Is 3 a wise choice?

mumof2

Want to port over to three, for their free iphone offer, and their very good data allowance compared to Vodafone (current) or O2 networks.

Can anyone think of a reason I should avoid them? Coverage seems to be good........

Its a 24mth contract, so does anyone know if you can change your phone during this period/upgrade?

Thanks

vicM

mumof2 wrote: »

Want to port over to three, for their free iphone offer, and their very good data allowance compared to Vodafone (current) or O2 networks.

Can anyone think of a reason I should avoid them? Coverage seems to be good........

Its a 24mth contract, so does anyone know if you can change your phone during this period/upgrade?

Thanks

get a prepay SIM to test coverage first, this is vital.don't rely on what it seems..

ResearchWill

mumof2 wrote: »

Want to port over to three, for their free iphone offer, and their very good data allowance compared to Vodafone (current) or O2 networks.

Can anyone think of a reason I should avoid them? Coverage seems to be good........

Its a 24mth contract, so does anyone know if you can change your phone during this period/upgrade?

Thanks

3 are pretty strict on upgrade within contract period. Remember new iPhone is rumoured to be out next month prob in Ireland for Christmas, do you really want to be tied into what will in 24 months be prob 2 generations old.

Meteor and e-mobile also offer free iPhone I believe.

LH2011

mumof2 wrote: »

Want to port over to three, for their free iphone offer, and their very good data allowance compared to Vodafone (current) or O2 networks.

Can anyone think of a reason I should avoid them? Coverage seems to be good........

Its a 24mth contract, so does anyone know if you can change your phone during this period/upgrade?

Thanks

i see vodafone are doing the 32GB iphone 4 for FREE on 2yr contract, however you get only 1gb data, and free VF calls and texts for the monthly cost of €30... however you can customise the plan to add more minutes etc, however it makes the plan, the VF offering is not really that great value, but may suit light users...

not sure if VF still have the issues with dropped calls, on iphone 4... aparently tesco mobile are getting into the bill pay market soon, so may be worth holding out, to see what they will have...

drunkmonkey

mumof2 wrote: »

Want to port over to three, for their free iphone offer, and their very good data allowance compared to Vodafone (current) or O2 networks.

Can anyone think of a reason I should avoid them? Coverage seems to be good........

Its a 24mth contract, so does anyone know if you can change your phone during this period/upgrade?

Thanks

Vodafone & o2 are not at the races when it comes to price plans at the moment. I wouldn't have any hesitation moving I did it years ago and have had a few foreign holidays with what i've saved since.

As for changing your phone you can do that at any time but you'd have to pay pay as you go prices if your not due an upgrade. Your free to sell your iphone4 if an iphone5 comes out and pay the difference yourself.
If you didn't want a 24mt contract you could always get it on an 18mt contract you'll just pay a little extra for the phone rather than getting it free.
The way the upgrades work is your due and upgrade after 10mts on a 12mt contract. 16mts on an 18mt and 22mts on a 24mt.

xz

All this talk of iphone, why not port to 3 and avail of the best phone on the market at the moment in the Samsung Galaxy S2,for free. Yes 24 months is a long time, and phone technology moves on, but even with these standards of phones, iphone incl., you will get good value from your phone over 2 years.

BTW, I ported from VF to 3 last month,as did my wife. Our phone signal is better than it ever was with VF, could never get an indoor signal with VF, now we can.

BostonB

xz wrote: »

...BTW, I ported from VF to 3 last month,as did my wife. Our phone signal is better than it ever was with VF, could never get an indoor signal with VF, now we can.

Did you also change your phone?

vicM

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Vodafone & o2 are not at the races when it comes to price plans at the moment. I wouldn't have any hesitation moving I did it years ago and have had a few foreign holidays with what i've saved since.

As for changing your phone you can do that at any time but you'd have to pay pay as you go prices if your not due an upgrade. Your free to sell your iphone4 if an iphone5 comes out and pay the difference yourself.
If you didn't want a 24mt contract you could always get it on an 18mt contract you'll just pay a little extra for the phone rather than getting it free.
The way the upgrades work is your due and upgrade after 10mts on a 12mt contract. 16mts on an 18mt and 22mts on a 24mt.

Agree with most of what you say, but three don't easily unlock abill pay phone until the contact is up and even then ask for an administration fee

Walkman

Admin fee is no more with 3

xz

BostonB wrote: »

xz wrote: »

...BTW, I ported from VF to 3 last month,as did my wife. Our phone signal is better than it ever was with VF, could never get an indoor signal with VF, now we can.

Did you also change your phone?

Yes, I went for the Galaxy S2, which was free but on a 24 month contract

jimmycrackcorm

Don't go for the iPhone! A) The iPhone 5 is coming soon and there are no end of people complaining about iPhone 2g/3g issues on Three.

BostonB

xz wrote: »

Yes, I went for the Galaxy S2, which was free but on a 24 month contract

Then you don't know if the improvement was due to the network or the phone. The later I assume would be more likely. Considering AFAIK 3 use the Vodafone network.

Maental2000

Walkman wrote: »

Admin fee is no more with 3

Really???! How do you know this?

Walkman

Cause i asked

drunkmonkey

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

Don't go for the iPhone! A) The iPhone 5 is coming soon and there are no end of people complaining about iPhone 2g/3g issues on Three.

Have you even the slightest bit of evidence there is an iphone5 as for the issues with 2G/3G until the rest of the networks go fully 3G like 3 there's always going to be a 2G/3G issue.

blaz

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Have you even the slightest bit of evidence there is an iphone5 as for the issues with 2G/3G until the rest of the networks go fully 3G like 3 there's always going to be a 2G/3G issue.

The only network with a 2G/3G issue is Three.

Morf3h

One word of warning:

My new Galaxy S2 was stolen after a week being with three. Insurance company turned me down so I've no phone and a €40/month 24-month contract.

Nigs

also, if you want to put your sim into another phone it has to be a smartphone as the three sim cards are '3G' and won't work in older phones. I had to bring the old iPhone to Electric Picnic as a result.

drunkmonkey

The sims will work in some old phones, the old nokia builders 5140i will take a 3 sim, prefect for the picnic.
Why did the insurance turn you down a stolen phone is a stolen phone.

The_Bullman

Do 3 block some sites? I picked up a sim and to try out coverage but some sites appeared blocked.

ResearchWill

Morf3h wrote: »

One word of warning:

My new Galaxy S2 was stolen after a week being with three. Insurance company turned me down so I've no phone and a €40/month 24-month contract.

Nigs

also, if you want to put your sim into another phone it has to be a smartphone as the three sim cards are '3G' and won't work in older phones. I had to bring the old iPhone to Electric Picnic as a result.

Why did insurance company turn you down, I would not be very happy about that, have you complained to ombudsman. Also if you took out contract of insurance through 3 they are not living up to their end.

xz

BostonB wrote: »

Then you don't know if the improvement was due to the network or the phone. The later I assume would be more likely. Considering AFAIK 3 use the Vodafone network.

3 use their own network on 3G, they only use VF 2G network

drunkmonkey

The_Bullman wrote: »

Do 3 block some sites? I picked up a sim and to try out coverage but some sites appeared blocked.

On pay as you go yes they have 2, on bill pay you can take the restrictions off.

mumof2

Am going to go with the 24mth contract, once I ve asked a few more questions in the shop tomoro. Otherwise I've got to pay €179 for the phone on an 18 mth contract.

Thanks for all replies.:)

rtunes

I've got terrible coverage - and I live in the Dublin city centre!

vicM

rtunes wrote: »

I've got terrible coverage - and I live in the Dublin city centre!

So you get poor coverage all over the city and at all times? Find it hard to believe

rtunes

vicM wrote: »

So you get poor coverage all over the city and at all times? Find it hard to believe

I'd find it hard to believe too, if that's what I had said. Honestly though, have to walk round the house to speak to someone on the phone and calls go through to voicemail if I'm on the outskirts. Randomly unreliable. Just a suggestion for the OP.

vicM

rtunes wrote: »

I've got terrible coverage - and I live in the Dublin city centre!

rtunes wrote: »

I'd find it hard to believe too, if that's what I had said. Honestly though, have to walk round the house to speak to someone on the phone and calls go through to voicemail if I'm on the outskirts. Randomly unreliable. Just a suggestion for the OP.

Well, from your first post it would imply the whole city centre has dire coverage. If you had said your House in the City Centre, then it would have been harder to miscontrue.
I stay in D15 and inside the house, im always on 2G, if i step outside the door I get 3G with atleast 3 bars. I know the networks dont guarantee indoor coverage but I would be happier with even 2 bars of 3g indoors

jimmycrackcorm

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Have you even the slightest bit of evidence there is an iphone5 as for the issues with 2G/3G until the rest of the networks go fully 3G like 3 there's always going to be a 2G/3G issue.

LOL, you are funny. Are you really, seriously, really going to suggest there isn't going to be an iPhone 5?

Have a search around the threads yourself.

Three are different as they have to roam for national coverage; i.e. Vodafone switch naturally within their system between 2g/3g because all their cell control operates within their own system. However Three sims appear the same as foreign sims to Vodafone and so have to go through an extra layer for changeover.

I cannot believe that you are actually going to deny that there is a huge problem with Three and the 2g/3g roaming despite the numerous posts on the issue.

I'll tell you what, instead of me posting links to the obvious, why don't you find some threads discussing Meteor or O2 similar issues?

drunkmonkey

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

LOL, you are funny. Are you really, seriously, really going to suggest there isn't going to be an iPhone 5?

I'd say a iphone4S at best, I'm not sure the iphone4 has reached the end of it's life yet and OS update would be a big deal to apple.
So yea i'm thinking the whole of the internet is wrong and we won't see a radical iphone 5 this year. There's not one piece of evidence anywhere to say there is a new iphone5, it's all speculation.

BostonB

Has there not been a new phone every year since they made the first one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone#Model_comparison

JCDUB

I was with 3 a few years ago and went to Thailand for a month's holidays.

My Dad was sick at the time and I needed to be contactable over there.

Turns out 3 had no agreement in place with any of the many mobile operators in Thailand:eek:, and I had no coverage on any network for the month, and no way of contacting them. I eventually got through on a friend's phone and they were not the slightest bit helpful.

Lesson learned, never ever again. Couldn't care less if they were giving phones and minutes away for free, I'd never go near them again. Unprofessional and dreadful customer service.

Walkman

What did you want them to do, put in place a roaming agreement for you while you were away? You went to a country where they had no agreement, you should have checked before you left.

drunkmonkey

Walkman wrote: »

You went to a country where they had no agreement, you should have checked before you left.

3 does work in Thailand, at lest it did 3 years ago and it did again this year. So op was with 3 about 4 to 5 years ago when they were starting out. That's some chip to be carrying around.

Kensington

JCDUB wrote: »

I was with 3 a few years ago and went to Thailand for a month's holidays.

My Dad was sick at the time and I needed to be contactable over there.

Turns out 3 had no agreement in place with any of the many mobile operators in Thailand:eek:, and I had no coverage on any network for the month, and no way of contacting them. I eventually got through on a friend's phone and they were not the slightest bit helpful.

Lesson learned, never ever again. Couldn't care less if they were giving phones and minutes away for free, I'd never go near them again. Unprofessional and dreadful customer service.

If you were there for the month you would probably have been better off picking up a local network SIM.

None of the Irish networks have roaming agreements with every single country either btw.

mumof2

Well I've given 3 the benefit of the doubt. Had 1 bar of 3g inside in my sitting room already, havn't tried anywhere else as currently using wifi and plugged into laptop setting it up.

Oh, and I'm sure there will be an iPhone 5 out very soon!!!:D

Walkman

drunkmonkey wrote: »

3 does work in Thailand, at lest it did 3 years ago and it did again this year. So op was with 3 about 4 to 5 years ago when they were starting out. That's some chip to be carrying around.

Ya I know DM for both prepay and bill pay. 100% agree about the chip too

drunkmonkey

mumof2 wrote: »

Well I've given 3 the benefit of the doubt. Had 1 bar of 3g inside in my sitting room already, havn't tried anywhere else as currently using wifi and plugged into laptop setting it up.

Oh, and I'm sure there will be an iPhone 5 out very soon!!!:D

Update to the latest software through iTunes. If you want to check your allowance you can't do it over wifi. You need to go to safari > bookmarks > planet 3 > my3.
Download Hullomail from the app store to get around the voicemail charge, and download jelly sms lite from the apps store again and set that up with your free web texts so you have an extra 333 text per month, use those before you use your units.

mumof2

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Update to the latest software through iTunes. If you want to check your allowance you can't do it over wifi. You need to go to safari > bookmarks > planet 3 > my3.
Download Hullomail from the app store to get around the voicemail charge, and download jelly sms lite from the apps store again and set that up with your free web texts so you have an extra 333 text per month, use those before you use your units.

Thanks so much for your reply drunkmonkey!! Really helps out. Im going to check out Eirtexts I think its called, it works with the free webtexts too.....

Have a lot to do to get it set up!!:D

frazzledma

Just chucking my cents worth in, though it may mean nothing now. I've just bought a Tesco prepay and will be chucking 3 in, in the next week. I get 1 bar of reception if I am very lucky at home but that's still not enough to make or receive intelligible calls. The network constantly drops me off and cuts off calls etc. 3 are not happy as I am in contract but neither can they do anything to fix/change/improve the situation. My Tesco phone, with 1 bar of reception, has acceptable call quality and in many parts of the house I'll get a more useable connection (unlike 3).

3 refuse to accept this situation exists. Their technical team hasn't bothered to feedback to me on whether there is an issue or if it can be fixed. It's been over a year back and forth with their Indian call centre staff and I have had enough.

Don't assume with 1 bar 3 will be good enough. It hasn't been for me (rural Wexford).

jasmin1234

If you are considering of moving to three - DO NOT DO IT!!!

I've been a three customer for quite a long time - which I regret dearly - but have managed to supress my anger towards them by trying not to contact them at all.

I've been due to an upgrade and as I was looking for a new phone anyways, I decided, what the heck, I'll manage another year with them... Should've known better. The fact is, dealing with three is not good for my blood pressure.

I placed the order on three website on Sunday. On Tuesday the phone was delivered to my work address - quick service - points to three for that (actually, points to the delivery company).
I only got my phone from work today and, as my new plan now included unlimited internet (or so I thought), I was happily downloading angry birds etc. "Thank goodness for unlimited internet", I thought - "otherwise this would cost me a little fortune."

After logging on to my three account on their website, my account confirmed to me that my plan details had changed from my old plan, 90 flexi (or what ever that was called) to the new Classic Flex - Max, however, for some reason three was still charging for my internet usage.
I thought it must be a mistake - little did I know...

I called three and the guy on the phone told me my new plan would not be effective until November 13th onwards as my billing cycle goes from 13th of a month to the 12th of a month, and I had placed my order too late for the new plan to be effective from this month's billing cycle. Therefore I would need to remain on my old plan for another month as they could not change the plan in the middle of the billing cycle.
He said this is all due to their system limitations - which naturally I am, according to them, meant to be aware of. How, I do not know...

When I asked where this info can be seen in T&Cs he repeated it's a system limitation and therefore not mentioned in T&Cs.
When I asked where this info can be seen elsewhere on the website when placing the order, he said it can't, as it's not there.
When I asked how I am meant to know about it, he said three "does not tell customers everything".
He also said that I should have done the upgrade earlier and had I done it via phone instead of online, this would have been explained to me.
Clearly my fault - naturally I should have known on what exact date I should do the upgrade, and naturally I should have called three instead of placing my order online. I wonder what their website is for.. Ideas? Anone?

I also talked to the rep's manager.
He actually made the effort of trying to find the info on their website (where it says you cannot change price plan in the middle of billing cycle or how long a customer should expect to wait until a new price plan is available) but he could not. He admitted it is not there.
He said I placed the order too late in order to start the new plan straight away. Now I would have to wait for another month.
His advise was I should have checked with three by calling them before using the new price plan. I should have placed my order earlier. I should have called them. As an old customer, I should have known. I should have done/known/called lots. I.. I should have. I.

Assuming I was already on the new plan I managed to spend eur26 on the internet tonight only. Now, I've used my flexi units for the next full month and three is saying they can't do anything.

I did place my order on Sunday but they still had three full days to set up my new price plan before the new billing cycle.
I did not know of three's internal system limitations. I did not know that it matters what time of the month / billing cycle I place the order.
I did not know that because of the three's system limitations I have to make sure to place my order at the right time of the month (right time for them that is). I did not know any of this makes a difference.

I asked the manager whether he would agree this info would be important to have on their website for customers to read. He agreed.

My suggestion:
"Please Mr Customer, please be aware of the following when changing your price plan:
A) DO NOT expect for the service to be available from when you get the order confirmation for your new plan for us at three these kind of confirmations do not mean anything.
DO NOT expect three to inform you when new price plan can be expected to be available for we do not really care, we just want your money.
C) BE AWARE that your price plan CANNOT be changed in the middle of your billing cycle for we are experiencing permanent system limitations so that we can get more money from you.
D) BE AWARE that because of point C you SHOULD NOT place your order less than a week before your billing cycle is over.
E) BE AWARE that we at three DO NOT give a **** about you and therefore we will keep information from you. We believe in less information to customers means more money for us.
F) BE AWARE that we at three will try to screw you over as much as we can.
G) BE AWARE that we only have a website because everyone else has one too - this DOES NOT mean we would encourage our customers to avail of it."

Three's answer to all this can be summarized to "Sorry for the inconvenience, you should have called us earlier. Have a good day."

Any other similar experiences about?
Please let me know if you know how/where to place a request for an official consumer investigation to see if what they are doing is actually legal.
Also, please correct me if this info is actually hidden somewhere on their website - at least customer service at three itself doesn't seem to find it..

Walkman

@ jasmin1234 this would have been the same with any other operators not just three. None of the networks change tariffs until you reach the end of your billing cycle. Your ignorance isn't Threes fault.

srsly78

Yeah. 3 are **** alright, but not for the reason above.

BostonB

Walkman wrote: »

@ jasmin1234 this would have been the same with any other operators not just three. None of the networks change tariffs until you reach the end of your billing cycle. Your ignorance isn't Threes fault.

Isn't the point...that this information about the billing cycle isn't anywhere for him to have read it. Therefore his ignorance is 3's fault.

That said asking when something comes active would be something I would always get them to clarify. As its usual for phone companies to structure things in such a way to catch people out. Lot of sharp practise these days.

opus

I moved to 3 from Meteor around five months ago mainly cause for the same price as I was paying Meteor I could get unlimited data & unlimited landline calls. Only problem I had was that the first bill was charging me €40/month instead of €30/month as I was SIM only, it took a few phone calls to their Indian support centre to sort it out but it was resolved & I was credited with the difference on the following months bill.

Being able to tether my laptop to the phone without worrying about data usage is very handy I must say.

midmadman

AVOID THREE AT ALL COSTS.(best of both)
my contract is up within the month and cant see me staying with them.

Loads of problems but the last few weeks as being a joke.

1: was over in the uk, (just out of mins) so i phoned them and asked could i top up my phone with a credit/debit card? simple question done it loads of times with other networks. my request was turned down,was told we dont do that.(the way i was looking for totally unprofessional)

2: was in spain 2weeks ago, had my phone topped up(but had a spare top-up code incase i needed it) when i went to use it, i could not dile the top-up number(as the phone told me to top up to make the call)
on the end i had to find a payphone to phone home and get someone to phone three with the top-up to put it on.

sent loads of email and not one simple reply.

Sponge Bob

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d62jQ22w360