Are Three telling porkies?

cyrillicguy

Recently stumbled upon the following statement made by Three on their Facebook page:

"Unlike most other providers, we don't charge extra for 4G".

It got me puzzled a bit as, as far as I am aware, these days none of the providers that offer 4G (the other "big three" and MVNOs alike) charge extra for accessing the LTE tech as all their plans include 4G as standard. I've checked the websites of EE, O2, Voda as well as Tesco Mobile gifgaff and LycaMobile. None of them seem to offer any 3G-only plans at a lesser cost, i.e. all their plans are 4G plans. In fact, I've contacted the above providers and every single one of them confirmed that 4G services come on their respective plans as a standard with no extra premium involved.

When I asked Three, they have insisted that their statement was correct as their own research would suggest. They refused to elaborate though as "We don't comment specifically on other providers or the structure or cost of their plans". A bit strange as on their own Pay As You Go page such a comparison does indeed exist

Now, there might be some legacy plans, that the customers of other providers are still on, that are 3G only and should these customers want to access 4G they'd probably have to move to one of the current, more expensive, plans, but... As per Three's own logic, this isn't really a price increase as they insisted it wasn't really a price increase for those moved from "phased out" AYCE data plans to their new, more expensive, version. So, to avoid double standards, one would assume none of legacy plans of other providers would be included in Three's "research".

So, is Three really telling porkies or do most providers that offer 4G these days charge extra for it?

P.S. I was going to submit a couple of links to Three's Facebook page for anyone interested to take a look at Three's claims in question but as a new user I am apparently not allowed to post any links

LogisticsGuy

Have I missed the point here, are you saying you'd like them to charge for 4G?


Or is it simply that, as other providers do, they include 4G as standard in their contract but the terminology on their website is misleading?

Frozen_up_north

At one time some networks charged extra for 4G, 3 are perhaps slow to catch up.

I wouldn't get upset about it, if you are looking for a deal just follow the ABC rule... Accept nothing, Believe no one and Check everything, you won't go far wrong 😎

cyrillicguy

Ah, I am not that upset, maybe just a little bit but not to the extent of loosing my sleep or smth

I know that some networks did charge extra for 4G plans some time ago (that's why I've mentioned the legacy plans), but still a poor show from Three as far as I am concerned.

Overall, it is a bit sad to see Three turning from a promising innovative network into something with morals of a salesman who knocks at your door all smiling and glowing with a "I'm here to congratulate you as you've been selected for our special offer available today only! Sign here and here" pitch.

cyrillicguy

LogisticsGuy wrote: »

Have I missed the point here, are you saying you'd like them to charge for 4G?


Or is it simply that, as other providers do, they include 4G as standard in their contract but the terminology on their website is misleading?

It's their terminology. What they are essentially saying is:
1. We do not charge extra for 4G.
2. Most other providers do charge extra for 4G.

The former is correct. The latter, however, appears to be really far away from the truth.