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3 - International Roaming

  • 05-08-2008 3:05pm
    #1
    EireEV
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 351 ✭✭


    Hi,

    Does anybody know why 3 offer International Romaing in more countries to their Bill pay customers compared with their 3-pay customers? They appear to be the only network that do this - the only difference with the others is that pre-pay customers pay slightly more for voice calls and text messages Vs the bill pay customers.

    This is extremely frustrating - on many occasions I've been abroad and cannot get any network for the duration of the holiday. I was in Bulgaria in April and had no network for the whole holiday - friends on 02, Meteor and Vodafone pre-pay could pick up a network no problem as could another friend who is a bill pay customer with 3.

    I was in Miami last year and had the exact same problem even though Roaming is supposed to be available in the US to 3-pay customers - when I arrived home I brought this to 3's attention who were completely baffled by this - my phone was sent off to be flashed but that didn't seem have had any impact as only last month on a short trip to cornwall in the UK (Yes the UK) I could only get network access in very few areas.

    At this point I'm just going to get the phone unlocked and buy a sim card from another network - was just wondering if anybody else shares my frustration or has experienced the same problems as myself with 3

    Thanks.

    EireEV

    I have a Nokia6288 if that helps !


Comments

  • #2
    paulm17781
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,858 ✭✭✭paulm17781


    3 are generally a disaster while roaming. They have so many problems it's unreal. From what I can tell of their policies, they don't want new customers. Since Prepay is more common, I can only assume this is the best way to annoy the most people.

    Even if the roaming did work, you'd probably send a few texts and then people would only get the first one you sent over and over until you got home.

    They're great when you're calling people who are at home while you're at home. That's the one thing I can't fault them on.


  • #3
    jimmycrackcorm
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,378 ✭✭✭✭jimmycrackcorm


    EireEV wrote: »
    - my phone was sent off to be flashed but that didn't seem have had any impact as only last month on a short trip to cornwall in the UK (Yes the UK) I could only get network access in very few areas.

    Did you have automatic network selection set or try doing a manual search. In the UK T-mobile / O2 should pick up where 3 hasn't coverage even for prepay?


  • #4
    Walkman
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,224 ✭✭✭Walkman


    Is the 6288 compatible with the US networks. AFAIK the handset needs to be quad band to work over there properly, but yes I agree with you its a strange practise to have more roaming agreements for bill customers and will only serve to annoy their pre pay customers. Note to 3 "sort it out".


  • #5
    Random
    Closed Accounts Posts: 19,080 ✭✭✭✭Random


    EireEV wrote: »

    Does anybody know why 3 offer International Romaing in more countries to their Bill pay customers compared with their 3-pay customers? They appear to be the only network that do this - the only difference with the others is that pre-pay customers pay slightly more for voice calls and text messages Vs the bill pay customers.

    This is not entirely true. I've seen it happen with a few "far out" countries on other networks before where they only support it on Billpay.

    One reason is that not all foreign networks update 3 right away with your usage. It may take 24 / 48 hours or even longer (some networks quote up to 30 days) for roaming calls to show. If you're on billpay then no problem, it just gets thrown on your bill when it comes through. If you're on prepay then they're screwed as you run up a massive negative balance and then being prepay you're less committed to them so can port out (depending on how their setup is) or just abandon your number and get another one.

    Meteor get around this prepay billing delay by taking a 60eur deposit but I guess some other networks feel it's not worth the effort / resources involved.


  • #6
    ardmacha
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,476 ✭✭✭ardmacha


    This is not entirely true. I've seen it happen with a few "far out" countries on other networks before where they only support it on Billpay.

    It is not true at all, there are dozens of countries where Voda or O2 billpay customers have service, while prepaid ones don't. But the popular countries to visit are mostly on prepaid now.


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  • #7
    Random
    Closed Accounts Posts: 19,080 ✭✭✭✭Random


    ardmacha wrote: »
    It is not true at all, there are dozens of countries where Voda or O2 billpay customers have service, while prepaid ones don't. But the popular countries to visit are mostly on prepaid now.
    That's what I wanted to say ardmacha but didn't have the time to confirm there was dozens so I went with what I was sure of :)


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