 text online too..love the msn chat on 3 though

Solair

Yeah, 3 were a total disaster for me in Spain too. Couldn't log into networks most of the time when I was there.

They're supposed to have roaming agreements but they don't seem to really work reliably..

That was on 3 Bill pay too!

Worked fine in belgium, but got the shock of my life when I got the bill. However, it's cheaper now since they launched their new roaming rates.

Wouldn't rate 3 from a customer service point of view. They are nice, friendly etc on the phone, but they're powerless to actually do anything as 3 Ireland's physical network's managed by BT Ireland and they've no direct contact with anyone. It's all contracted out and outsourced, right hand doesn't know what the left hand's doing sort of organisation and their Irish operation's quite clearly an off-shoot of the UK.

It has little nice bits - videos, data, MSN etc etc, but it doesn't make up for the poor basic mobile services in my view anyway. I'd steer clear if you're not likely to be swayed by the internet stuff.

I'd recomend O2 if you want to change, they're comparable to Vodafone, 3 most certainly aren't at this stage. Meteor's not bad, just rather poor range of phones and no 3G for data/

clevtrev

I'm somewhat surprised at the negative sentiment towards 3 - I have a 3 billpay for about 18 months now and have had a very positive customer experience - Im on the talktime 200 deal and when compared with my old Vodafone deal its very competitive. I have had no issues with voice network coverage although I suppose I havent tested it in the more remote areas of the country. Roaming in the UK is great as it is inclusive in my monthly free minutes and standard after that. (I think a number of other countries are also included).

The free 3G services have been an nice extra although I have had some connectivity problems with this even in Dublin city centre. I dont use the new mobile broadband facility but I hear the rollout has been a bit of a disaster.

Cabaal

Signal and costs wise I cou;dn't fault Three when I was with them, however when it came to unlocking my phone I had awful problems and that mad me view them differently.

None the less they did sort it at the end but only after I made their life hell, I still personally go with Three over Vodafone anyday of the week

shayser

I changed from Vodafone to 3. Very sorry I did. Took over a month to get my number ported. This was followed with problems with the handset. Service was terrible. Granted, they were polite but always seem to be trying to work around problems rather than tackle them. They don't listen, repeatedly going over the same problem with different support people is common. As soon as my contract is up, I'm changing from 3.