3 mobile broadband

michilin27

hey guys, just wondering how u all getting on now with 3?? my connection has started to cut out today

pauledg

Time for an update following my earlier posts. Firstly, the saga of inability to install the modem software on my Acer Ferrari laptop was never resolved by 3 or by me, despite efforts by tech. services to assist - blocked by UK customer service! So I did go out and buy a second computer that would accept the software.

What a waste of £500, the modem installed and connection made. Speed 120kps. Hardly the 3.6Gb advertised. I made use of the service for 4 days last month and then a dire warning (actually 3 identical warnings) appeared on screen saying that I had exceeded my monthly allocation and all future use till the end of month would be charged extra! I had actually been online for less than an hour and a half in total and had used up (up and download combined) just 56Mb.

Knowing 3's past record I stopped using the service till the end of the month but did check My3 account for an "accurate measure of usage". This declared over 3Gb unused but also stated that they had no data usage information available - fat lot of use.

I have stuck with my reliable dial-up service this month so far but will check broadband usage just before the end of month and see what messages appear.

Now for a new and infuriating point. When I signed up I checked beforehand the distribution map on 3's site to check turbo broadband availability and found that my area was already enabled though to be honest I was close to the edge of the area. A friend also checked with the local 3 shop and was told that he was very lucky as he lived in a village that had 3's turbo enabled transmitter aerial actually in the village (in sight of my house as it happens). So I signed up. Checking their website again yesterday I find that the map has been re-done and the area is no longer turbo enabled, it's not even marked as due for enabling this year!!! So what the hell did I pay for?

Paul

buglawton

I would never consider 3 as a replacement for real broadband unless 3 offered me a 2 week no strings trial upfront. 3g uses the highest mobile frequencies which are particularly prone to be blocked by concrete walls. What is worth considering is the 3 pay-as-you go option as a fill-in or mobile service. In which case I would not even quibble 120kbps as long as I could do email & banking. I suppose you could drive to a turbo mast & sit in front of it to do big Windows updates!

FannyHill

3 seem to offer so much and give so little.

cristinakaren

Hi Tonno100,
We're also looking to get out of our 3 internet contract.
As a warnign to anybody considering signing up please read our experience of 3 mobile broadband over on the comsumer vent board:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...html?p=8596047

Karen

pauledg

It's months since I contributed n this forum so I thought I'd better give you an update. At long last and on a new Acer/Vista computer bought specially for the job, I have the 3 system up and running without crashing. Mind you, peak connection speed is usually around 120-150k/s, a far cry from the advertised figure. That is, of course, 3G, not high speed. The high speed logo appears momentarily on occasion. When I signed up the 3 coverage map showed me to be high speed enabled but (maybe because I complained) now it shows 3G only, so they are not even suggesting I should get what I signed up for. But wait, there's good news! This morning the high speed initials appeared and peak speed rose to 600k and operated for a whole half hour session. Later in the morning it had obviously suffered a headache and had retired to bed leaving me once again with 3G. All this with the computer firmly anchored to my desk.

At miday I had a call from a friend, saying that he had bravely gone out and bought the Vodafone system (plus a new vodafone phone that doesn't work at his home though the transmitter is round the corner). He keenly carried out an installation onto his Acer which seemed to go okay though he did notice that for a few seconds the data rate info on screen was going berserk. He put the machine to bed and took it into work this morning to show his mate. Oh the shame of it, the machine was dead. I mean - DEAD. A few seconds of flashing lkights and nothing else. Hence his phone call to me.

He brough the machine round and true enough there is no bootup. Nothing whatsoever on screen and nor will it boot a rescue CD nor a bootable Linux CD, just a few whirrs of the drive and that's it. I have no idea what the problem is but trying the modem in my ancient Gericom machine it installed and worked., So with 2 Acer machines' bad experience and 1 okay there does seem to be a problem, probably not windows related.

I think the problem may be software related as I see that 3 and Voda are both using the same brand modem software, clearly this software is dodgy (as well as not being Microsoft approved).

I hate to think what it is going to cost to get my friend's machine sorted and I gave up trying to get it working on my Ferrari once a reinstall had got it back alive. But this should be a warning to anyone looking for mobile broadband.

hellows

I am with THREE on a £15/month/3GB Mobile Broadband price plan (12month contract). Per month I am using less then 1GB and I would like to downgrade my price plan to £10/month/1GB. How can I do this?
Do I have to wait 6 month and then downgrade or pay a fee for this ? Idealy I would like to cancel my contract :> but if not possible downgrade it!

Has anyone downgraded a mobile broadband plan with three ?

jeonatl

I have had 3 Mobile Broadband for several months now and my experience of it is generally positive however it does have it's problems. I never get anywhere near the advertised 3.6Mbps, it goes from about 500kbps to 1Mbps depending on the time of day (presumably other traffic on the network etc.)

Also, 3's DNS servers can be incredibly slow. Sometimes it can take a few seconds to look up an IP address, but once it's done that the page loads quickly-ish.

However, for the price I'm generally fairly pleased. Definitely not good for sustained downloads (like iPlayer) but for general e-mail, web browsing, Skype and a bit of Last.fm it works absolutely fine.

espresso

jeonatl wrote: »

Also, 3's DNS servers can be incredibly slow. Sometimes it can take a few seconds to look up an IP address, but once it's done that the page loads quickly-ish.

Have you tried using an alternative (better) DNS? e.g. here.

ROBMOGGAN

Im not sure if this has been posted before.

Existing 3 customers can now get 1/2 price broadband internet (usb dongle for use on laptop or pc).

Enter your mobile number (or is it a/c number?) when you buy online or by phone.

Ive been with t-mobile for the last year and have been paying £29/month (contract), so decided to change when I found the 3 and t-mobile networks are now shared.

Unfortunately, my experience with 3 so far has been 100% useless - and I may cancel under 14 day guarantee (if items ever arrive).

I ordered the usb dongle (3GB at £7.50) and it arrived this morning.

I ordered a contract phone at £15 (300 mins and free 3-to-3 calls) but it failed to arrive this morning.

I ordered a basic SIM card (to receive those free 3-to-3 calls) but it failed to arrive yesterday.

When I called 3 and spoke with their poor english-speaking staff, I was told my SIM had been auto-cancelled by their system as I had just signed for 2 contracts.

I asked why they didnt tell me and was told an email was due to be sent this Monday - 3 days after the item should have arrived.

I now have to drive to a 3 store to buy a SIM card.

I was told I couldn't do anything today about the phone which failed to arrive, even though it was Special Delivery and the the other Special Delivery item came OK.

Useless customer service (but then I guess I had read the warnings so shouldn't be too surprised).

Anyway, if you have a 3 phone and can cope with the pathetic customer service levels, you may want to get the 1/2 price mobile broadband.

Rob