Bad Service on THREE network, being fobbed off

mda99das

I have been with three for 6 years. They offered me an upgrade samsung galaxy ace and unlimited internet for £13 a month.
A friend of mine is also on three and have seen the internet speed, at it was very quick. Impressed, I took the offer up in Oct.
I was disappointed with the slow internet access, for download I was getting 0.2 meg and upload 0.1 meg. Even though I have 5 bar signal.
I have spoken to various second line technical support advisors. They have
1) changed the sim card
2) changed the phone
3) checked for any service disruptions.
I have tried the sim in a Iphone 4S and I am still getting the same poor signal.
I have asked 3 to unlock the handset so I can put an o2 sim in it, but they want to charge me.
I am fed up as I cannot use VIBER / TANGO to keep in touch with overseas friends.

I feel 3 have throttled the connection from their end, I have confronted them about this and they deny it.
Can anyone advise what I can do? I am paying for a service and not getting it. I was thinking of writing to OFCOM.

Many thanks.

smartphone

Can you describe what you mean by "throttled the connection"? Also, if you had been with Three for six years, I assume you had used their internet services previously? And do you experience the same issues no matter where you are (at home, work, out and about etc...)?

pickoftheday

Throttling, I assume is the same as being traffic managed - where they try to limit how much you're downloading.

I would first asked to be put through to faults and report it as an issue.

They might have to go through some steps but ask them to find out if there are any issues in the area, outages, maintenance work. They have the resources to see you nearest mast and it's status, etc.

If not, ask if you are being traffic managed / throttled, and if not then report it as fault the same way you would if you had land line broadband with BT.

In my opinion, you shouldn't be paying for something you're not getting and such slow speeds is affecting they way you're using their product.

When you report it as a fault they will give you a reference number or job number so you can call back and get updates as to what is being done.

Don't come off the phone until you have this number, it will make things easier for you when you call back.

Good luck!

Silk

I've seen reports in the past about 3 throttling users but usualy for heavy users who are tethering ...so yes they do and they use TrafficSense to do it
http://support.three.co.uk/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBISAPI.DLL?Command=New,Kb=Mobile,Ts=Mobile,T=Article,varset_cat=signal,varset_subcat=3804,Case=obj%285914%29

If you have been experiancing slow speeds from the outset though without being a heavy user I doubt they would be doing that ???

mda99das

I have never had an internet package with 3 before. I was on a £8 a month with a decent number of mins on a Nokia 6500 slide.
The new package gives me unlimited data. I feel three don't want me to use it thus have limited the speed of the account.