Three mobile phone reception

JBR999

My wife and I are experiencing problems with Three mobile phone reception, which has been much worse for several weeks now.  We have contacted Three, who assure us that they are dealing with this known problem.  This is a serious problem as my wife's mother is 90 years old, lives on her own, and if she falls at any time she needs to contact us as my wife is her carer.
Unfortunately, we are locked into a contract with Three, which ends in August next year and the redemption fee they would demand is £150 for each of us.
Do we have any right to cancel our contracts and move to a different supplier due to loss of service without these fees?

Peter999_2

Does your phone support WiFi calling?  if yes, it's probably a good idea to use that.

oldernonethewiser

You state that Three is aware there is a problem.  Can you see if there is anything in the T&Cs to allow you to leave without penalty as they are not providing the service?  Probably not.

Buy a cheap PAYG SIM from another provider who does have a working signal and use that while Three sort out the issue.

ForumUser7

JBR999 said:

My wife and I are experiencing problems with Three mobile phone reception, which has been much worse for several weeks now.  We have contacted Three, who assure us that they are dealing with this known problem.  This is a serious problem as my wife's mother is 90 years old, lives on her own, and if she falls at any time she needs to contact us as my wife is her carer.
Unfortunately, we are locked into a contract with Three, which ends in August next year and the redemption fee they would demand is £150 for each of us.
Do we have any right to cancel our contracts and move to a different supplier due to loss of service without these fees?

https://www.money.co.uk/guides/can-you-cancel-your-mobile-phone-contract-if-you-cant-get-signal

You could try logging a complaint - sometimes networks will then ask you to get readings of the speeds and if they agree no good and they cannot fix, will let you leave penalty free. Don’t know if Three does this though

JBR999

Peter999_2 said:

Does your phone support WiFi calling?  if yes, it's probably a good idea to use that.

Thanks.  Yes it does, but when I tried it, it reverted to Three.  I'll see if I can disable Three temporarily and try that.

JBR999

oldernonethewiser said:

You state that Three is aware there is a problem.  Can you see if there is anything in the T&Cs to allow you to leave without penalty as they are not providing the service?  Probably not.

Buy a cheap PAYG SIM from another provider who does have a working signal and use that while Three sort out the issue.

Yes, both Marge and I have searched their details, but can't find any definite promises.

We have found a company called '1p mobile' and shall sign up.  It is a cheap option and hopefully reliable.  We'll have to have alternative numbers, though, and pass those on to the people we communicate with most.
We don't want to port our mobile numbers with Three, though, as we don't seem able to end the contract and would have to pay them £150 each if we did.

I would never bother to use Three again, though.  They have been very slow to address the problem, and delaying any work necessary, and I wouldn't want to rely on them again, even if they later restore the supply reliability.

JBR999

ForumUser7 said:

JBR999 said:

My wife and I are experiencing problems with Three mobile phone reception, which has been much worse for several weeks now.  We have contacted Three, who assure us that they are dealing with this known problem.  This is a serious problem as my wife's mother is 90 years old, lives on her own, and if she falls at any time she needs to contact us as my wife is her carer.
Unfortunately, we are locked into a contract with Three, which ends in August next year and the redemption fee they would demand is £150 for each of us.
Do we have any right to cancel our contracts and move to a different supplier due to loss of service without these fees?

https://www.money.co.uk/guides/can-you-cancel-your-mobile-phone-contract-if-you-cant-get-signal

You could try logging a complaint - sometimes networks will then ask you to get readings of the speeds and if they agree no good and they cannot fix, will let you leave penalty free. Don’t know if Three does this though

Thanks.
We have spoken to Three about this problem two or three times now, though not actually referred to this as a complaint.  Perhaps that might be necessary.
The link you have provided is interesting and may well prove helpful.  I'll have a good look through that.  Thanks.