3 is the cheapest, but is it best

[Deleted User]

I live in East Ayrshire.

I've had my 3 phone for a few days now, one dropped call so far. Perfect 3g signal at home, and at work. I'll accept a few dropped calls, for £11 PM, with the great phone I got.

I had T-Mobile before, it had a great signal, but was expensive.

I had Orange before that and could not make any calls at home, unless I leaned out an open window upstairs and reached for the sky - which endangered my life -

With respect, we are getting the views of largely disgruntled 3 customers on this thread, but the Network is signing up 60,000 customers a week - are every one of these customers joining the network based on a low cost decision...? is there more to this story..?

mcandrst

Handset:
Motorola A920 (owned for 6 months then sold on eBay)
Nokia 7600 (bought as a PAYG handset with proceeds of A920 sale)

Most commonly used location:
Moseley in Birmingham

Ease and reliability and connection:
Sometimes sketchy with the Motorola. Showed 'full bars' but would often be effectively off when people tried to call. No problems with the Nokia 7600.

Never had any success using the phones abroad. Useless in Hong Kong, Malaysia and even France.

MMS NEVER worked (but they still charged me).

Any other problems:
Battery life on the A920 was shockingly bad.

Overall service and rating (out of 10):
I found their CS better than O2, well, at least the Bombay personnel are friendly enough. I can't fault the voice tariff's.

Service: about a 6.5
Handsets - Motorola A920: about a 2
Nokia 7600: about a 7.5

P.S.
I recently requested my PAC from '3' which was given with no problem as I waited on the phone. Confirmation was sent by mail a few days later. Very impressed with this.

Porting to O2 PAYG until the Nokia 6260 is released. Cut off on Monday......waiting....still waiting to be reconnected. Now Thursday morning. Ah, it's good to be back with O2.

Still waiting by the way.

Guimauve

I got a nokia 7600 (free) with 500 mn of call/month for £10/month (no charge for the itemised bill). This was, at the time, the cheapest offer available. So far I am quite happy with 3 network. I knew that their coverage was not perfect, but no-one is perfect! And with 500 mn per month at £10, I dont think you can really complain.
Try e2save.com, 100mn/month for £4.99 a month and 'free' 100 texts for the 1st 6 months. (£1 for itemised bill though).

Have a nice day.

mabeybaby

Hi all,

I've been on 3 with my LG8110 since September and it's fantastic.

Never dropped a call

Always had excellent reception (can even receive calls and texts in my local supermarket which I've never been able to do with any previous provider!)

Battery lasts 2-3 days depending on usage.

Having read previous posts it seems to me a lot of the problems are with peoples handsets not necessarliy the 3 network.

I'm in South Buckinghamshire.

scootermacc

Handset: WAS Motorola A920, NOW LG8120

Most commonly used location: Coventry, UK

Ease and reliability and connection: I have significant problems getting reception downstairs at home, but its fine upstairs. City Centre is fine, and at work in Northampton its great. London reception is has been perfect.
The Motorola phone was appalling, very big and heavy with the battery running out completely in 4-6 hours, even with low usage - they supplied a spare battery but that was a right pain to deal with. So far the LG is outperforming by a mile - very happy with this handset which makes the 3 experience much better.

Any other problems: Biggest issue is call dropping which happens one in every 5 calls, and is usually when I'm at home (see above), or when travelling from a 3G to a 2.5G area, backed by O2. Better reception areas offer no problems.
Secondary issue is the cr*p selection of content - 3G is supposed to offer you the world in your hand, but the content is poor and hideously expensive for what it is. This is outweighed for me though by the fantastic price for speech calls - this is why I went for 3.

Overall service and rating (out of 10): 7 - dropping and call reception can be an issue, but the price for the call volume is superb.

rabialioness

hiya scootermacc,
how did you change from motorola to lg in contract period?
did you get a free upgrade?
if so

---

how?
please inform
thanks ::) ::)

pingu

hi
can anyone from Manchester on 3 network let me know about the 3 service/coverage etc

thanks

lesleyalpha

Handset NEC e606

Main area used: Hampshire & West Sussex

Comments: I took out the contract 750 x network as it seemed ideal for my work as a youth counsellor. I make lots of peak time calls, or I used to before I got hooked into this crappy network.

I also receive calls from my clients, sometimes when they are at a crisis, then the call gets dropped, try explaining to a suicidal 14 year old it was the phone, not me hanging up on them!!!

I have had 2 different handsets and was without a phone for a week whilst I sent one back and they tried to fix it & then dispatched me a replacement.

I spoke to a 3 rep in the local Superdrug and he confirmed the NEC e606 is a crap phone (not his exact words but the implication was there), he suggested getting an LG handset as they are much more reliable. Fine if I could afford to buy one when I'm already paying about £50 a month for my contract! I don't get any inclusive texts and as the kids often don't have an credit on their phones I don't leave voicemail messages so have to text them.

When my contract is up in January I'm going back to O2. It may be more expensive but the peace of mind for both my clients and myself will be worth every penny.

falcon21

Before I answer the question I want to relay my experience before switching. I was on T-Mobile and phoned them to see if they could match the 3 deal (500 xnet mins for 12.50 per month for 12 months). They made an offer that was lower than my line rental, but nowhere near competitive with 3. I pointed this out and they started to really smear 3: "you pay for what you get", "3 reception is really bad - it drops out all the time" etc etc..

I rang a few other networks and got the same response.

A friend of mine worked for a large high street mobile retailer who also deals with network billing. He is a manager in a department whose job it is to stop Orange, Vodafone and other customers they bill for to stay on that network. 3 are causing the all sorts of problems and he himself says they are the best value for money. Their tactic is not only to smear the reception, but even worse smears. I will try and quote him verbatim:

"The first thing I tell them is that if they ring customers services they will be speaking to someone in India. You have to be very careful what you say, but for most Northern males that is normally enough. [He then proceeded to mimic a Yorkshire voice expressing a very racist sentiment].

I have found the reception to be better than T-mobile who I was on before 3, as I have detailed below.

Handset: LG u8120

Most commonly used location: London & Sevenoaks

Ease and reliability and connection: Top marks for the phone and ease of use. Only two minor quibbles: the LG doesn;t have bluetooth and the call register doesn;t say what time someone called/you made a call. Connection generally very reliable. If problems occur it tends to be in Sevenoaks where some areas have 3g and other have to go through 02. The system tends to start on 3g with one bar, but then when you try and call it realises there is not enough so it has to cut out and then the 2g (02) reception bars appear and the reception is then fine. Apparently 02 have the best 2G reception covergae of all the networks. Overall better than the other networks I have been on (T-Mobile and Orange).

Any other problems: None

Overall service and rating (out of 10): 9/10

drenton

Handset: LG8120

Most commonly used location: Derby

Ease and reliability and connection: Every single call I have made has dropped part way through

Any other problems: Customer services take about 20 - 25 mins to get through, and won't do anything until I have my phone 're-flashed' which means I will be without a phone for 3 days - no replacement!

Overall service and rating (out of 10): 2