Feel at home with Three is TERRIBLE

inkiboo

A warning to stay clear to Three.

Just come back from a holiday in the States with friends. They were on EE, I'm on Three.

It's very, very clear that Three are throttling the data speeds when abroad. Doing the same speed test on the same site and on the same mobile network showed 0.09 mbit/sec on my Three phone and over 4 on the EE one.

As soon as my contract is up I am off. Tempted to complain to Ofcom as well because the major reason I signed up was to use data abroad and with those speeds it's simply not possible.

NiftyDigits

Drama about nothing. You pay to use data in the USA. You did not with 3.
I made good use of Feel At Home in five different locations in the USA, including the Virgin Isles. Whilst other tourists were scrambling around looking for WiFi, I at least was able to connect in every location.
As for it be the major reason why you signed up to 3....rubbish. You could have simply purchased a PAYG SIM or a 30 Day contract.
Was your phone able to utilise 3G/4G in the USA? My very cheap Windows phone could not as it doesn't not utilise the relevant band. So I was actually limited to EDGE on that phone.
3 doesn't control the network in the USA, so what could you expect to achieve?

inkiboo

It is entirely Three's fault

Both phones were iPhone 6
Both were connected to the same USA networks

Only difference was mine was on Three and the other on EE.

Given when you roam you connect out to the Internet via your home network's APN, how else would you explain it?

NiftyDigits

inkiboo wrote: »

It is entirely Three's fault

Both phones were iPhone 6
Both were connected to the same USA networks

Only difference was mine was on Three and the other on EE.

Given when you roam you connect out to the Internet via your home network's APN, how else would you explain it?

You are still Roaming on someone else's network. Since you aren't paying for it, why would you expect to have the same priority as someone who pays for Roaming, as you would with EE?
Much ado about nothing. No one will take your claim of signing a twelve month or more contract because of Feel At Home seriously.

EE:

Jetting to the USA?

Buy a 20MB roaming data add-on for just £3 a day.

So for a one week trip you can spend £21 on EE or the same or more on a local SIM.
So what exactly were you expecting for free? No one expects to Roam on super fast Internet for free

inkiboo

There is super fast and there is completely unusable. Less than 0.5 mbit is useless.

Three didn't advertise Feel at Home with the caveat of it being much worse than other networks roaming options. I signed a 12 month contract with Feel at Home being the main reason for picking Three over another network because I would be travelling to a number of different countries over the next nine months.

If they told me it was going to utterly rubbish, I wouldn't have signed up.

Really not sure why you are defending a company who advertise a service they simply can not deliver.

http://www.three.co.uk/Privacy_Cookies/Terms_Conditions%3Fcontent_aid%3D1220482374514

Where does it say "we will throttle your connection so it is unusable"?

tberry6686

I've been using feel at home in the US regularly for the past few years and have never had any problem with data speed. Remember your friends will have been paying a decent whack for their data use while you were paying the same as in the UK

NiftyDigits

inkiboo wrote: »

There is super fast and there is completely unusable. Less than 0.5 mbit is useless.

Three didn't advertise Feel at Home with the caveat of it being much worse than other networks roaming options. I signed a 12 month contract with Feel at Home being the main reason for picking Three over another network because I would be travelling to a number of different countries over the next nine months.

If they told me it was going to utterly rubbish, I wouldn't have signed up.

Really not sure why you are defending a company who advertise a service they simply can not deliver.

http://www.three.co.uk/Privacy_Cookies/Terms_Conditions%3Fcontent_aid%3D1220482374514

Where does it say "we will throttle your connection so it is unusable"?

Customers may be able to (i) stream; and (ii) connect over a virtual private network (VPN), while in an applicable destination, however, both browsing and streaming may be slower than in the UK.

There.

I travel to many countries each year. I didn't sign a twelve month contract with 3 on the basis of Feel At Home. I use it on a PAYG basis and whilst not speedy, it has it uses. You can keep in contact without the need to look for a local SIM or WiFi on landing.
The people who expect to sit around all day looking at YouTube video are living in cloud cuckoo land.

inkiboo

I think that explains a lot; you don't understand what is written above. That specifically refers to streaming or using a VPN, neither of which I was doing. I couldn't even use email or browse BBC News!

Three offered a service and at no point said it would be significantly worse than other networks or that they throttled it. I used to be on EE with a plan that included gigs of roaming data; their service wasn't worse simply because I had a cheaper roaming deal.

I say again, why are people defending Three for throttling their service when nowhere does it state they will do that?

inkiboo

tberry6686 wrote: »

I've been using feel at home in the US regularly for the past few years and have never had any problem with data speed. Remember your friends will have been paying a decent whack for their data use while you were paying the same as in the UK

Maybe I have been unlucky with my first experience with Three abroad but I would have happily paid the same as my friends to get a service that works.

NiftyDigits

inkiboo wrote: »

I think that explains a lot; you don't understand what is written above. That specifically refers to streaming or using a VPN, neither of which I was doing. I couldn't even use email or browse BBC News!

Three offered a service and at no point said it would be significantly worse than other networks or that they throttled it. I used to be on EE with a plan that included gigs of roaming data; their service wasn't worse simply because I had a cheaper roaming deal.

I say again, why are people defending Three for throttling their service when nowhere does it state they will do that?

How much did you pay for that? Inclusive GBs of Roaming data in the USA? I don't think so.

No one is 'defending' 3. Just realistic about what to expect from a free service.

Some people post ideas of how to make the connection speedier.

NiftyDigits

inkiboo wrote: »

Maybe I have been unlucky with my first experience with Three abroad but I would have happily paid the same as my friends to get a service that works.

Next time, you can do so. Is your iPhone locked? You could have purchased a local SIM. US$10 per week for 1GB of data.
http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/pay-as-you-go
http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-phone/t-mobile-prepaid-3-in-1-sim-starter-kit US$5 for a SIM.

You can be prepared for the next time.