Three network opinions

natman2007

I am with vodafone prepay and thinking of going to three pre pay, can anyone tell me their views on three positive or negative? ( for an irish customer )
i.e. coverage,quality,credit expiry dates, and anything else relevant.

Thanks:

real_484

found them good for price, poor selection of handsets, cs poor to bad but only had to use a few times. Coverage in Ireland and most countries good. Only problem had was in India was assured would have coverage had none wife had voda and coverage everywhere.

Gryzor

i was with 3 billpay for a year, found the coverage in Ireland to be spot on....i had difficulties roaming though, in certain countries, and found customer care to be difficult to deal with in these situations, they even refused to call me back at my hotel while trying to sort out the issues

No web texts

EDIT: meant to say I found they're tarrifs very competitive aswell

Walkman

Customer case is ok at best. Coverage is spot on never had a problem. Prices are excellent especially for data. As far as I know (correct me if im wrong) they have a limited handset range cause they are a 3g only network but they have the largest range of 3g handsets of any network. Content (planet3) also cannot be faulted. Never have had a problem with roaming (im on bill pay)

drunkmonkey

Walkman is right, they have the best 3g phones on offer....there pay as you go phones are expensive but then again you can do more with them than any other network (think mini web surfin machines)....nokia 6120, sony w880i, n73 are all around the €179 mark but there all top class phones....

If you'r spending more than €20 a month on credit it might be worth looking at going bill pay with them (they start at €19pm), you can pick up a top notch phone for free...

keep away from the nokia 6288 & 6151 if you want to use internet, those phones are pretty crap at loading web pages....surprised there even in the 3 range...

I'm bill pay with then since they came to Ireland, customer care can drive you loopy at times but I find it a lot easier to loose the head with the Indians than I do with the nice 02 girls down in limerick....

if you want a kick ass phone go with 3....the rest are a long way behind.....

Bluefrog

Voice: fine in Ireland - price competitive
Data: Seems to have recovered from initial hitches - price best in market
Customer Service: Pretty much useless if you have any kind of complex problem
Roaming: Still spotty but hopefully will improve over time.
Texting: Ireland seems to be fine - very spotty when texting foreign networks.

pops

Am interested in the roaming coverage of this network in the States. Has anyone had any problems with this, specific to the US?

Random

natman2007 wrote: »

I am with vodafone prepay and thinking of going to three pre pay, can anyone tell me their views on three positive or negative? ( for an irish customer )
i.e. coverage,quality,credit expiry dates, and anything else relevant.

Thanks:

3 customer care are awful. They have predefined scripts that they fail to deviate from. They have no common sense and they either don't understand what you're saying on the phone or they don't listen. This is my experience from constant dealings with them.

jimmycrackcorm

I was roaming in the states recently and had absolutely no problems. Also the roaming bill was a nice surprise

Walkman

Was roaming in New York and New Jersey last summer with no problems. AFAIK you will need a quad band phone though. Roaming bill was not too high and I was there for 3 weeks.

Sam Vimes

i was in new york a few months ago. I could scan for networks and find them so my phone was physically able to connect but i had no access to any networks

it's possible a call to cc would have fixed the problem but i don't like being told to take my sim card out and wipe it 5 times when its not costing me anything, let alone when i'm paying for it

Walkman

Sam I think thats got to do with the type of phone your
using ie it odds to be quad band and not a tri band phone. I think its something to do with the frequency AT&T broadcast in New York.

Sam Vimes

Walkman wrote: »

Sam I think thats got to do with the type of phone your
using ie it odds to be quad band and not a tri band phone. I think its something to do with the frequency AT&T broadcast in New York.

nope that wasn't the problem. I was using an e65 which is quad band and a k800 and a 6230i both had no problems connecting with vodafone and meteor sim cards

Walkman

Well cant defend 3 on that one so. Sam i admit defeat....lol

Sam Vimes

Walkman wrote: »

Well cant defend 3 on that one so. Sam i admit defeat....lol

/victory dance \o\ /o/

Walkman

Enjoy it while you can mate :-)

The_Hustler

This new plan better be good, I was about to switch to meteor with their new plan, especially since they're launching 3G soon.

Walkman

What do you class as good

The_Hustler

Well right now it's a bit of a rip getting charged 30 or 35c per minute at all times when texts aren't free. They're cheap for texts at 5c but have no online texts and with all the free text offers by other networks this is no longer cheap.

They're great for data, I went with them as soon as they launced 3pay because of 3G, but I am not a large consumer of it.

Giving free calls to other 3 customers wouldn't be great because I know noone with them but iI'd be happy if calls were reduced or even better if texts were free without an increase in call costs. I wouldn't even be that bothered about free texts if they had webtext though.

Though if meteor launch a good 3G network, then giving free texts with the same rate of calls may still make me switch, seeing as meteor are 29c calls and I know more people on it so I would use their free calls offer and use AFT for texts. I also miss being able to top up by texting AIB.
In fact, I don't know if 3 can launch something that will make me stay!

Walkman

Free calls and texts?;)

apollodjs

Agree with the hustler, one thing 3 have now over the others is they are the only network that has the minimum top up set as 10e to get the free stuff I really hope they dont drop this as its a major sellng point for me at least leave skype free credit etc at 10e and make free text or what ever they come up with 15e or something like that and Don't go putting a minimum connection fee per call its a feckin pain everytime you get someones voice mail even if you hang up your charged.

Ah-Watch

Walkman wrote: »

Free calls and texts?;)

Walkman should be on commission for 3 as he pickets for them;) not a huge fan of three but I'm liking the new price plans, Not a bad offer but wont make me switch frm vodafone. New price plans are cheap tho I'll give them that one!

long_b

Their PAYG top up service is down at the moment.
The one time since last month I need to get something done with 3, and I can't.
Not a bit surprised either.

Walkman

Why, im not trying to get anyone to change over, just telling it as I see it.

The_Hustler

Ah-Watch wrote: »

Walkman should be on commission for 3 as he pickets for them;) not a huge fan of three but I'm liking the new price plans, Not a bad offer but wont make me switch frm vodafone. New price plans are cheap tho I'll give them that one!

Hang on, do you know the new plans?

Walkman

Yes ah-watch, you seen the new plans?

Ah-Watch

Walkman wrote: »

Yes ah-watch, you seen the new plans?

yup! think people will be impressed about them but can't say what they are sorry... Training for the new price plans were on today!:)

apollodjs

Can you confirm the date?

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

paulm17781

The thing I've found with 3 while roaming is that if you send a text, quite often the person receives it over and over again until you return home. This is a nightmare. 3 CC insist it is every other network but this is not the case, it is a 3 fault.

Sam Vimes

paulm17781 wrote: »

The thing I've found with 3 while roaming is that if you send a text, quite often the person receives it over and over again until you return home. This is a nightmare. 3 CC insist it is every other network but this is not the case, it is a 3 fault.

oh no no no. 3 set up their network a certain way so it's up to every other network in the world to change their configuration to suit 3. so it's everyone's fault except theirs

paulm17781

Sam Vimes wrote: »

oh no no no. 3 set up their network a certain way so it's up to every other network in the world to change their configuration to suit 3. so it's everyone's fault except theirs

Yeah you're right, my bad.

That is pretty much what they told me. The other networks are incompatible, one has to wonder...

opus

paulm17781 wrote: »

The thing I've found with 3 while roaming is that if you send a text, quite often the person receives it over and over again until you return home. This is a nightmare. 3 CC insist it is every other network but this is not the case, it is a 3 fault.

I had that happen only the other way round, a friend of mine on 3 here sent me a text while I was abroad & I kept receiving it every three hours or so 'til I got back to Ireland. Made him swear never to send one one again when I'm on holidays

thecivvie

And don't forget that you cannot ring Tesco mobiles with 3

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

Davy

thecivvie wrote: »

And don't forget that you cannot ring Tesco mobiles with 3

I thought this was fixed??

thecivvie

davton wrote: »

I thought this was fixed??

Tried it a few days ago on my 3 mobile, did not work