Three- scant coverage and NO roaming agreement in Northern Ireland

eth0_

I just went to stay with my sister for a few days, she lives in a village in south Down. It's by no means remote. As soon as I got outside the greater Belfast area, my phone said 'emergency calls only'. I did a network scan and the only network that wasn't barred was Vodafone. So I connected to that but it still said 'emergency calls only'. Three network was not available.

I looked at their coverage page and sure enough, virtually everywhere east of Belfast is not covered by Three! They've been in the UK nearly five years now and no coverage?!

I digress - my sister told me her friend is on 3 UK and when he visits he can use his phone there as it piggybacks on Vodafone's network.

I rang 3 customer services (the 083 3333333 number). It rang for several minutes before being answered by an indian person going "Hello? HEY! HELLO?!" and then hanging up on me. I tried again, same thing. I rang 3's UK customer service number...which doesn't even give an option of speaking to a human!

Finally I got through to a Scottish person on the sales line who apologised and put me through to India again. Indian guy hung up on me as soon as I said I was a subscriber to Three Ireland! The Scottish lady put me through to another of the useless Indian cretins, who put me on hold for ages and then put me through to 'technical support' who finally told me no, my phone will not work there unless it can see the Three network. There's no roaming agreement. I pointed out that UK three subscribers can use Vodafone, why can't Irish customers?! "It's a different company", said cretin.

I'm really amazed at this, even for Three. They have sh*t coverage in Northern Ireland and no roaming agreement in place for non UK Three customers? I'd love to leave Three but their great data services are what keeps me with them

robinph

I'm sure I've been connected to O2 on occasion when in the UK as well as another network that I cannot remember, not Vodafone though.

eth0_

robinph wrote: »

I'm sure I've been connected to O2 on occasion when in the UK as well as another network that I cannot remember, not Vodafone though.

I was in Scotland last week and i'm nearly 100% sure my Three phone roamed onto another network. Maybe N. Ireland is a different story.

ardmacha

Well the Three Ireland website suggests that Pay Monthly customers can roam on O2 and TMobile, but while it lists non Three roaming UK charges for 3Pay customers, it doesn't list any networks you can roam with! Jokers. In the North 3 has some service along the main roads, but none whatsoever in Fermanagh most of Tyrone, etc.

Terrontress

I am currently in Warrenpoint, in South Down. I have full 3UK signal. I have also had the same in Downpatrick, Rostrevor, Saintfield, Newcastle, Bangor, East Belfast; all of which are throughout County Down.

Last night in Newry, I received a text to tell me I was on T Mobile and calls home would cost 39c per minute. Cheaper than the other Irish mobiles to roam here. I was able to search for 3UK manually though and after I got it there was no problem again.

I'd say your problem is with your phone. Try to turn it off and back on again.

eth0_

Terrontress wrote: »

I'd say your problem is with your phone. Try to turn it off and back on again.

There's nothing wrong with my phone....
I tried cleaning the sim and turning it back on. I also tried it in my sisters phone and I still couldn't see 3. If you look at the coverage map of Down on Three's website there is a pitiful amount of coverage. I was actually <5 miles from Downpatrick and there was no coverage at all. I drove through Ballynahinch on my way to the m1, and I didn't get back on 3 until I was in Lisburn.

I see on their roaming page they provide o2 and t-mobile roaming...IF you're a pay monthly customer! Grrrr.

Terrontress

Sorry, I can only speak for prepay but I can fully recommend 3 if you go into the North much or to GB. Or to Austria or Scandanavia for that matter!

It's great being away and being able to use the data allowance.

In terms of lack of coverage East of Belfast, you've got Newtownards, Larne and beyond that is Scotland!

eth0_

Terrontress wrote: »

Sorry, I can only speak for prepay

You can't use your prepay Three phone if there's no Three coverage and there are plenty of areas where they don't have coverage...especially in Scotland.
That's pretty dreadful.

Terrontress

Apologies, I meant post-pay. I am much too tight to pay the 39c per minute so when I get no 3uk coverage, I make no calls. I just change the network to 3uk. I am in the North every fortnight or so and can honestly say I have never been unable to make a call as a result.

Our man in Havana

I tried cleaning the sim.

Someone has been talking to the Mumbai gang.

eth0_

Bond-007 wrote: »

Someone has been talking to the Mumbai gang.

lol they really are clueless idiots in those Indian call centres.
I'm going to make a complaint in writing to Three about my experiences. The very fact their customer care line rang out for 15 mins, and then the two times I did get through I was answered by some Indian person (who didn't sound like they were in a call centre) saying "HELLO? HI? HI?" and not "Hello, Three customer care" is disgraceful.

Our man in Havana

I agree 100% with you. But at the end of the day 3 won't take any notice of your complaints. 3 can hire 6 indians for the cost of one Irish person. 3 keep the overheads down by going abroad. The 3 group have all their worldwide support in India keeping it all in the same place at a low price.

1huge1

I was in northern ireland last week (tyrone)

First i was staying in a small town called sixmoilecorss, all I got was O2 UK and it worked perfectly.
Then I stayed a night in cookstown and had full 3UK 3G coverage the whole time.

I was able to use my irish minutes and texts no problem.

But thats only when on the 3UK network which isnt widely covered in northern ireland to be honest, but even still roaming was very cheap when on O2 UK

robinph

Why is it that although 3IE and 3UK both piggyback onto their respective versions of the Vodafone network at home, when it comes to roaming between the two networks you cannot get any coverage from Vodafone though?

eth0_

You can only roam in the UK onto o2 and t-mobile if you are a BILL PAY customer of Three.

ardmacha

Three use O2 in the North. The point is that 3 Ireland customers can call on O2 and Tmobile but there is no data while roaming on these. Three customers are likely to be interested in data, if you had no interest in data you might as well just change to O2 altogether.

Terrontress

It's not surprising that a mobile network decides to concentrate its resources in more populous areas of a country.

I have never had a problem east of the Bann.

The issue in hand affects people roaming into the least populated areas of Northern Ireland. I don't think it's such an issue.

eth0_

ardmacha wrote: »

Three use O2 in the North. The point is that 3 Ireland customers can call on O2 and Tmobile but there is no data while roaming on these.

That is not entirely true. If you are a Three Pay as you go customer, you CANNOT ROAM on o2 or T-Mobile in the UK. The only roaming partner available to you is 3-UK. It states this clearly if you go to the roaming page on three.ie
Contract customers can roam using o2 and t-mobile.

Terrontress - I really don't care if Three don't have coverage absolutely everywhere, but they should have a roaming agreement in place for ALL their customers, instead of shafting their pay as you go users.

ardmacha

The "least populated" areas of NI include most of the areas near the border, where 3pay Ireland customers are very likely to find themselves.

And while the website does tell you that 3pay customers can't roam, it actually lists call charges for non 3 networks, when there aren't any. This is misleading. Such call charges should be sufficient to allow payment to some other network to provide the service.

1huge1

eth0_ wrote: »

That is not entirely true. If you are a Three Pay as you go customer, you CANNOT ROAM on o2 or T-Mobile in the UK. The only roaming partner available to you is 3-UK. It states this clearly if you go to the roaming page on three.ie
Contract customers can roam using o2 and t-mobile.

Terrontress - I really don't care if Three don't have coverage absolutely everywhere, but they should have a roaming agreement in place for ALL their customers, instead of shafting their pay as you go users.

Well they do have a agreement for all customers...

Your able to roam onto the 3 UK network as a 3pay customer when in the UK... is that not a roaming agreement.

eth0_

1huge1 wrote: »

Well they do have a agreement for all customers...

Your able to roam onto the 3 UK network as a 3pay customer when in the UK... is that not a roaming agreement.

You cannot roam onto other network where there is no 3 signal. http://www.three.ie/international/country_gb_2.htm
As you can see at the bottom, the only 'roaming partner' in the UK if you're on 3 pre-pay is Three UK. This was confirmed to me by Three customer services too.

Terrontress

Is it fair to state that pre pay service is never as comprehensive as post pay and as such some compromised must be expected?

Ard Maha. The fact that pre pay customers from 3IE might be close to the border is of no concern to 3UK. They are better to concentrate their resources where their customers use their phones.

ardmacha

They are better to concentrate their resources where their customers use their phones.

Of course they build their network where there are more customers. However, Three, and Three Ireland, Three Uk etc are just divisions of the same company, have configured their network, including their infill roaming arrangements, so that prepaid customers have no service in several areas of the country. They didn't need to do this. Mind you, this type of disregard for customer is not unusual with other companies either.

eth0_

Terrontress wrote: »

Is it fair to state that pre pay service is never as comprehensive as post pay and as such some compromised must be expected?

No, it's not. I wouldn't mind paying more to roam onto o2 and t-mobile than it would cost a contract customer, as long as I had the OPTION to connect to another network.

ardmacha

I am not an admirer of Tesco, but Tesco mobile have a simple service, your phone can be used in all parts of Ireland at the same cost (with a few caveats). They made the arrangements to allow this happen, anything less is not proper customer service.

neilled

ardmacha wrote: »

I am not an admirer of Tesco, but Tesco mobile have a simple service, your phone can be used in all parts of Ireland at the same cost (with a few caveats). They made the arrangements to allow this happen, anything less is not proper customer service.

We have full mobile number portability. Vote with your feet and take your customer elsewhere.

Our man in Havana

ardmacha wrote: »

I am not an admirer of Tesco, but Tesco mobile have a simple service, your phone can be used in all parts of Ireland at the same cost (with a few caveats). They made the arrangements to allow this happen, anything less is not proper customer service.

+ 1 for tesco.

Tesco roams onto o2 UK when in Norn Iron and the rest of the UK which is more than adquate.

eth0_

Bond-007 wrote: »

+ 1 for tesco.

Tesco roams onto o2 UK when in Norn Iron and the rest of the UK which is more than adquate.

I wouldn't give Tesco my business tbh.
I'm with Three because their data services are great and their texts are so cheap.

Have sent a letter of complaint to Three head office about this, will be waiting with bated breath to hear what their response is!

Our man in Havana

eth0_ wrote: »

I wouldn't give Tesco my business tbh.
I'm with Three because their data services are great and their texts are so cheap.

Fair enough.

eth0_ wrote: »

Have sent a letter of complaint to Three head office about this, will be waiting with bated breath to hear what their response is!

A phone call from CS in India no doubt.

marcowil

When my other half took out a new 3 contract in Belfast around beginning of October we were told categorically that 3UK were introducing an all ireland tariff (to ALL irish networks) within a few weeks. This was the main reason for going with them as it meant being able to use free texts/mins etc to contact all irish mobiles or be covered when in Dublin or wherever.

Almost three months on and it hasn't materialised yet

Walkman

marcowil wrote: »

When my other half took out a new 3 contract in Belfast around beginning of October we were told categorically that 3UK were introducing an all ireland tariff (to ALL irish networks) within a few weeks. This was the main reason for going with them as it meant being able to use free texts/mins etc to contact all irish mobiles or be covered when in Dublin or wherever.

Almost three months on and it hasn't materialised yet

probably 3 irelands fault