3 is the cheapest, but is it best

dandare

hey folks been with 3 for almost a year,well the burd i got her it, using a nokia handset in and around glasgow and no probs to complain about had no need to contact customer services so cant say if theyre good or bad.

cwillnic

Both Wife and I have been with 3 for 2 years. 1st year used LG flip phones, fairly poor service with those phones (although they have apparently been improved). 2nd year used Nokias and it didn't seem like the same network. Much better reception and coverage. Occasionly do get dropped calls due to variable coverage. However, with cashback offers each line worked out at £7.50 pm for 500 x network and 100 texts. Worth the occasionly redial.

arse_neck

Handset: Nokia 6680 (plus some rubbish LG beforehand)

Most commonly used location: Central London/north Essex

Ease and reliability and connection: Mostly fine with Nokia. LG phones are rubbish in my experience, though. Got through three in the space of a 12-month contract – although to be fair to 3, it replaced them pretty quickly on each occasion. Can't complain about the prices and the handsets available, although my contract is up in October, and there seem to be fewer of the latest handsets and tempting deals knocking around now than there were a year ago.

Any other problems: None that I can think of. Been on redemption deals thru third parties for two years, but the second one (advanced mobiles, I think) has really taken its time paying the single lump fee. 3 itself has been largely fine. Customer service is based in India, which I know some people would object to, but as long as you speak clearly when you're trying to change anything, there should be no problems!

Overall service and rating (out of 10): 9

1977pjc

Handset:
NOKIA 6280 (LAST YEAR HAD NOKIA 6680)

Most commonly used location:
TELFORD, TF3. HALESOWEN B63.

Ease and reliability and connection:
THE SERIVCE I HAVE HAD WITH 3 FOR THE LAST YEARS HAS BEEN GREAT, IST YEAR I HAD ONE WITH WORK, NO PROBLEMS.

JUST HAD AN UPGRADE TO THE NOKIA 6280, WELL SMART PHONE (IF YOU HAVE HAD THE NEW SOFTWARE PUT ON)
GOT A GREAT DEAL FROM THEM, 12 MONTH CONTRACT, 3 MONTHS HALF PRICE LINE RENTAL, AND £150 CASHBACK.

ALSO IF YOU USE THERE WEBSITE, AND EMAIL THEM FROM IT, WHICH I HAVE DONE ABOUT COVERAGE ETC, THEY ALWAYS HAVE CALLED ME BACK. A PLACE IN BIRMINGHAM THAT I HIGHLIGHTED AS POOR ISH SIGNAL, IS NOW GREAT. LIKE THE GUY WHO CALLED SAID, IF THEY DONT KNOW ABOUT COVERAGE ISSUES, THEY CANT DO ANYTHING ABOUT THEM.

Any other problems:
JUST A COUPLE OF TIMES I HAVE CALLED THE SERVICE CENTRE, BUT YOU GET THAT ANYWHERE THESE DAYS.



Overall service and rating (out of 10):
9.5/10

BullyCornedBeef

I wont be getting another 3 mobile after this one - my current tarrif is actually quite expensive £35/month (100txt's & 500 mins). I know this is my fault but phone tarriffs really confuse me and I did not use this site when I bought the phone and its contact.

The handset is a MV975. Although stylish the phone is quite heavy and has problems recharging at times (!). Its more than 12 months old now so well past its manufacturers guarantee.

Reception varies greatly and is usually pretty poor most of the time.

Unfortunately the contract does not expire until January when I will go PAYG.

daymouse

Handset: K800i

Most commonly used location: South Manchester

Ease and reliability and connection:Connection has been great no so called 'drop outs' like people claim, the sound quality is so much clearer than on my old qtek 9100 which was on o2. The reception is generally 1 or 2 bars lower than on o2 but you can ignore this as i have had perfectly fine clear connection with 1 or 2 bars!!!!!!

Browsing the internet is great i actually find the connection more stable faster and smoother than when i used to browse the internet on my qtek 9100 via my wifi connection!

Any other problems:Nothing so far (touch wood) I havent had to contact CS yet so i will deal with that when it comes to it!!!!

Overall service and rating (out of 10): Overall Absolute bargain phone and contract, Great content on 3 they even give you £5 a month for downloads like ringtones games wallpapers TV Etc!!!!! And 30mb a month for browsing the internet which is a fast relaiable speed.

In all so far i give them 9/10

chachiluz

1977pjc wrote:

Handset:
NOKIA 6280 (LAST YEAR HAD NOKIA 6680)

Most commonly used location:
TELFORD, TF3. HALESOWEN B63.

Ease and reliability and connection:
THE SERIVCE I HAVE HAD WITH 3 FOR THE LAST YEARS HAS BEEN GREAT, IST YEAR I HAD ONE WITH WORK, NO PROBLEMS.

JUST HAD AN UPGRADE TO THE NOKIA 6280, WELL SMART PHONE (IF YOU HAVE HAD THE NEW SOFTWARE PUT ON)
GOT A GREAT DEAL FROM THEM, 12 MONTH CONTRACT, 3 MONTHS HALF PRICE LINE RENTAL, AND £150 CASHBACK.

ALSO IF YOU USE THERE WEBSITE, AND EMAIL THEM FROM IT, WHICH I HAVE DONE ABOUT COVERAGE ETC, THEY ALWAYS HAVE CALLED ME BACK. A PLACE IN BIRMINGHAM THAT I HIGHLIGHTED AS POOR ISH SIGNAL, IS NOW GREAT. LIKE THE GUY WHO CALLED SAID, IF THEY DONT KNOW ABOUT COVERAGE ISSUES, THEY CANT DO ANYTHING ABOUT THEM.

Any other problems:
JUST A COUPLE OF TIMES I HAVE CALLED THE SERVICE CENTRE, BUT YOU GET THAT ANYWHERE THESE DAYS.



Overall service and rating (out of 10):
9.5/10

Thanks for your post. I have rung 3 to see if I could get a better deal than the one they are giving me (on Sunday they offer me a new Nokia 6280 and 6 months 1/2 rental)

I managed to get a credit for 176 on my first bill and a motorola V3x. Not interested on handsets more on money off. So not bad deal. Mind you I think your deal is better. However I am pleased with it.

gromituk

Just got a 6280 on Video Talk and Text 700, which seems to be giving me 30MB free internet access per month too, and all for virtually nothing if the cashback works (coolnewmobile). Very impressed with all the data stuff, and the fact that you can find out how much allowance you have left - although it hasn't updated the internet data figure yet.

Does anyone know what the default SIM PIN is, please? I need it in order to change it and activate the PIN request. I can't see it in any of the literature I got with the phone, nor on Three's website, nor by googling - but "three", by its very nature, is a crap search term!

Called cust. servs. during the day to ask about the free internet search thing. Got through to someone immediately, but it seems they gave the wrong answer to my question - they said I wouldn't get the free net allowance because I hadn't registered with Three directly. It's showing as a free add-on in my account details.

daymouse

gromituk wrote:

Called cust. servs. during the day to ask about the free internet search thing. Got through to someone immediately, but it seems they gave the wrong answer to my question - they said I wouldn't get the free net allowance because I hadn't registered with Three directly. It's showing as a free add-on in my account details.

Thats what i thought it was only if you bought directley through three

Well if it says it on your bill then what i would do is use 2-3mb that month wait to see if your billed for it and if the 30mb free shows up for the next month. That way if it was a mistake your only getting charged for a couple of mb, If you dont get charged and it shows up again get browsin!!!!!!

gromituk

Well I can update you on this. As well as having one add-on by default, "Free Internet 30", if I go to buy web and email add-ons, I would have to actively select "Casual Mobile Web Sites" (subscription free but £2/MB data charge) as an add-on, which indicates to me that I don't currently have the ability to transfer any paid data. And finally, the internet data allowance has dropped (seems to be updated overnight).

Because of their partnership with Yahoo!, access to all Yahoo! services, including email, seems to be free and doesn't eat into your data allowance! (If you go to follow a website link from the search page, it warns you that the data is no longer included. It doesn't warn you when you read email.)

I'm hoping that I won't have to wait until the paper bill arrives to check for paid usage - the "Current spend" link ought to be more up to date, although so far it does warn me that it "excludes a few items".