[UK] Why I love Three


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I've been on this ?9.90 "Ultimate Internet SIM 200 1 month" plan for a year now (it's a 30-day contract), and for that money, I get 200 minutes, unlimted text messages and, and this is the key part, unlimited data.

Over the last few months, I've used the following data:

Jul-Aug - 3.09 GB
Jun-Jul - 3.16 GB
May-Jun - 4.36 GB
Apr-May - 2.32 GB

Oh, and tethering (whether it should be included or not) works a treat as I discovered two weeks ago.

Basically, I have no idea how people survive with the common 500 MB/1 GB per month data plans you get with ?35+ 2-year contracts!

All I do is stream some TV (about 10 hours per month) and download app updates. That's mainly all.

 

Don't get me wrong, Three isn't perfect. It seems to take ages to automatically handshake to data/cell towers. e.g. if I'm underground and have no signal but then walk out into the open, it can take several minutes until I get 3G back. Same when I'm on the train - if I lose a data connection, it can take ages to reconnect. I believe it's a cell tower handshaking issue because if I manually turn on airplane mode for 10 seconds and turn it back off under teh same circumstances, I get a data connection within a few seconds.

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I'm on a similar deal to you with Three, ?9.90 a month for 200mins, 5000 texts and unlimited data.

Three have some great deals and the data speeds are fantastic, I get around 10mbps here at work and 6-7mbps at home.

Screenshot of a speedtest just done:

hvl3.jpg

A lot of people seem to complain about the signal, its vary rare I never have any. Often ive been in places where mates on o2 have no signal and ive got full strength. I guess it depends on the area though, however I find it to be great here in Yorkshire.

Personally I've never had any problems jumping cell towers on Three, my phones not been re started or placed in aeroplane mode for weeks.

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I'm on a similar deal to you with Three, ?9.90 a month for 200mins, 5000 texts and unlimited data.

Three have some great deals and the data speeds are fantastic, I get around 10mbps here at work and 6-7mbps at home.

Screenshot of a speedtest just done:

hvl3.jpg

A lot of people seem to complain about the signal, its vary rare I never have any. Often ive been in places where mates on o2 have no signal and ive got full strength. I guess it depends on the area though, however I find it to be great here in Yorkshire.

Personally I've never had any problems jumping cell towers on Three, my phones not been re started or placed in aeroplane mode for weeks.

No, it's me that places it in airplane mode and back off again just so the phone will reconnect to the cell tower (the data part) quicker. I've had three phones during the year I' ve had this plan so it's not a phone issue. Maybe it's just slow at assigned an IP or something. It's not much of an issue anyway; I can live with it considering I'm paying such a small amount :)

 

Regarding signal, I definitely believe EE and O2 have better signal coverage in general, but again, for ?9.90 per month (and with it being such a short contract period), I can't really complain as long as I don't get any signal.

 

We'll get 4G included with our plan at the end of the year - which is nice.

 

Also, you're correct, I get 5000 texts, not unlimited - but 5000 is practically unlimited anyway :p

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thats incredible, i pay ?37 per month and only get 1GB, i pretty communicate with friends and family electronically (text, email, whatsup etc..) and really feel the 1GB limit as i send and receive a lot of photos. 

 

When my contracts up im seriously thinking of going sim-free/30 day rolling contract. 

 

I feel 1GB is just a little restrictive, i know it's probably the UK average, but i know me and some friends and family can blast through it, 2GB would have been a lot better. 

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I stream Radio in the car for maybe an hour a day, occasionally browse the web and use it for directions and I only use roughly 700MB a month.

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thats incredible, i pay ?37 per month and only get 1GB, i pretty communicate with friends and family electronically (text, email, whatsup etc..) and really feel the 1GB limit as i send and receive a lot of photos. 

 

When my contracts up im seriously thinking of going sim-free/30 day rolling contract. 

 

I feel 1GB is just a little restrictive, i know it's probably the UK average, but i know me and some friends and family can blast through it, 2GB would have been a lot better. 

 

thats incredible, i pay ?37 per month and only get 1GB, i pretty communicate with friends and family electronically (text, email, whatsup etc..) and really feel the 1GB limit as i send and receive a lot of photos. 

 

When my contracts up im seriously thinking of going sim-free/30 day rolling contract. 

 

I feel 1GB is just a little restrictive, i know it's probably the UK average, but i know me and some friends and family can blast through it, 2GB would have been a lot better. 

As far as I'm aware, only Three now offer unlimited data, at least under ?35 anyway.

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I will never touch Three again.  They sent me 4 handsets back in the mid 2000s, all four of which had been "altered" with their crap.  It was painstakingly obvious, and yet when I call them to complain that their "alterations" disabled important aspects of the phone, crash the handset and make it an unreliable tool - they deny doing anything and say they are "Made like that by the supplier".

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As far as I'm aware, only Three now offer unlimited data, at least under ?35 anyway.

 

Yea I believe so, T-Mobile offered an "All you can eat" package for ?50 that was unlimited everything. My friend abuses it at work because he gets H+. He torrents movies all day on his phone at work and watches them when he finishes.

 

 

I will never touch Three again.  They sent me 4 handsets back in the mid 2000s, all four of which had been "altered" with their crap.  It was painstakingly obvious, and yet when I call them to complain that their "alterations" disabled important aspects of the phone, crash the handset and make it an unreliable tool - they deny doing anything and say they are "Made like that by the supplier".

 

 

I went with 3 when they first launched as a Network, I was on PAYG and was quite young at the time, so my shock on the first of every month they set my available credit to ?0.00. I called and asked why they were doing this and all I got was some vague response about how their network was geared towards professionals who used their credit and topped up often. The only way to stop it happening was to top up within 5 days before the Wipe. Which was stupid because I used to top up at the beginning of the month, and slowly whittle it away with texts etc.

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How unlimited is unlimited, though? Just wondering as I have an "unlimited" data plan with Swisscom (making my contribution to this thread pretty much irrelevant :laugh:) but I quickly came to realise it was a 10GB limit.

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How unlimited is unlimited, though? Just wondering as I have an "unlimited" data plan with Swisscom (making my contribution to this thread pretty much irrelevant :laugh:) but I quickly came to realise it was a 10GB limit.

 

My friend had "unlimited" like that, where he got heavily throttled by them after using 5GB. What they still allowed though was web browsing, nothing else like Youtube or App downloads. We were on a training course at the time with no internet etc so he tethered his phone to his laptop, and routed all his traffic through Port 80 and T-mobile were none the wiser  :rofl:

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I will never touch Three again.  They sent me 4 handsets back in the mid 2000s, all four of which had been "altered" with their crap.  It was painstakingly obvious, and yet when I call them to complain that their "alterations" disabled important aspects of the phone, crash the handset and make it an unreliable tool - they deny doing anything and say they are "Made like that by the supplier".

I've bought my own phones for many years to avoid things like this.

 

How unlimited is unlimited, though? Just wondering as I have an "unlimited" data plan with Swisscom (making my contribution to this thread pretty much irrelevant :laugh:) but I quickly came to realise it was a 10GB limit.

Three would have a fair use policy, but I use around 3-4 GB per month and have never had any issues.

 

I thought they only allowed tethering on the "one plan"?

Technically, but many people online also have no issues with tethering.

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We'll get 4G included with our plan at the end of the year - which is nice.

 

Also, you're correct, I get 5000 texts, not unlimited - but 5000 is practically unlimited anyway :p

Oh indeed, sure ive been told you can keep your existing contract and get 4g for no extra extra cost. Very happy if true, as ill have a 4g capable phone sooner or later.

5000 is unlimited to me, even more as i use WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger more than SMS these days.

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Getting these type of contracts, and buying a phone outright gives you so much more flexibility. Plus, if you don't hold onto a single phone for too long you can get back usually at least half the price you paid for it, it takes the sting out of the next handset you buy.

 

I've been with giffgaff a few years now and I've enjoyed it (especially O2's 3G900 signal - that's made all the difference where I live) but I now feel at that point where other networks are more competitive now. And especially with Three saying 4G will be no added cost, I'm willing to put aside all my problems I've had with their lack of signal in the past and try them out. It's just a shame I've still got so much credit stored on my giffgaff account through cashback :/

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Getting these type of contracts, and buying a phone outright gives you so much more flexibility. Plus, if you don't hold onto a single phone for too long you can get back usually at least half the price you paid for it, it takes the sting out of the next handset you buy.

 

I've been with giffgaff a few years now and I've enjoyed it (especially O2's 3G900 signal - that's made all the difference where I live) but I now feel at that point where other networks are more competitive now. And especially with Three saying 4G will be no added cost, I'm willing to put aside all my problems I've had with their lack of signal in the past and try them out. It's just a shame I've still got so much credit stored on my giffgaff account through cashback :/

Can't you sell the SIM with the credit on it? (I'm not sure how it works)

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Can't you sell the SIM with the credit on it? (I'm not sure how it works)

 

 

You could, but I'd port my number with me when I leave (which deactivates a giffgaff account as there's no active number then) - at which point the credit would be gone. There's a few on-goings at giffgaff at the minute though which is looking at keeping an account active but dormant after porting, rather than closing it completely. 

 

By any chance, does anyone know what the Three reception is like around the Heathrow area?  :laugh:

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You could, but I'd port my number with me when I leave (which deactivates a giffgaff account as there's no active number then) - at which point the credit would be gone. There's a few on-goings at giffgaff at the minute though which is looking at keeping an account active but dormant after porting, rather than closing it completely. 

 

By any chance, does anyone know what the Three reception is like around the Heathrow area?  :laugh:

 

http://www.rootmetrics.com/check-coverage/ :)

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I've been on this ?9.90 "Ultimate Internet SIM 200 1 month" plan for a year now (it's a 30-day contract), and for that money, I get 200 minutes, unlimted text messages and, and this is the key part, unlimited data.

 

 i must have just missed the cut-off last year, i got my plan in sept and its for ?12.90 a month, same name, same mins, same text and data

 

 

ive also used a good 3-4gb a month with streaming music

 

however words of warning:

 

picture messaging is an extra charge per sent and received

 

if you go abroad you have to tell three beforehand or you wont be able to connect your phone to a partner network

 

200 minutes can disappear very quickly if you aren't careful

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i must have just missed the cut-off last year, i got my plan in sept and its for ?12.90 a month, same name, same mins, same text and data

 

 

ive also used a good 3-4gb a month with streaming music

 

however words of warning:

 

picture messaging is an extra charge per sent and received

 

if you go abroad you have to tell three beforehand or you wont be able to connect your phone to a partner network

 

200 minutes can disappear very quickly if you aren't careful

I wasn't aware it had gone up to ?12.90 per month. It's still a good deal for unlimited data comapred to the other networks :)

 

Regarding going abroad with Three, they have a lovely thing called a Euro Internet Pass:

 

If you?re roaming in the EU, the Euro Internet Pass gives you the freedom to browse the mobile internet for ?5 a day. You can search, tweet, use Facebook and check your emails as much as you like until midnight (UK time). So you?ll never have to worry about nasty surprise bills when you get home.

 

The Euro Internet Pass was designed for browsing, so streaming video and audio content may not be as good as it is on our UK network and tethering isn?t included. You also won?t be able to use UK Add-ons (e.g. Add Tethering) while your Euro Internet Pass is active.

 

Your Euro Internet Pass is only available if you've got a Pay Monthly contract and you can only use it in certain countries. You can find a list of countries where you can and can?t use the pass here.

 

Before your Euro Internet Pass expires, we?ll send you a text giving you the option to buy another pass for the following day. You won?t be charged after your pass expires until you either buy a new pass or choose to accept the EU roaming charges. Don't forget, if you don't want to buy another pass, you may wish to turn off data roaming on your phone to avoid out of bundle charges.

 

If you have an active Euro Internet Pass and you travel to a country where the pass isn?t valid, you?ll be charged for data at our standard EU roaming rates. To control your costs, you can turn off data roaming on your phone. Find out how here.

 

If you?re having trouble buying the Euro Internet Pass while you?re abroad, you can call us on +44 7782 333 333. The call will be charged at our standard roaming rates.

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I've just given Three a try on their new 321 payg service. Been pleasantly surprised so far. I was on O2 prior to them. Was expecting coverage to suck from all the slagging off I've heard about them from friends.

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Three are brilliant, Especially the All you can eat data. I have it tethered more often than not and use it for torrenting. In the area I am (Very Rural) I have had speeds of 16mbps :D

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I've just given Three a try on their new 321 payg service. Been pleasantly surprised so far. I was on O2 prior to them. Was expecting coverage to suck from all the slagging off I've heard about them from friends.

I think the Three signal "issues" are memories from the late 90s or early 2000s.

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Three are brilliant, Especially the All you can eat data. I have it tethered more often than not and use it for torrenting. In the area I am (Very Rural) I have had speeds of 16mbps :D

Wow that's nice, I thought I was doing well with 10mbps!

I guess the more rural you are the less people your sharing a phone mast with (in theory) so you'll get greater speeds!

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How unlimited is unlimited, though? Just wondering as I have an "unlimited" data plan with Swisscom (making my contribution to this thread pretty much irrelevant :laugh:) but I quickly came to realise it was a 10GB limit.

I know someone on 3 who used 60GBish a month with no issues, said he's been past 100GB once or twice and he's never had any throttling he's noticed or a call to say stop using data.

 

 

 

You could, but I'd port my number with me when I leave (which deactivates a giffgaff account as there's no active number then) - at which point the credit would be gone. There's a few on-goings at giffgaff at the minute though which is looking at keeping an account active but dormant after porting, rather than closing it completely. 

 

By any chance, does anyone know what the Three reception is like around the Heathrow area?  :laugh:

 

Generally I find as long and I'm within the reletavly built up areas of Town/Citys signal is fantastic, gets a bit sketchy out in the sticks, back at my parents home I basically get nothing inside the house bar a few spots near windows, but at my home get 4/5bars all the time, and 5mb (which is I think about the maxium an iPhone 4 model is capable of) colleague of mine has a 5 and gets upwards of 20mb at work. :)

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How unlimited is unlimited, though? Just wondering as I have an "unlimited" data plan with Swisscom (making my contribution to this thread pretty much irrelevant :laugh:) but I quickly came to realise it was a 10GB limit.

 

 

I know someone on 3 who used 60GBish a month with no issues, said he's been past 100GB once or twice and he's never had any throttling he's noticed or a call to say stop using data.

 

Relevant links:

http://www.three.co.uk/Privacy_Cookies/Terms_Conditions?site=d&content_aid=1220469566802

http://support.three.co.uk/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBISAPI.DLL?Command=New,Kb=Mobile,Ts=Mobile,T=Article,varset_cat=signal,varset_subcat=3819,Case=obj(4046)

http://support.three.co.uk/mobiledocs/Support/Signal_and_coverage/network_problems/traffic_management_policy.pdf

 

Anecdotal evidence abound (YMMV):

http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/mobilebroadband/4243972-three-one-plan-and-teathering-experiment.html?fpart=all&vc=1

 

I've also received confirmation from an in-store worker (so that would qualify as anecdotal too since nothing was in writing) that they would be fine with "hundreds of GBs of downloads" when I questioned them about using a tether as a BB replacement.

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