3 is the cheapest, but is it best

Chivalry

sargentusuk wrote: »

3 are the worst network in history - i've sued them for problems i've had with them

i think im about to go down this route .... the worst experiance ive ever had with a phone company... could u take a look at my thread and tell me your thoughts and how u proceeded and the outcome please as i have no clue ;0( thnx

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=788727

jnm21

hinterland wrote: »

Went to carphone warehouse on Tuesday to get a good contract- 3- 900 units for £24. Took a long time to sort contract out as they do in there- At the end I was late to get back to work and signed contract Phone has no coverage where I live. went to return the phone as suggested by `nice and sweet` saleswoman and found out that there was NO 14 day get out clause and neither phones4U or 3 would take responsibilty- I am stuck with 2X18/12 contracts at £24/month each. HELP!!!!!!!!!

Ok, this may be a long shot, but worth a shot!

You had to give your home address for the contract, so therefore it was clear that use at that address was part of the purpose for which you bought it. (Perhaps you even asked the assistant & they confirmed it would work anywhere in your city? )

Under the sale of goods act 1978 (ish), goods must be fit for purpose, which the mobiles/contracts are not - I'd go into the store (it may happen that Saturday afternoon when they are packed would be when I was next in the area ) & mention this fact (start sweet & innocent & move on to loud & putting other customers off if necessary). See where it goes. Good luck (let us know how you go).

BTW, there is a good offer on M&M1100 on their website at the mo - £20/mth (just in case anyone reading this hasn't seen it).

GrahamB

Anyone know if there is a way to disable '3G' functionality and just have '2G' operation on a Nokia 6288?

Signal quality is poor when I call from my house and the calls often drop :mad: .

I only use the phone for voice and texts and would be happy to enable '3G' if and when required on those occasions when I needed to.

I did contact '3' CS and they suggested I manually select 'Orange' network - their roaming partner - as they reported '3G' coverage is marginal where I live. However, 'Orange' doesn't show as an available network when I do a search . I know 'Orange' cover my area as another mobile on 'Vodafone' lists it when I do a manual search! I've reported my findings back to CS but am waiting for a reply, so thought I would ask the knowledgeable folk here on 'MSE' .

tissot

GrahamB wrote: »

Anyone know if there is a way to disable '3G' functionality and just have '2G' operation on a Nokia 6288?

Signal quality is poor when I call from my house and the calls often drop :mad: .

I only use the phone for voice and texts and would be happy to enable '3G' if and when required on those occasions when I needed to.

I did contact '3' CS and they suggested I manually select 'Orange' network - their roaming partner - as they reported '3G' coverage is marginal where I live. However, 'Orange' doesn't show as an available network when I do a search . I know 'Orange' cover my area as another mobile on 'Vodafone' lists it when I do a manual search! I've reported my findings back to CS but am waiting for a reply, so thought I would ask the knowledgeable folk here on 'MSE' .

the best way is to bebrand your mobile (it is also called generic flash), so you can use gsm network mode which is curently disabled on all 3's handsets. however, in such case you could lose the warranty for your mobile. I had similar problems, so i just went to a mobile shop in centre and unlocked and debranded my SE610 for £20 (later realized that that guy at local polish shop is doing it for £10). But you have to be careful with using gsm mode as it cost money for 3 - so if they see a high gsm usage on ur number they could suspect something.

Another option is to chose Orange (which recently became a roming partner) from the list of
available networks: On my SE there several available networks all marked with 3, so it's hard to say which one is orange or another partner network, so you have to chose one that doesn't has a 'house' sign next to it that means original 3/3g only operator. However, such option wasn't helpful as my mobile was switching back to 3 home network after a while. To avoid this you have to use 'manual network selection' instead of 'automatic' but this function was disabled on my handset as well, so debranding (see above) was the only way out for me.

I have now n95 and its same problem - i chose manual network selection and then chose available network with strong signal, which is o2 in my area, but after couple of minutes settings are switched back to automatic and network shifts to original 3. so probably will debrand my nokia soon!

GrahamB

tissot wrote: »

the best way is to bebrand your mobile (it is also called generic flash), so you can use gsm network mode which is curently disabled on all 3's handsets. however, in such case you could lose the warranty for your mobile. I had similar problems, so i just went to a mobile shop in centre and unlocked and debranded my SE610 for £20 (later realized that that guy at local polish shop is doing it for £10). But you have to be careful with using gsm mode as it cost money for 3 - so if they see a high gsm usage on ur number they could suspect something.

Another option is to chose Orange (which recently became a roming partner) from the list of
available networks: On my SE there several available networks all marked with 3, so it's hard to say which one is orange or another partner network, so you have to chose one that doesn't has a 'house' sign next to it that means original 3/3g only operator. However, such option wasn't helpful as my mobile was switching back to 3 home network after a while. To avoid this you have to use 'manual network selection' instead of 'automatic' but this function was disabled on my handset as well, so debranding (see above) was the only way out for me.

I have now n95 and its same problem - i chose manual network selection and then chose available network with strong signal, which is o2 in my area, but after couple of minutes settings are switched back to automatic and network shifts to original 3. so probably will debrand my nokia soon!

Thanks for the advice. Umm...think I'll hold back on 'debranding' for the time being. Only joined '3' last September, so don't really want to jeopardise the warranty.

I've had many goes at manually selecting Orange, but I only get:-

[3G] 3
[2G/3G] 3
[2G/3G] T-Mobile UK
[2G] vodafone UK
[2G/3G] O2 - UK

No 'house' sign displayed on my '6288', but I assume the second '3' in the list with [2G/3G] is most likely Orange? Like you, although it switches across to this network, it appears that 'manual selection' is disabled - the Operator Selection' menu item ALWAYS displays 'Automatic' - so it automatically returns to '3' network after a few minutes .

When on (I assume) Orange, I just get the aerial mast icon in the top left corner of the display with a '3' underneath and signal strength of 3 to 4 bars (4 strongest). Then when it changes back to '3' network the mast icon is replaced with '3G' (the G underneath the 3) and signal drops to 1 bar .

The really annoying part is according to www.sitefinder.ofcom.org.uk/ there are several masts (all operators) within about a mile radius of where I live, so signal strength shouldn't be a problem!

Think I might try the SIM in an old Nokia 7210 (unlocked) and see how that behaves just to prove a point.

tissot

GrahamB wrote: »

Thanks for the advice. Umm...think I'll hold back on 'debranding' for the time being. Only joined '3' last September, so don't really want to jeopardise the warranty.

I've had many goes at manually selecting Orange, but I only get:-

[3G] 3
[2G/3G] 3
[2G/3G] T-Mobile UK
[2G] vodafone UK
[2G/3G] O2 - UK

No 'house' sign displayed on my '6288', but I assume the second '3' in the list with [2G/3G] is most likely Orange? Like you, although it switches across to this network, it appears that 'manual selection' is disabled - the Operator Selection' menu item ALWAYS displays 'Automatic' - so it automatically returns to '3' network after a few minutes .

When on (I assume) Orange, I just get the aerial mast icon in the top left corner of the display with a '3' underneath and signal strength of 3 to 4 bars (4 strongest). Then when it changes back to '3' network the mast icon is replaced with '3G' (the G underneath the 3) and signal drops to 1 bar .

The really annoying part is according to www.sitefinder.ofcom.org.uk/ there are several masts (all operators) within about a mile radius of where I live, so signal strength shouldn't be a problem!

Think I might try the SIM in an old Nokia 7210 (unlocked) and see how that behaves just to prove a point.

on my n95 the choice of networks seems to be slightly different, but 3g- O2 seems to be giving the best coverage and service, though i can keep it only for a minute or two. it seems that original 3's signal fluctuates all the time, so when it's strong the phone automatically switches to it, then when it drops down - phone looks for a gsm which now seems to be orange and then back to 3 and back to orange and so on. during such jumps you could lost reception at all! i spent several hours chating with 3's CS finaly they accepted that they have poor signal and will install a new mast in my area (God knows when they are going to do it) and gave me £10 for inconvenience (though i demanded much more) - anyway i spent this money on debranding my mobile, so eventually three has managed to solve my problem

by the way, O2 used to be the roaming partner for 3, but several month ago they switched to orange and since that many people start to experience reception problems. however, O2 still seems to be a valid option though it doesn't has top priority and you can chose it only manually which is not an option on 3-branded mobiles:( i am trying to find out if it is possible to fix it without debranding, just with the help of some software but i don't know whether such software exist.

sophisticated.

Handset: I've had a 3 contract phone since I was about 13/14 (18 now!) so gone through a few...had an old school LG model, Motorola Razr and two Nokia's. Signal was the same on all of them tbh.

Most commonly used location: Cardiff

Ease and reliability and connection: AWFUL signal. My main reason for leaving them as soon as I was 18 (could get my contract out of my account)

Any other problems: Customer Services used to keep me on hold for ages, which was annoying. Also spoke to me rather rudely a few times! However excellent with repairs.

Overall service and rating (out of 10): 5

ishouldbeinlectures

hinterland wrote: »

Went to carphone warehouse on Tuesday to get a good contract- 3- 900 units for £24. Took a long time to sort contract out as they do in there- At the end I was late to get back to work and signed contract Phone has no coverage where I live. went to return the phone as suggested by `nice and sweet` saleswoman and found out that there was NO 14 day get out clause and neither phones4U or 3 would take responsibilty- I am stuck with 2X18/12 contracts at £24/month each. HELP!!!!!!!!!

I work for phones 4u and the whole 3 no returns thing is annoying. If you can prove that there is no signal in your house, or if you can get them to accept liability for the lack of signal then you can get them to return it. Carphone probably won't help you but if you can talk to three and get them to say you can return it and then take it to carphone, they can't not let you return it. Hope this helps.

piper17chocoholic

Ook, well my boyfriend is on 3, and he has a much better experience with them than I do with Vodafone!

Do not go onto a Vodafone contract! They are way too overpriced and a waste of money. I am paying £35 per month (nearly £43 including Vodafone Family) and I get 500 minutes and 1000 texts. However, I cannot send or recieve picture messages (for some reason they store recieved messages on the internet which is not always accesible) and the customer service is rubbish! Luckily, my contract is ending soon and I can guarentee that the minute it ends I will be getting a 3 contract.

My boyfriend has had his contract with 3 for nearly 18 months now, the same time that I have had mine, and his service is a million times better! He has exactly the same phone as me, the Sony Ericsson W850i and he has absolutly no problems. (Except when there was a fault with the games on the phone, but he sent it off and within a week it was returned, fixed and with newly installed software, no questions asked). He can picture message and video call with no problems and the network coverage is available even in low signal areas!

What I like most about 3 is the fact that you can access the home network site on the phone and check your usage for free, so if there is the chance you will go over your limit, you can check beforehand anytime, anywhere.:T

He also gets every single bill, the same time every month, which is more than I can say for Vodafone who haven't sent me a bill since the third month into my contract!:mad:


It seems to me that the majority of complains about 3 come with the Nokia or Nec phones...

Bella_b

I got a bill this month as normal, and it said that last month's bill hadn't been paid.. as balance was 0.00.. even though when I checked online.. the money had been taken out of my account by direct debit. It's frustrating..:mad: do they expect me to pay twice?! Why does it say I haven't paid?
In a few days, they're gonna take out 2 months worth of bills, when I have already paid for one!!

What do I do?