Current Status of X-Series & Unlimited Broadband on 3

Bluefrog · 17-09-2007 12:34pm

Can now report that Fring is working too.

culabula · 17-09-2007 12:46pm

Bluefrog wrote:

Can now report that Fring is working too.

Brilliant!

postie · 17-09-2007 11:10pm

Nothing working for me! Am I unlucky?:(

Bluefrog · 17-09-2007 11:42pm

I don't expect it to last for long - seeing reports that some of the broadband addon users have lost connectivity - maybe my getting it and their losing it is a fluke that Three will reverse shortly.

If this keeps up I may actually consider paying my X-Series addon charge this month just to encourage them.

I know this is a bit of a personal question but did you try stroking your SIM?

postie · 18-09-2007 8:06am

Bluefrog wrote:

I don't expect it to last for long - seeing reports that some of the broadband addon users have lost connectivity - maybe my getting it and their losing it is a fluke that Three will reverse shortly.

If this keeps up I may actually consider paying my X-Series addon charge this month just to encourage them.

I know this is a bit of a personal question but did you try stroking your SIM?

Its been buffed to within an inch of its life!! I'll put in another call to Mumbai this morning and will of course share any words of wisdom they may have...!

quintron · 18-09-2007 9:21am

Well Fring ain't working here on the 100MB price plan! Hit and Miss? How can a company run on hit and miss? It either works or it doesn't, or in this case it either works for all persons via their handsets on x-series or not, or all persons via their handsets on the unlimited bb add-on, or not.
Too confusing.
It can't work for some and not for others, assuming people know ehat they are doing...that makes no sense..

So.. xseries users, is it working for more than just one person. Need some veracity to these outlandish claims!

*goes for coffee...*

brightech · 19-09-2007 1:02pm

Hi folks!
Any news on using fring? Still blocked?

DemoniK · 19-09-2007 7:19pm

Fring still not working on BB-100

Bluefrog · 09-11-2007 7:05pm

Once again it seems there are problems with Three's service. Tried to stream RTSP streams from several different sources last night and got between 1.40 and 1.50 minutes streaming before the stream was disconnected. Same today.

Before I go and avail of Three's 'excellent customer service' (ehem, that's for the benefit of the moderators) I'd like to know if anyone else is having similar issues.

I've been talking to Three about RTSP streaming issues since August so this is getting a tad irksome.

robinph · 09-11-2007 7:34pm

I have been having trouble steaming the bbc radio using real player over 3 as well. I am just guessing that is the same type of stream that you are on about. I've just not built up the desire to bother calling the support people up as yet.

jimmycrackcorm · 10-11-2007 2:30am

My orb streaming is working flawlessly. I suspect that 3 have prioritized streaming traffic on ports used by slingbox and orb.

Bluefrog · 10-11-2007 3:59am

Well, given that they undertook in August to look into this I think its about time they were taken to task.

carbsy · 06-12-2007 5:57pm

What's the latest on this? I just found this thread after I bought an N95 online from Three with the 250mb mobile broadband package ... I thought I could access the net freely with numerous applications? Man what's the point of paying for this service? God I'll be livid if things don't work when it arrives! :mad:

jimmycrackcorm · 07-12-2007 12:16am

carbsy wrote: »

What's the latest on this? I just found this thread after I bought an N95 online from Three with the 250mb mobile broadband package ... I thought I could access the net freely with numerous applications? Man what's the point of paying for this service? God I'll be livid if things don't work when it arrives! :mad:

Brill.

wheresthebeef · 07-12-2007 3:55pm

1. Which addon are you using - unlimited broadband or X-Series?
X-Series Silver 14.99 a month
2. Do you have unresticted access to all websites (tinytube included)?
No but most of the sites i use are accessible
3. Do you have full access to real streams and are you experiencing cut-outs?
I seem to have access to anything i've tried, but it tends to need to buffer a lot and just gets unbearable
4. Does Orb work for you - please detial which services function if any?
Yes orb works fine
5. Do third party apps work for you - skype, voipbuster sms sender, gmail etc. If so, which ones?
MSN Messenger and Skype work fine, i am signed in all day everyday. Mobile mail whilst not a third party app really works excellently and pushes all my email to my phone from my college email account

The only thing i'm disappointed about is an apparent inability to use my phone as a modem for my pocketpc. Before i got the x-series add-on i was able to do this to make use of the slightly larger screen on my pocket pc. my new nokia n73 with x-series refuses to allow my pocket pc to connect at all. very annoying retrograde step for three. (and yes i am aware that i technically shouldnt be using the phone as a modem).

Canada J Soup · 05-02-2008 9:59pm

Just registered an account with boards.ie specifically to chime in on this topic due to the unbelieveably poor service and technical support I have been receiving from 3 Ireland. The responses below apply both for an unlocked Nokia E90 originally purchased with a Vodafone pay as you go SIM and for the Nokia 6120c that I was forced to purchase in order to get a 3 SIM.

1. Which addon are you using - unlimited broadband or X-Series?
X-Series Silver

2. Do you have unresticted access to all websites (tinytube included)?
No. www.tinytube.net generates the 'This web page is unavailable to view' message.

3. Do you have full access to real streams and are you experiencing cut-outs?
Have not tried. Anyone able to provide a convenient link where I can check this?

4. Does Orb work for you - please detial which services function if any?
Have not tried Orb (I'm on a Mac and there does not appear to be an Orb client for OS X).

5. Do third party apps work for you - skype, voipbuster sms sender, gmail etc. If so, which ones?
The Gmail Java client works, as does Opera Mobile, but that's about it. While the 3 version of iSkoot(Skype) works on the 6120c, the version for the E90 won't connect (I expect it is blocked as the E90 is not a supported 3 handset). No joy at all with Fring, IM+, AgileMessenger, ProfiMail.

Furthermore, the Nokia Messenger client (which can be configured to connect to IMAP servers) will not connect using the '3' Access Point. The fact that the SSL port setting gets changed from the manually set 993 back to the default whenever I attempt to connect suggests to me that 3 is blocking ports. Note that the same settings, when used on the E90 with WLAN, allow for a seamless connection.

Aside from the interminable hold times (average 45 minutes every time I call) and technically clueless technical support staff reading from poorly written cue sheets, what is most frustrating about this is the fact that I 'upgraded' to the X-Series Silver because 3 technical support told me that it was the only way I would have full (no ports blocked) Internet (as opposed to just web) access on my phone.

Canada J Soup · 05-02-2008 10:40pm

Slight aside: does anyone know what the corporate email format is for 3 Ireland? I would like to be able to copy Robert Finnegan and Stephen Pilkington on my emails to their technical team.

MagicBusDriver · 06-02-2008 12:23am

1. Which addon are you using - unlimited broadband or X-Series?
Signed up for X-Series Silver a couple of days ago.

2. Do you have unresticted access to all websites (tinytube included)?
Tinytube.net gives 'This web page is unavailable to view' message. Other websites seem to work.

3. Do you have full access to real streams and are you experiencing cut-outs?
Not sure?

4. Does Orb work for you - please detail which services function if any?
Orb not available on silver.

5. Do third party apps work for you - skype, voipbuster sms sender, gmail etc. If so, which ones?

Fring - Can't connect.
YouTube - Starts but cannot connect to streaming server.
GoogleMaps - Works fine. May have worked before X-Series.
Gmail - Works with occasional signal strength errors, but worked before X-series.

So in all, not a good experience!

Any recommendations? I'd really like to get Fring working on X-Series. It's my only way of contacting the gf in US when outside the house and away from unsecured wi-fi.

Bluefrog · 06-02-2008 4:59pm

Not really to help you on the complexities of what is and isn't available on the Silver package but I can tell you that on Gold all of these are working for me.

However, whether they work for anyone else on the same package is a matter of speculation at this point.

All I can confirm is that third party Real streams still consistently timeout after 1 minute and 45 seconds despite me and others telling Three Ireland about this for the past 5 months. Their staff are totally out of their depth with the product range they are providing. Its a shame but that's Three Ireland for ya.

Canada J Soup · 06-02-2008 9:31pm

I'm fairly certain that the problems with X-Series Silver (at least, the problems that I've been experiencing) lie with the add on simply not having been properly provisioned. Apologies if this is already abundantly clear to Three Ireland customers who have been suffering longer than I, but my line of thinking goes like this...

The fact that the Gmail, iSkoot and YouTube apps (which connect via HTTP/HTTPS ports) are working OK, but not Fring or various IM or email apps suggests that ports are being blocked when I use the 3 Access Point (despite what Three Ireland technical support maintains).
That the 'This web page is unavailable to view' message displayed in my web browser when I attempt to access TinyTube is the same as the one seen by users without a data add on suggests that my data traffic is going though the same gateway.
That the X-Series Gold users are not having the same problems (presumably since for Slingbox and Orb to work, ports need to be confirmed to be open) suggests that the X-Series Silver provisioning is not subject to the same verification.

The clincher for me is that Three Ireland technical support told me that I would receive an automated system notification once my X-Series Silver add had been activated. I never received such a message.

It would appear that they basically changed my account to bill me 14.99 for X-Series Silver instead of 5.99 for 100mb of 'mobile broadband', but provided me with the same level of service available to a 3Pay user who sporadically checks the web.

What is most frustrating about this is that I have suggested to Three Ireland technical support staff that this might be the problem...yet all they do is check my account to see what services I have signed up for.

Is it worth upping to X-Series Gold (I have no intention of purchasing a Slingbox and can't run Orb on my Mac) to get the service I want? Would removing and then re-provisioning X-Series Silver have any likely effect? Is there someone in Dublin I can harass in person during their lunch hour to get this sorted out?

Canada J Soup · 06-02-2008 9:54pm

MagicBusDriver wrote: »

Any recommendations? I'd really like to get Fring working on X-Series. It's my only way of contacting the gf in US when outside the house and away from unsecured wi-fi.

Heh. That's the exact same reason why I want to get Fring running

What I have found is that the generic version of iSkoot (on which the bundled Three Skype client is based) runs fine on most Symbian phones. All it does is check your Skype account details via HTTPS so if you can connect to the web you can use it. Register at http://www.iskoot.com/register.php to have a link sent via email or SMS to download the version for your phone.

There is (kind of) a catch in that when using it it doesn't rely on a data connection for your end of the call. Instead it has your phone dial into an iSkoot server using a regular voice call and uses your Skype account details to make a Skype call from that server. When you do this with the Three Skype client you don't (as far as I can tell) get charged any minutes on your Three account, but you are limited to making calls to Skype clients only (ie: no SkypeOut).

When you do it using the generic iSkoot client you'll likely get hit for minutes as with any call to an ordinary Irish number, but the advantage is that SkypeOut works AND you can use the Skype IM service. Getting charged for minutes from my Three account plus the 0.02 cents per minute from my SkypeOut credit is well worth being able to stay in touch, and the call quality far exceeds Fring even on WLAN.

foggy_lad · 07-02-2008 12:34am

Canada J Soup wrote: »

Heh. That's the exact same reason why I want to get Fring running

What I have found is that the generic version of iSkoot (on which the bundled Three Skype client is based) runs fine on most Symbian phones. All it does is check your Skype account details via HTTPS so if you can connect to the web you can use it. Register at http://www.iskoot.com/register.php to have a link sent via email or SMS to download the version for your phone.

There is (kind of) a catch in that when using it it doesn't rely on a data connection for your end of the call. Instead it has your phone dial into an iSkoot server using a regular voice call and uses your Skype account details to make a Skype call from that server. When you do this with the Three Skype client you don't (as far as I can tell) get charged any minutes on your Three account, but you are limited to making calls to Skype clients only (ie: no SkypeOut).

When you do it using the generic iSkoot client you'll likely get hit for minutes as with any call to an ordinary Irish number, but the advantage is that SkypeOut works AND you can use the Skype IM service. Getting charged for minutes from my Three account plus the 0.02 cents per minute from my SkypeOut credit is well worth being able to stay in touch, and the call quality far exceeds Fring even on WLAN.

jesus wouldn't it be easier to hop on a bus train or plain to communicate with someone than go through all this because your service "provider" fails to provide the advertised service?!

btw i am not criticising people's attempts to get things working, rather three's absolute failure to control their disaster!

Bluefrog · 07-02-2008 12:57am

Canada J Soup wrote:

What is most frustrating about this is that I have suggested to Three Ireland technical support staff that this might be the problem...yet all they do is check my account to see what services I have signed up for.

You managed to get past customer support and through to the technical support level??? I kneel before you oh great one! I myself have been unable since I joined Three back in May to achieve such a state of bliss. I really was beginning to think it was some fakery that Three Ireland had devised to maintain a glimmer of hope in customers so that they would keep paying their bills thinking that their issues would eventually get sorted.

Seriously though, reprovisioning might help. It did for me initially but that was before the infamous August 'uprade'. In any case, it can't hurt. They know how to do that at least so if I were you I would give it a shot.

I don't recall receiving any message to say that my Gold addon was now active. They gave me the standard line about it taking 24 hours but it actually went live for me in less than 4.

Canada J Soup · 07-02-2008 3:04am

Bluefrog wrote: »

You managed to get past customer support and through to the technical support level???

Well. They called themselves technical support. Perhaps I should have typed it as "technical support"?

Sam Vimes · 07-02-2008 8:57am

i've been using googles new youtube app on 3 for a few weeks now. Its a bit jumpy but it doesn't cut off after a minute. Maybe you should all save yourselves some money and join me on the 250 mb broadband add on. I couldn't bring myself to give 3 20 euro a month

Canada J Soup · 09-02-2008 8:50pm

More frustration from 3 today. The direct debit for my first month of service was declined by AIB for some reason. It's not clear why: Sufficient funds were present in the account and I have had direct debits for other payments going against it for years without difficulty. My suspicion is that the account details were not properly entered by the sales staff in 3's Grafton St. shop. Apparently impossible to verify this since according to 3 the direct debit account details were deleted as soon as it was declined (can this possibly be legal?).

The processing issue occurred midweek (Wednesday, Feb 6th). This morning (Saturday, Feb 9th) I received my first notification of the debit not having gone through when a 3 CS rep called me at around 10am. I indicated that I would not be able to find out what had occurred until Monday (due to it being the weekend and banks generally not being open in Ireland on the weekend) and preferred to wait until then to resolve the issue rather than pay immediately with a credit card. I was told that this would not be a problem. 30 minutes later I discovered that my service had been disconnected. Apparently because the "two days grace period" had been passed. It's a pity that they waited three days to notify me of the issue.

Frustrating though the circumstances were, I decided that it was easier to capitulate and pay by credit card than go all weekend without any phone service at all. I registered formal complaints about how the matter had been conducted with a CS manager and asked him to look into the ongoing issue of why my X-Series Silver service had not been providing full internet services, and here's where it might get interesting for some of the rest of you:

He finally admitted that there is a known ongoing issue with X-Series Silver in Ireland and that I would be included on a call back list for when the issue had been resolved. Time estimate for resolution was originally "at minimum one week" then "definitely by Tuesday". I indicated that I was not prepared to wait and requested that he change my service to X-Series Gold until X-Series Silver was full functioning for Irish users (admittedly, this did take three additional calls / call-backs as he didn't seem to be aware that it was not possible to have both X-Series Silver and X-Series Gold add ons on an account simultaneously). They also credited my account for one month of X-Series Silver charges.

I can't tell whether the X-Series Gold has actually been provisioned for my account though (although it is showing in my billing details), since I still cannot access tinytube.net or connect with Fring or my phone's Email or IM clients.

I'm getting very close to giving up on 3. But do I go to Vodafone, o2 or what?

culabula · 09-02-2008 9:11pm

Canada J Soup wrote: »

More frustration from 3 today. The direct debit for my first month

I'm getting very close to giving up on 3. But do I go to Vodafone, o2 or what?

Well, as O2 provide broadband on your voice SIM and given that it works well and may be applied on a month-to-month basis, that would seem to be the one.

Bluefrog · 10-02-2008 12:20am

A known issue with X-Series Silver in Ireland eh - did they specify what it is? If they know there is an issue why are they still offering it? I'm afraid this sounds like a fob-off to me in a classic Three Ireland manner.

I'd give it 24 hours to see if the upgrade to Gold works - they may just not have provisioned your account yet.

If it still doesn't work tell them to reprovision it. If that doesn't work then take the Commander's advice.

Canada J Soup · 10-02-2008 4:59pm

Bluefrog wrote: »

A known issue with X-Series Silver in Ireland eh - did they specify what it is? If they know there is an issue why are they still offering it? I'm afraid this sounds like a fob-off to me in a classic Three Ireland manner.

He didn't specify. As usual, the information provided was vague and somewhat contradictory. I did find the fact that he admitted there was an issue quite telling. They obviously deployed an insufficiently tested service and are trying to brazen their way though it by pretending there is nothing wrong in the hopes that it will eventually work as advertised and that people will bear it out.

I imagine that this is grounds for anyone who has been paying for X-Series add ons but who has not received proper service to get credits to their accounts. I would further imagine that it provides grounds for terminating contracts without incurring fees.

Bluefrog · 10-02-2008 10:22pm

Imagining is all you would be doing unless you recorded the call or had it in writing. I just won't deal with them by phone anymore. Makes them think twice about what they commit to.

Current Status of X-Series & Unlimited Broadband on 3

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