3 Network In Ireland

kazper

i have been having a number of problems with my phone! cannot send text messages to england via 3 network. Also i cannot send multimedia messages to 02 numbers. When i try to log onto 3 internet at home or in work, it says i am outside the video service area, despite it having worked fine before both at home and at work!

JBoyle4eva

Dellas wrote:

Anyone know when 3's Pay as you go will be launched?????

They're probably in talks with Alphyra (The guys who own and operate the top-up machines in your local stores) about getting Three's network on them. It'll be a lenghty process, as all the machines have to have a firmware upgrade. We got ours at work upgraded in February for the now deceased Top Up Club.

Sam Vimes

kazper wrote:

i have been having a number of problems with my phone! cannot send text messages to england via 3 network. Also i cannot send multimedia messages to 02 numbers. When i try to log onto 3 internet at home or in work, it says i am outside the video service area, despite it having worked fine before both at home and at work!

there's some technical prob with sending mms to and from o2. they know about it and they're working on it. networks go down all the time. it'll probably work again in a day or two. dunno bout the texting england problem. i know some people have had problems texting abroad but they've been from lithuania/south africa. england should work

BuffyBot

3 don't have texting agreements signed with quite a few foreign operators. I'm sure someone mentioned earlier in this thread that some of the UK networks are among them.

France doesnt work.

FFS I have friends there,If I fly there or anywhere,I'd like to be able to text people to say where I am...

Big Big Down point with 3 is their lack of international texting.

I mean Hello Hundreds of thousands of people do go abroad you know...

Now I wonder what the problem is in setting that up??
Nice and all as the 3 customer services are, thats the only question that they have stone walled me on.
They are just giving no information.

BuffyBot

Now I wonder what the problem is in setting that up??

It's a big bar to me switching to 3 anyway. Roaming and text agreements should have all been signed before launch.

yeah, theres no U.S roaming either.
Texts would be the main loss.

Dellas

Commander Vimes wrote:

there's some technical prob with sending mms to and from o2. they know about it and they're working on it. networks go down all the time. it'll probably work again in a day or two. dunno bout the texting england problem. i know some people have had problems texting abroad but they've been from lithuania/south africa. england should work

Hi yes I posted this at the start...I still cant send texts to O2 mobiles in UK its crazy!!!

1huge1

so many problems with 3 at the moment thats why i wont join them until they get this fixed and launch a pay as you go network

Dellas

God guys I never thought I would say this but hell im going back to Vodafone!!! At least you get an Irish person at the call center!!! I have to say though that most of the staff in Scotland are nice enough but the guy I got today was a complete hitler!!! I called up because I got my bill in and have been overcharged for roaming calls by over €100!!!!! Also my Motorola phone broke so I got a new one and they charged me for a new one even though it was broke. I have had lots of other issues some resolved some not.
The guy I spoke to today really was the last straw...he was rude and aggressive. When I told him I wasnt happy with the service and the treatment so far and that I was thinking of going back to Vodafone his reply was " Ive been working here two years and we are the best company in the world and our technology will take over the world" hmmm sounds like he should be in a James Bond movie!!!!!!

So my suggestion is to stay with Vodafone and DO NOT sign up for 3!!!!! They have a lot to learn from other Irish networks. I will be pleased to get my webtexts back / my free voicemail / texts to all international mobiles / 50% lower roaming charges than 3 / god the list goes on!!!!

I guess you learn from your mistakes.....im pulling out of the contract and have taken it up with Comreg who say I have a strong case if they choose to keep me locked into the contract.

Sam Vimes

Dellas wrote:

Ive been working here two years and we are the best company in the world and our technology will take over the world" hmmm sounds like he should be in a James Bond movie!!!!!!

lol. sounds he was on some drugs they're not usually like that in fairness. ive found them really good to deal with.

Dellas wrote:

I will be pleased to get my webtexts back / my free voicemail / texts to all international mobiles / 50% lower roaming charges than 3 / god the list goes on!!!!

it doesnt really, thats about it for good points of vodafone.


i think you got the wrong end of the stick. i destroyed my phone last month (really, there was a puddle of absinth under the screen). they charged 50 to my credit card for the new one but when my bill arrived it was 50 less than it should have been. i dunno if it was on purpose or not but im saying nothing

and i had trouble using my phone in amsterdam, the phone would only have signal for about 20 seconds after i turned it on unless i made a call, but when i got my bill all the calls i managed to make were included in my minutes. nice of them i thought

Well I switched up to the €45 tarriff
I like the fact that it means I can talk like crazy no matter where I am for ages and still only pay €45-some days I talk less, others more.

200 minutes wasnt enough, I'm handling the 400 nicely.

As for texts, I have a meteor pay as you go still getting its €10 top ups and thats what I'll use when I'm away for , it will just need a €60 deposit but at least I can use that as credit eventually.

So basically I'm happy enough to be saving money , whereas the other issues will eventually get ironed out.

Dellas

when 3 went live i signed up on the same day!!! I was told the sms / mms problems would be sorted in a matter of weeks!!! Its now November........they have had long enough. Their roaming charges are 'criminal' international video calls Eur 3 a minute!!!!! Eur 1 a minute on Vodafone (ive tried it).

Made a 3 minute call from Norway to France Eur 7.82!!!!! Same call Eur 3 on Vodafone!!!!


Come on lads this cant be right!!!!!!!! We are being shafted as always.

Our man in Havana

Use 3 for domestic use and get a PAYG for aboard. Divert your 3 number to the prepaid and you will save €€€€

BrianD

Dellas wrote:

when 3 went live i signed up on the same day!!! I was told the sms / mms problems would be sorted in a matter of weeks!!! Its now November........they have had long enough. Their roaming charges are 'criminal' international video calls Eur 3 a minute!!!!! Eur 1 a minute on Vodafone (ive tried it).

Made a 3 minute call from Norway to France Eur 7.82!!!!! Same call Eur 3 on Vodafone!!!!


Come on lads this cant be right!!!!!!!! We are being shafted as always.

mmmmmm....Just signed up today for 3 as really VF have done nothing to keep me as a customer. Loss of webtexts I didn't think of but I can live with that (and I'm sure that well appear on 3 in time). Checking your voicemail comes up to about 3-5 min a month so I'm not losing out there.

I must say that you have a very unusual call pattern ... 3 min call from Norway to France? All those video calls ... despite the fact I have yet to see someone actually make one other than demonstrating the technology. Not something you can do with ease while on the DART or walking down the street. Nice of ComReg to help you out too.

International connectivity is an issue and I'm surprised it is an issue given that 3 are such a large company. Anyway at least you'll always know that 3's network will be as good as VF's because if you are not on 3 you're piggybacking on VF.

I look forward to seeing how 3 works out for me.

rogue-entity

I have been with three for nearly three (sic) months. I have never had any problems with them, so far. I admit that the lack of international connectivity is a down side but such connectivity depends on a mutual agreement being established. O2 and VF uk are dragging there heels when it comes to impliamenting the said text agreements, and when in the UK you can only use 3 or T-Mobile for roaming, not O2 or voda (last time I checked). So you should be able to text any t-mobile UK number without hassle, or indeed any international number for the operators that provide 3 roaming in other countries. It is the same with O2 and Voda in ireland. Bill customers on these networks can use there phones on just about all the foreign networks where roaming was available, That said, 3 are a large company, the worlds biggest 3G operator in fact, so they should be able to manhandle O2/VF UK into an agreement. God knows that they have nothing to loose by the agreements.

That all said, just because I have had a good service from 3 does not mean that others will. I would not go back to VF though, If I had to I would go back to o2, they are better and there webtexts are international.

quintron

I've also been with three for 3 months and my story is a little different...

For the most part service is very good.
I went to 3 on the strength of two things:
Cheaper calls on minutes plans (€45 pm) and the Nokia 6680 to replace my "falling apart" N-Gage as a smartphone. So… good handset and good price plan. Half the price at the time of Vodafone etc.

When I got the phone it was simple to set up: got all my email forwarded, all my numbers in.. etc.. Then some problems began.

1st is dropped calls: I don't know if this is a hardware (phone), software (firmware) or network (3) issue but it has annoyed me on a number of occasions.

2nd is sending texts to Vodafone (not int): 9 times out of 10 when I send a text from 083 to 087, the 087 recipient receives it multiple times. This is not on at all!!!!!
I called 3 a number of times on this to the point where I feel I'm wasting my time. It got so bad once that my boss (who is 087) received my single text over 80 times!! All through the night! 3 acknowledged there was indeed a problem and told me it was being fixed. I told them to call me when it was. They did call about 3 wks ago and said all was well but it started again last week and I simply cannot text 087 numbers until I can be sure this is resolved. I called and asked them to let me know again when it would be resolved and they said they couldn't do that...as they didn't know..

It’s as simple as this. Don't sell a single phone until agreements are fully in place with other network and tested extensively.
When I challenged 3 on this they said that they had done testing but that it was Vodafone’s problem, simply because Vodafone were not acknowledging 3's texts by sending back server messages to three that they had been processed. As a result 3 kept sending the message and the poor Vodafone recipient receives multiple texts. I can clearly see what they mean but to me, as an end user, I frankly don't care about the nuts and bolts. Don’t blame Vodafone when you are the new network and don't sell handsets when you know these issues exist. Sort it out first for Gods sake.
The last time I called they said that it (multiple texts) cropped up again due to more 3 users being on board! There’s f~~k all users in the country at the moment. God help us if there are more than 10. How many did they expect??
I really don't like to waste my time between being put on hold and listening to these painful "explanations". Yes they are very nice people to talk to but it’s what they are saying that is representative of the company.

3rd outstanding issue: MMS from 083 to 086. Still not solved for me.

4th outstanding issue: Texts go through from 083 to 083 but often they are delayed by up to 24hrs. Not that handy when you need to text someone to meet you at the corner of…..
Whe I called on this they said they wouldn’t do anything about it unless it went beyond 72 hours… They kept saying but you DID receive the text right?? Yes I did…two days later. I know this happens on all Networks occasionally at peak times but not with the regularity I have experienced in the short time I’ve been with the company.

Last outstanding issue: Video calls to 087 work about 2 out of 5 times on some phones and not at all to a number of other 087 numbers. In short.. Lack of network communication. (Maybe 3 are not solely responsible for this as this is new technology to all)

I do not mean to bad mouth the company. The above is simply the way it has been for me.
For the most part I have enjoyed all the 3G services offered and the 6680 is a great handset but these Network issues are elementary and should never have existed in the first place, certainly not 3 months later.

Dellas

Bond-007 wrote:

Use 3 for domestic use and get a PAYG for aboard. Divert your 3 number to the prepaid and you will save €€€€

TOO MUCH HASSLE MATE IF 3 WERE SO GOOD THEY WOULD OFFER AN ALL ROUND DEAL!!! SO MUCH FOR CHANGING THE MARKET!!! IT WAS ALL HYPE

Dellas

BrianD wrote:

mmmmmm....Just signed up today for 3 as really VF have done nothing to keep me as a customer. Loss of webtexts I didn't think of but I can live with that (and I'm sure that well appear on 3 in time). Checking your voicemail comes up to about 3-5 min a month so I'm not losing out there.

I must say that you have a very unusual call pattern ... 3 min call from Norway to France? All those video calls ... despite the fact I have yet to see someone actually make one other than demonstrating the technology. Not something you can do with ease while on the DART or walking down the street. Nice of ComReg to help you out too.

International connectivity is an issue and I'm surprised it is an issue given that 3 are such a large company. Anyway at least you'll always know that 3's network will be as good as VF's because if you are not on 3 you're piggybacking on VF.

I look forward to seeing how 3 works out for me.

Well mate i wish you luck and hope you dont have any problems. You wont have any unless :::

1/ YOU HAVE ANY FRIENDS OUTSIDE IRELAND THAT YOU WANT TO TEXT.

2/ YOU TRAVEL OUTSIDE OF IRELAND AND WANT TO CALL HOME OR TO ANOTHER COUNTRY.

For a foreigner here that has friends/family in many countries and travels alot 3 is the worst ripp off ever!!!! I can only talk from my Personal experience as i have been with them from day one .

One more thing i forgot to mention three days after I got my phone I went onto 3's website to check the cost of calling various EU countries and it showed 20c per minute which I thought was great. A week later I went onto the site again and they changed it to 75c as it was a mistake which they later admitted as I had printed out the page off the net to show mates as it was such a good rate. If it hadnt have been for that I would have been left with a bill sky high!!!! They only refunded the difference once I told them I had print outs and even then they said they have right to change rates at anytime without advising even if it was a mistake!!!! GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!!!!!

When Three knew of the mistake people should have been advised by SMS or email to check the website for correct fees.

Dellas

rogue-entity wrote:

I have been with three for nearly three (sic) months. I have never had any problems with them, so far. I admit that the lack of international connectivity is a down side but such connectivity depends on a mutual agreement being established. O2 and VF uk are dragging there heels when it comes to impliamenting the said text agreements, and when in the UK you can only use 3 or T-Mobile for roaming, not O2 or voda (last time I checked). So you should be able to text any t-mobile UK number without hassle, or indeed any international number for the operators that provide 3 roaming in other countries. It is the same with O2 and Voda in ireland. Bill customers on these networks can use there phones on just about all the foreign networks where roaming was available, That said, 3 are a large company, the worlds biggest 3G operator in fact, so they should be able to manhandle O2/VF UK into an agreement. God knows that they have nothing to loose by the agreements.

That all said, just because I have had a good service from 3 does not mean that others will. I would not go back to VF though, If I had to I would go back to o2, they are better and there webtexts are international.

The roaming agreements are not great either they are with second rate mobile operators not even the main ones. In Greece for instance they do not have SMS agreements with Vodafone even though 79% are with Vodafone. They use Cosmote which is crap!!! In other countries its the same story. When I was in Amsterdam there was no roaming so I had no service the whole time I was there with any network!!! There are loads of major countries that you have no service on !!

O2 are bringing in 3G here soon it will be interesting to see what they offer at least you will be able to send a text to the UK!!! I know you can do it on T Mobile but I dont know anyone on T Mobile in the North or UK. More of my mates are on 3 in the UK than T Mobile !!!!

Cabaal

Can anyone tell me if 3 have any plans to introduce webtxt's as 98% of my txts come from o2's website at present

BuffyBot

I doubt it will be any time soon - they don't offer them elsewhere.

Cabaal

BuffyBot wrote:

I doubt it will be any time soon - they don't offer them elsewhere.

Damn shame, I like their price plans but no webtxts are a major turn off
Next up on my list is Meteor as it appears to be best value over O2 & Vodafone

Cabaal

Can't seem to find any info on the 3 ireland website to answer this question
I even looked up http://www.3ireland.ie/BlobServer.srv?blobdir=ROIDnloadDocumen&blobfile=ROI+price+guide+190805.pdf

My question is can I setup a Nokia 6680 with 3 to check the likes of gmail and if I can what way do the charges work?

quintron

You can set up gmail to forward the mail to your 3 account if gmail supports forwarding. You will be able to read all your gmail on the phone. However any mail you send will be sent via your 3mail account which can get confusing for other people. My email is from my website so I had no trouble forwarding it to my 3 account. I just put as my sig : mobile email account... please direct all replies to blah@blah. com. ...works fine for me.
You could probably do it over gprs also but I have never tried using GPRS to access web / mail with 3 and don't know their data charges. They do support gprs though...
Hope this helps,
Q.

Cabaal

quintron wrote:

You can set up gmail to forward the mail to your 3 account if gmail supports forwarding. You will be able to read all your gmail on the phone.<snip>
Q.

I was using gmail as a example, thankfully I have my own domain etc as well so it ain't much hassel.

So any mail send receieved on my 3 account is included in my monthly rental/payment or whats the story?
Even if its 3MB++ or whatever during a month?

quintron

Email is free to read until end of year. On my Nokia 6680 I installed Profimail which I seriously recommend if you are going to use your phone (6680 only) for emailing a lot. I have opened quite a lot of large emails 1MB+ with jpeg, word and attachments no problems. Profimail displays html email great (without images as these are on the senders server in a html message and therefore cannot be sent to the phone thru three's "walled garden").

Its 7 or 9c to send a <10kb email I think... basically small emails are same price as texts to send. I hope they are considering extending the free read of emails past the New year what with teh imode service from o2 being free till end of March. My email charges at last bill were f++k all tbh and I send a fair few mails. It was about a third of my text costs!

I did get a mailbox full message once.. I'd say I had approx 8-10MB of messages on ther server.

They all push thru to outlook as well anyway on my desktop so its no problem to delete them.

You can download headers for free on all incoming mail in any case so you don't need to download the message if you don't want.

After New Year its priced according to size to read / open your mail.
9c for a small one etc.
Its somewhere at the end of one of the pdf's.
Q>

Cabaal

quintron wrote:

After New Year its priced according to size to read / open your mail.
9c for a small one etc.
Its somewhere at the end of one of the pdf's.
Q>

I hope they come up with a better way of charging for data then that, If I could buy blocks of 1MB or something I'd be happier.

milltown

I switched from O2 to 3 and have so far been unable to transfer my contacts list from my old Sim. My T630 is locked to O2 so I can't go Sim->Phone->Sim.
My new 6680 is locked to 3 so it won't work that way around either.

I borrowed a mate's Sim reader and managed to copy the contacts from the O2 sim to my PC. Now I can upload and download contacts from it all day long but try as I might I cannot get the list uploaded to the 3 sim.

Unless I'm very very much mistaken, there's no way to import a CSV file into the contacts in Nokia PC suite either.

Jorinn

milltown wrote:

I switched from O2 to 3 and have so far been unable to transfer my contacts list from my old Sim. My T630 is locked to O2 so I can't go Sim->Phone->Sim.
My new 6680 is locked to 3 so it won't work that way around either.

I borrowed a mate's Sim reader and managed to copy the contacts from the O2 sim to my PC. Now I can upload and download contacts from it all day long but try as I might I cannot get the list uploaded to the 3 sim.

Unless I'm very very much mistaken, there's no way to import a CSV file into the contacts in Nokia PC suite either.

Actually there is, make a contact in Nokia phone manager, export it with fields you plan on using. Then get your CSV file, copy info from csv which you wnant and put it in applicable cell in exported Nokia manager file. Then import the originally exported file with the new data in it back in. I't s a pain but if you have a lot of numbers it works.

Oh, btw, anyone try and get _just_ a simcard from 3?