3 is the cheapest, but is it best

gromituk

Every network is changing to charging minimum 1 minute, and Three are only charging for itemised paper bills which you don't need anyway. Besides which, if the conditions are changed you have the right to cancel your contract! So I'm not sure what the fuss is about.

Uruk_Hai

After reading this thread and hearing about the experiances of others I've decided to avoid the 3 network, now to try and find a good deal else where :rolleyes:

GrahamB

Handset: Nokia 6288 Slide

Most commonly used location: Berkshire

Ease and reliability and connection: Poor reception at home compared to other networks. Annoyingly the phone keeps swapping between '3's' own network and their roaming partner 'Orange' which also has the effect of considerably reducing battery life :mad: . Incoming calls are often dropped if phone is on their own network at time of call. When making calls from home I force it onto 'Orange' and quickly dial before it attempts to go back to '3' network. Calls are then fine whilst on 'Orange'.

Any other problems: No other problems in the 12 months I've been with them.

Overall service and rating (out of 10): 5 (would be 9 if coverage was better)

Will I renew at the end of the contract? Difficult to say, as the £15 for 250 mins and 50 texts suits me fine....but the poor coverage especially at home is a big factor against. If '3' allowed me to set the phone for '2G' use only as and when I wanted, that would be acceptable, but that's not going to happen.

Think I need to find friends/family who have '3G' on the other networks and see how good the signal is here at home and make an informed choice on the findings.

princessjessica08

GrahamB - You should be able to change your phone from dual mode to GSM, see if that makes any differance. Menu>settings>phone>Network mode>GSM worth a shot to see if it does help. I know some 3g phones (N95 for example) have to do this as the calls drop.

GrahamB

princessjessica08 wrote: »

GrahamB - You should be able to change your phone from dual mode to GSM, see if that makes any differance. Menu>settings>phone>Network mode>GSM worth a shot to see if it does help. I know some 3g phones (N95 for example) have to do this as the calls drop.

Hi princessjessica08,

Thanks..but tried that quite some time ago, but because the phone is '3 branded' only 'Dual Mode' choice is available. Thought long and hard about 'de-branding' but decided against for various reasons.

kelltic

gromituk wrote: »

Every network is changing to charging minimum 1 minute, and Three are only charging for itemised paper bills which you don't need anyway. Besides which, if the conditions are changed you have the right to cancel your contract! So I'm not sure what the fuss is about.

The fuss is that they are refusing to allow many customers to legitimately cancel, due to the way that they alter their price plans - in this case they altered the price plans to reflect the upcoming change in <1min billing in October 97............but didnt tell anyone. These price plans are only available on their website or on demand. So even though the change isnt happening until next month many customers are caught by the sneaky way they have advertised this in their online only details.

If you do go with 3 (and until now I was happy with them, I have found their coverage to be excellent here in NI) be aware that you will have to check the online price plans (and the footnotes of them) monthly to make sure there is no change to the way you are billed, just to make sure.

riker71

Ive been with 3 for last 3 years. Signal as good as the other networks (leeds and surrounding area/west/north yorks), cust service always polite even if misinformed sometimes. I have 2 contracts due to end next month, one as the contract expires naturally and the other I got disconnected due to the change from per second to per minute biling as it would have a detrimental effect on my costs. waiting to see if their retentions call with a good deal.....

JennyW_2

I too am glad I found this thread. I was thinking of switching to 3 but will now avoid. They must be the cheapest for a reason.

gromituk

Have you read threads about the other networks too? If so, do they come up better?

Concerned_of_Rugby

To All:-
Last time I wrote about Three having changed my account from 12 months to 18 without my knowledge, and it took nearly a month of constant phone calls before it was finally fixed. Technically I find the network to be good so I decided to renew. This time I requested a 6 month contract for obvious reasons, but was told these are only available as a "hook" for new customers, so finally agreed to a 12 month contract.
Within a week I went back to the local shop to check and found the term had again been switched to 18 months!
Could these be merely errors, or is it something decidedly less legal?
I doubt that I am the only customer being given this treatment so just what is going on? Does the Office of Fair-Trading know about such happenings, or OTELO?