Three UK - No signal and right to cancel

dan1980

I've been with Three for about 4 months now.

Initially I had reasonable signal at home. 5 days ago, my network became intermittent. 3 days ago, the network died completely, and I have no mobile phone signal.

I initially contacted Three 5 days ago, and told them of the problem, to be told that they knew about a faulty mast (thanks for telling me!) and that there was no time frame for a fix.

I contacted Three 3 days ago when the signal disappeared, to be told, I'd be 'phoned (!) by their technical team within 4 days. The chap on the phone failed to comprehend that my phone was unable to make, or receive calls. This despite several attempts on my part, as I was scuppered by his poor English, and his refusal to transfer me to someone else.

I've had a look through the terms of service and I can't see any mention of how long they can leave me without a usable phone before they would be in breach of their contract with me to provide a mobile phone service.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Additionally I'm a member of my local mountain rescue team, and need a reliable, functioning mobile phone network to be informed of call outs (I've already missed 2 as a result of this) so Three aren't fit for my purposes!

Buzby

You ave no rights o cancellation for service unavailability on ANY mobile network. Three UK however are pretty good if there is an extended outage they will rebate in full your service charges whilst the degraded service is affecting your usage.

If this is longer than their estimated standard times, the will permit a no fee termination, but that decision is theirs alone.

Richard_T_

Try again, it could be a mast problem in your local area.
mention that you need coverage as you are part of the emergency services ( mountain rescue) and ask them for one of these devices http://support.three.co.uk/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBISAPI.DLL/,/?New,Kb=Mobile,Ts=Mobile,T=CaseDoc,Case=obj%285440%29

dan1980

Thanks for the suggestion. I had spoken to Three about one of those boxes, but they won't provide one as I've had full signal in my home previously, and they're aware of the mast fault.

I'm restarting my phone at least 3 times a day on the off chance something happens, but no luck yet.

Buzby

Until the BTS it brought back online restarting your handset is pointless. It will lock in to the strongest signal automatically when the BTS makes its automated paging call to discover whose in its catchment.

Patience remains a virtue!

dan1980

At least restarting it gives me something to do with my phone, otherwise it's just an expensive paperweight

Besides, isn't the usual call of the tech-support folk "have you tried turning it off and on again?"

Buzby

It is - but needless busy work, to blind the user that they at doing 'something' to restore service. When in fact it is doing nothing of the sort!

Richard_T_

Keep on badgering three for a home signal box, say its a long term issue and mention that you require a decent signal for your mountain rescue emergency services work.
When Ive been out and about in the wilds and as a group we have been using a mobile phone weve always tried to make sure that we have a phone on more than one network, a cheap pay as you go on an alternative network may/will be useful in case of a bad signal on your main network.

As far as i understand you have two basic providers to choose from

MBNL: http://www.mbnl.co.uk/about.php masts that carry
Three
Orange
T-mobile
EE

Vodafone /O2 masts http://blog.vodafone.co.uk/2012/11/20/better-coverage-fewer-masts-your-complete-guide-to-our-network-joint-venture/

Shakti

Dan, think we live in the same area. I have had the same problem. 2 masts are down and their facebook page is full of complaints about it.They have given a poor signal now for nearly a year when one of the masts first became danaged. i have been through the Ombudsman and been on that their Chief executive's office today and also trading Standards and back at the Ombudsman. The excuse i got a few months back about the poor signal was their were waiting to replace the mast when they would upgrade to 4G. i was told by 3 today that the rpoblem could take up to 30 days to fix. You could try unlocking the phone and getting a temporary SIM from another provider.

dan1980

Sucess! (So far at any rate...)

I rang the folk at 3 up this morning, and complained yet again, being polite, but firm in stating that I wanted my contract cancelled. I took advice from:

The Which article i-keep-losing-mobile-phone-signal-in-my-home-what-can-i-do (I can't post a URL as it says I'm to new a user)

I made the point that I believed that they were in breach of the SOSGA as due to the prolonged nature of the fault, it suggested that they were not "provid[ing] the contracted service with reasonable care and skill."

I also suggested that the OFT might think that their T&Cs relating to network faults and the lack of a right to cancel might be covered under their unfair terms in a contract guidance (specifically "Binding Customers while allowing the supplier to provide no service").

They initially backed down from previous calls, and offered me a femtocell, but I pointed out that this would only provide coverage in my home, and not in the surrounding area.

Eventially I was put through to their "Teir 2 Network support team" and they offered me either a refund of all line rental since the problem started, until it was fixed, or an immediate cancellation with no penalty, but without the right of a refund of the 10 days worth of line rental.

I've taken the option to cancel immediately and have been given my PAC code already, but only time will tell if this works out problem free. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed!