3 (Three) Mobile Broadband USB Review - UK

no1much

i have had problems with 3 too. i pay £15 per month for 5 gb . but i dont even use 1gb per month the internet is slow but to a certain extent you expect that but what gets me is the inconsistency of the signal one minute your goin along great guns at 520 kb/s (the most ive ever gotten out of it ) then BAM the signal is gone . it just vanishes i dont move the laptop or the dongle but the signal just goes of its own accord . this happens pretty much constantly. ive lost signal right now actualy ill probly have to wait half hour to post this. as mentioned earlier the most ive ever got out of this is 520 kb/s that was on a lovley sunny day a year ago the most ive got today (according to 3s own software ) is 60 kb/s . i think it disgusting they are alowed to get away with this i cant wait for my contract to be up in 8 months . my advise is : i know three is cheaper and has better offers but the service is pretty much useless you will regret signing up pay a little more and go with someone else.

PlutoinCapricorn

I am another satisfied customer, but I only use the prepaid modems. I find that 1gb per month is ideal, and the speed is not too bad.

jblack_2

Add my wife to the 'unsatisfied' list. We both went over to 3 for our mobile contracts. She wanted mobile BB as she travels a lot on trains. This was explained to the staff and we were assured all would be fine. After 6 months of not getting a signal or the signal constantly dropping we'd had enough. Took the dongle back to the shop and demanded the contract was terminated. They eventually did end it but blamed us for traveling by train.

Our mobile phones are a shower too. They lose signal and got to emergency calls only. We've complained several times but nothing has been done. They explained that we had to turn the phones off over night (every night!) for the software to update. Really useful for someone who is on 24hr call.

All-in-all 3 are a sham and I wouldn't recommend them to anyone.

J

dacouch

its possible to get out of the three mobile contract following a recent change they made, so if u have phone and dongle there is hope

lampard8_2

Hi fellow three haters

I got my mobile broadband as part of the deal advertised by PC World at the start of May.

I was told like everyonelse that I was in a very good area. But its been a nightmare.

Would love to know everyonelses results after using the speedtest.bbmax.co.uk

Mine has a download speed of just 59kbps and an upload speed of 47kbps - meaning that if I try an download any pdf documents it will take about 45 minutes, you tube upto an hour for a 3 minute video.:mad:

Last week I finally had the 'Network team' contact me, they said if it wasn't sorted by 6th June I could cancel my contract without charge. This is the 5th person to tell me this, so I'm going to call them after work and will update tomorrow.

I'm worried alot of you have said its taken upto 8 months, I've cancelled the direct debit, and for the future I'm getting free internet although its very slow and a free laptop.:beer:

My advice would be too set them deadlines to sort out the problems, and to speak to the supervisors - they tend to deal with the problem personally.:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

vikingaero

My advice to anyone looking to buy a USB dongle is to find a friend with one and check out the network speeds of each network at home and the places you are most likely to use them. I'm using mine at Bluewater right now with a speed just below the max of 7.2meg.

ThinkingOfLinking

I am happy with them although the staff in one of their shops was really unpleasant to me - I'd bought the items over the phone instore, having upgraded my current internet deal, and when I went back to find out where my new netbook is, I was told that as it is allegedly a different company, they don't want to know now they've got me signed up. I emailed one of the above addresses anyway as I need to now where my netbook and Sim card are; I only have the USB so far.

csj_2

I recently setup, for my daughter, a new 3 mobile broadband (a dongle acquired some months ago as a "freebie") with a new, previously unopened, 3 sim card. On connecting it to my PC, I was surprised to find that it connected not just, as expected, to 3's web-site (to allow one to register and top-up) but also to other web-sites (Yahoo, Facebook etc).

I then replaced the sim with another new, also previously unopened, sim. This one only lets me connect to 3's web-site and to nothing else. I can't remember where I obtained the 2 sim cards from (possibly one from a 3 shop and another on-line) but can anybody explain why one allows general web access (with no money having been paid nor any contract

I've been using 3 mobile broadband on a contract for about 15 months with varying degree of success. In the last couple of months, using it in Devon in the morning, I get very fast downloads (can be around 3000b/s sometimes) but using it in Nottingham at night it works at a crawl with multiple disconnections.

woody01

wilf666 wrote: »

I also got 3 mobile broadband and had nothing but problems especially with coverage, only half the speed of the old modems,, the woman in the shop told me there were gonna be some upgrades in a month but this never happend,,, my advise is not to go with 3 mobile broadband as they very poor coverage all over the uk.

Well your advice is wrong and misleading.
Three have the highest coverage in the UK.

And no..i do not work for 3. I just get irritated by false claims without any substance such as yours.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

well here's another one who doesn't think much of their service.

I've had a 3 mobile broadband payg dongle for almost a year now and had 12 gb loaded on it, and still have over 11gb left, as it is so hard to get it to work.

Even the tech chap (Mumbai) agreed that I was getting a very poor signal when he checked, and I'm only a mile from the mast.

Anyway, I read earlier in the thread about unlocking the dongle, anybody know how to go about it?