3 provides service only to phones it has sold

lesley1966

Hi

I have been using a Palm Treo 680 on a contract with 3 for a few months now. As 3 don't sell Palms, I can't register my phone with them on My Three. So in August they sent me a text message saying that as I had a 2G phone the service would cease at some point in the near future. I range customer services to tell them I had a 3G phone, which was confirmed and noted down.

My service continued as normal until Saturday morning, when my phone said my SIM card was incompatible and I couldn't get any connection.

3 customer services have been predictably unhelpful. The local 3 shop has also been unable to help, and 3 technical help said they can't help as they don't know anything about Palms - even though the problem is clearly with the service from 3.

My SIM card works in my LG 330 which I bought from 3. The SIM card belonging to the 3 shop manager works fine in my Palm. Still 3 technical services say the problem is that I didn't buy the phone through them, and the SIM will only work with a phone bought from them. They suggest I contact Palm technical services to see if they can help!

It seems quite out of order for 3 to insist all their customers use phone bought only from them. I wonder if they can make restrictions like this, and intend to contact Ofcom to check.

I think 3 have moved the goalposts and I have grounds for cancelling my contract (6 months left to run). However, I am very happy with the package I get from 3 and don't want to change that. I just want to use my choice of phone, not one they have chosen for me.

Any ideas anyone?

Cheers

Lesley

lesley1966

Hi

This is a new thread to bump a message I posted a few days ago.

My service from 3 has stopped when I try to use my Palm Treo 680 as it wasn't sold to me by 3 - this is what their technical support said. 3 don't sell any Palms. My SIM card is fine in the phone I bought from 3, and the 3 SIM card belonging to the 3 shop manager works ok in my Palm.

Does this seem reasonable, to refuse a signal to phones you haven't bought from them?

Cheers

Lesley

Buzby

Perfectly reasonable - but you need to know the background.

Three UK is a UMTS network ONLY (sometimes referred to as '3G') it built and operated its own UMTS network from scratch, and this operates at around 2100Mhz.

To provide infill in areas where no signal, 3UK, which was the first such network to open for business in the UK, they entered into a commercial agreement with O2 to allow 3's mobiles to 'roam' onto O2's GSM (900Mhz) 2G network. Recently this changed, and instead of O2 providing this back-up, Orange now provide roaming using their 1800Mhz network.

The whole point of 3UK entering into this arrangement is to provide their customers with the benefit of a fall-back should their 3G network be unable to provide them with service - and very kind of them to do so. This is because they have to pay Orange to carry your call over this roamed network.

Now, your Palm as far as I can remember is a 2G device only - it can connect to GSM 900.1800 networks, but NOT to 2100MHz UMTS ones. This means that at no time are you actually using 3UK's network, but ALWAYS using Orange's GSM equivalent. Because you are using the roaming facility full-time, you are effectively abusing the back up service they provide for their customers.

As this results in them always having to pay another network to process your calls. your connection is actually costing them money. If you switch to a phone that is 3G capable, there won't be this issue, and you'll be able to use this 'national roaming' as a backup when it is required - not because you've got an incompatible handset.

Jon_01

Also, as 3 don't sell the handset they won't have any info on it and therefore can't give you any support as they won't have any contact with Palm to get the info...

lufcgirl

lesley1966 wrote: »

Hi

TMy SIM card is fine in the phone I bought from 3, and the 3 SIM card belonging to the 3 shop manager works ok in my Palm.

It looks like an issue to do with the customers sim card rather than the phone if the above statement is correct. I worked for three and tested several 3 sim cards in 2g phones which worked fine.
Try a manual network search, it just might not be detecting the network when you switch it on.

lesley1966

Hi Buzby

I'm sure the Palm is 3G as I can access the internet and watch data streaming. However, I did notice that I was often "roaming".

Lufcgirl - I've tried doing a manual network search - didn't help. And my SIM card is fine in my LG phone.

Any other ideas?

Cheers

Lesley

Buzby

I've just checked - the palm is a 2G ONLY device;

http://www.pocket-lint.co.uk/reviews/review.phtml/2051/3075/palm-treo-680-smart-phone.phtml

It is your use of 2G networks that is the sole reason why Hutchison 3 are not providing you with service, as outlined in my original post. If you switch to a PDA with 3G functionality, there won't be a problem.

lesley1966

Hi Buzby

I see you're right. Pants! I thought I had 3G.

Better stick with the LG then.

Oh well, at least I know what the problem is.

Thanks everyone who responded.

Lesley