Mobile phone / 3G coverage

[carlt]

Thanks Roger - that makes it very clear and does look to me to be the best route for my needs as well.

That deal is available for £22 pm with £85 cashback here: Clicky

[Richard10002]

The performance is excellent, good enough for streaming videos.

 

I don't really use much except when on holiday because I don't liveaboard so I can't give a momnthly figure. The 2000 minutes a month was more important to me and, at £18 a month the unlimited data was a bonus.

 

For £18 per month, are you on a contract that allows tethering? I.e. "The One Plan", or one that doesn't allow tethering, I.e. "All You Can Eat Data"?

 

If the latter, you can't really comment on performance whilst tethered- or can you?

 

I ask because the cheapest Sim Only One Plan I can find is £25 per month. If there is a One Plan for £18 per month, I might switch from Giff Gaff.

[Roger Gunkel]

That deal is available for £22 pm with £85 cashback here: Clicky

That looks like the same deal as mine at a lower price, so on the face of it looks unbeatable.

 

Roger

[Richard10002]

That looks like the same deal as mine at a lower price, so on the face of it looks unbeatable.

 

Roger

 

I'm pretty sure the £22 deal is not "The One Plan", so tethering won't be allowed.

 

People should be clear that "3" have 2 types of unlimited data plans, both of which can be described as "unlimited data".

 

They have the "All You Can Eat Plan", which allows unlimited data on your phone, but doesn't allow tethering, so you can't attach it to a laptop, iPad, Desktop, or whatever, (wired or wireless).

 

They also have "The One Plan", which allows unlimited data both on your phone, and with your phone tethered to other things, like laptops, iPads, etc..

 

Needless to say, The One Plan is more expensive than the All You Can Eat Plan.

 

On a Sim Only basis, All You Can Eat can be had for £15 per month, whereas The One Plan can be had for £25 per month.

 

There will be a variety of confusing deals available from "3" and other sellers of "3" contracts, that include phones and cash backs and other enticements, which may be attached to either plan, so "buyer beware".

Edited September 27, 2012 by Richard10002

[Philippe]

That deal is available for £22 pm with £85 cashback here: Clicky

 

Appears to have dropped to £18.46 a month now.

 

I'm pretty sure the £22 deal is not "The One Plan", so tethering won't be allowed.

 

It does state quite clearly that it is 3 The One Plan that they are offering. Does look too good to be true, especially now it's dropped to £18.46/month.

 

I've never heard of Affordable Mobiles. Has anyone here any experience of them?

Edited September 27, 2012 by Philippe

[Psycloud]

Hmmm - I'm still trying to decide whether to go for the One Plan on a phone or get a MiFi unit. The extra £6 a month would give us loads of voice/text which we don't really need as both have iPhones on O2 but having said that we could use the a 3Phone like a "home phone".

 

I wonder how good phones (we could use a spare iPhone or one of the phones provided by 3) really are as a WiFi hotspot (we will have 3-4 devices connected at a time during weekends) vs Huawei MiFi.

 

Also, does the one plan's "all you can eat" really mean that or is there a Fair Use Policy that could actually make it less useful than the Mifi dongle 15Gb limit?

 

David

 

Appears to have dropped to £18.46 a month now.

 

 

 

It does state quite clearly that it is 3 The One Plan that they are offering. Does look too good to be true, especially now it's dropped to £18.46/month.

 

I've never heard of Affordable Mobiles. Has anyone here any experience of them?

 

If you click the Tariff tab it shows additional bundles are required to use a laptop/tablet with the phone. :/

[nb Innisfree]

Just to recap, dont go rushing off with the idea that there is a deal that gives everything, network providers give the impression that they can supply such a thing but you need to read carefully and more importantly read between the lines. I know I keep saying it but there is no such thing as a free lunch.

 

No network provider has enough bandwidth to cope with unlimited data all of the time, you can choose either unlimited data on a phone sim which, some of the time, is restricted or you can have a limited amount of data on a data only sim (not to be used in a phone) which is for a limited time but has the advantage of taking priority over a phone sim in busy times. That's why unused data doesn't roll over to the next month otherwise they would be snowed under trying to supply promised data over an already crowded network.

 

Network providers have to do a difficult juggling act to keep most customers happy most of the time even if that sometimes involves signing them up in the full knowledge they won't be getting what they think they will. Things can easily be papered over when verbally agreeing, especially when some young staff members aren't sure of the setup themselves.

[john6767]

 

If you click the Tariff tab it shows additional bundles are required to use a laptop/tablet with the phone. :/

 

I does show those, but it shows the same for all the plans, so I would put that more down to the web site and not an indication of the actual plan. The One Plan from Three does allow tethering, so I don't see how this deal can not include it, which makes it a very good deal indeed.

 

 

 

[Philippe]

Also, does the one plan's "all you can eat" really mean that or is there a Fair Use Policy that could actually make it less useful than the Mifi dongle 15Gb limit?

 

Still trying to decide myself, but 3 have this on their website:

 

Does all you can eat data come with any limits? The limit is how much your device can consume – if you were to actively use data or the Internet on your phone every second, of every day, in every month (and we would be worried if you were !!!!) you would, subject to the current traffic management requirements (which vary from time to time), use up to 1000GB per month. So in essence there is a limit of how much data you can actually consume which is up to 1000GB. All this means that you can have absolute piece of mind and enjoy all the internet you need on your smartphone, without worrying.

[Psycloud]

Just to recap, dont go rushing off with the idea that there is a deal that gives everything, network providers give the impression that they can supply such a thing but you need to read carefully and more importantly read between the lines. I know I keep saying it but there is no such thing as a free lunch.

 

No network provider has enough bandwidth to cope with unlimited data all of the time, you can choose either unlimited data on a phone sim which, some of the time, is restricted or you can have a limited amount of data on a data only sim (not to be used in a phone) which is for a limited time but has the advantage of taking priority over a phone sim in busy times. That's why unused data doesn't roll over to the next month otherwise they would be snowed under trying to supply promised data over an already crowded network.

 

Network providers have to do a difficult juggling act to keep most customers happy most of the time even if that sometimes involves signing them up in the full knowledge they won't be getting what they think they will. Things can easily be papered over when verbally agreeing, especially when some young staff members aren't sure of the setup themselves.

 

Hmmm - well during the day I will require email/facebook/forums etc for myself with the occasional Youtube/iPlayer access. In the evenings and weekends there will be several people social networking and emailing and D/L music fro iTunes etc from various areas on a 64ft boat. So good wifi signal within the boat and good 3g connection are key - I wonder how much traffic shaping 3 really do on the phone vs the MiFi options?

 

Thanks

 

David

[carlt]

I'm pretty sure the £22 deal is not "The One Plan", so tethering won't be allowed.

It is "The One Plan" and tethering is allowed.

 

Edited to add: If you scroll down you will see their deals that offer unlimited data but do not mention "The One Plan".

 

Appears to have dropped to £18.46 a month now.

The £18.46 if the effective monthly payment if the £85 cashback is taken into account.

 

I've never heard of Affordable Mobiles. Has anyone here any experience of them?

No long term experience. My OH has just taken up the deal and it remains to be seen if the cashback arrives though googling around I couldn't find any complaints.

Edited September 27, 2012 by carlt

[nb Innisfree]

Hmmm - well during the day I will require email/facebook/forums etc for myself with the occasional Youtube/iPlayer access. In the evenings and weekends there will be several people social networking and emailing and D/L music fro iTunes etc from various areas on a 64ft boat. So good wifi signal within the boat and good 3g connection are key - I wonder how much traffic shaping 3 really do on the phone vs the MiFi options?

 

Thanks

 

David

 

Two of us do similar and manage with 5gb per month, I think you need more.

 

Can't say how much shaping they do but I would guess data only sim is better in busy times.

[Roger Gunkel]

3 seem to be very clear that all you can eat means just that. Personally I think that if you are using the internet for browsing sites, chatting, sending pics etc, then you will have absolutely no problems. If you continually spend many hours a day downloading high resolution videos, uploading the same and online gaming for hours on end, then you may well find that 3 and other providers will feel you are abusing the facility. I think it is highly unlikely that being on the internet all day browsing sites and posting on forums will pose the slightest problem. It really is extreme use of continuous high data downloads/uploads that will draw their attention and causes them to maintain the option to shape the useage.

 

We use the internet on most days for up to 5 hours, sometimes with both of us on forums, working or browsing. I don't expect to have any problems, but whichever provider you use is always going to retain the limiting option for extreme cases.

 

As regards a Mifi unit giving better spread of signal that a Wifi hotspot phone, I can only pass on my own experience of the Samsung Galaxy on the 3 One Plan as giving a signal spread which covers my entire boat and I even picked it up outside of the boat today. I couldn't do that with an o2 dongle that I have, or with a vodaphone sim in my LG wifi hotspot phone, or with an O2 sim in my LG phone. I also watched a couple of live download TV programmes on the Ipad via the Samsung last night as the TV was struggling on a couple of channels.

 

The only way you are going to find out for yourself under your own conditions, is to take the plunge like I did.

 

Roger

[Psycloud]

That looks like the same deal as mine at a lower price, so on the face of it looks unbeatable.

 

Roger

 

Hopefully anyone who has ordered from these people will get what they want but http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews168317.html#Reviews doesn't look promising :o/

[Roger Gunkel]

My contract was through the local 3 shop, but I would feel a little uncomfortable going through a third party supplier that I hadn't heard of, even at the lower price. It will be interesting to see how CarlT gets on.

 

Just out of interest, I took the iPad outside again just now, and moved to about 20ft from the boat on the opposite side to the window with the Samsung phone in the cradle. My wife was on her laptop, and it is 7.00 in the evening, which is a high volume use time. I was still able to watch a live TV stream on the iPad.

 

Roger

[Richard10002]

Hopefully anyone who has ordered from these people will get what they want but http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews168317.html#Reviews doesn't look promising :o/

 

If it looks too good to be true, it usually is!

 

If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's a duck!

 

Buy cheap, buy twice!

 

No such thing as a free lunch!

 

And so on

[carlt]

Well now the OH is home she tells me that she didn't go for the cashback deal but went for a better phone at the same price (£22) and has just got off the phone from 3 who told her it is a genuine deal and they can't come close to matching it.

 

The phone should arrive tomorrow and that will be the end of any contact with the third party provider so it will be just a regular payment to 3, just like she's done for the last 2 years.

 

I got my O2 deal through a third party that O2 themselves couldn't match and, apart from making sure they didn't carry on some ridiculous tech support that I didn't want, I have had no contact with since.

 

If the phone arrives tomorrow then that is a result.

 

I will let you know what happens but even if the phone fails to materialise she has still got the "One Plan" cheaper than 3 can do it as a sim only deal.

[Psycloud]

 

If the phone arrives tomorrow then that is a result.

 

I will let you know what happens but even if the phone fails to materialise she has still got the "One Plan" cheaper than 3 can do it as a sim only deal.

 

Excellent - I look forward to hearing about it

 

(EDIT: The sim surely comes from the same people though, so no phone = no sim?)

Edited September 27, 2012 by Psycloud

[carlt]

(EDIT: The sim surely comes from the same people though, so no phone = no sim?)

The contract has been approved by 3 so it should be no problem getting a replacement sim if they don't send it.

 

It is also worth noting that nothing has been paid so there isn't anything to lose.

 

If they don't fulfil the deal then 3 won't be paying the commission.

[Psycloud]

The contract has been approved by 3 so it should be no problem getting a replacement sim if they don't send it.

 

It is also worth noting that nothing has been paid so there isn't anything to lose.

 

If they don't fulfil the deal then 3 won't be paying the commission.

 

Reading through all the various posts I'm definitely leaning towards this option now. I don't even care about the phone, I just want the SIM as I will almost certainly get the ZTE MF80 and an external antenna

[nb Innisfree]

My contract was through the local 3 shop, but I would feel a little uncomfortable going through a third party supplier that I hadn't heard of, even at the lower price. It will be interesting to see how CarlT gets on.

 

Just out of interest, I took the iPad outside again just now, and moved to about 20ft from the boat on the opposite side to the window with the Samsung phone in the cradle. My wife was on her laptop, and it is 7.00 in the evening, which is a high volume use time. I was still able to watch a live TV stream on the iPad.

 

Roger

 

I don't think there is much to choose generally between the reception and re-transmission of phones and a routers, but what does matter is whether it is a phone sim or a data only sim, I would bet that when traffic gets heavy the network provider will make sure the data only sim will out perform the phone sim (unless they can be fooled into thinking the phone sim is a data only one - i.e. it appears to be installed in a router- but then that's not cricket is it?)

[stickleback]

Hmmm - I'm still trying to decide whether to go for the One Plan on a phone or get a MiFi unit. The extra £6 a month would give us loads of voice/text which we don't really need as both have iPhones on O2 but having said that we could use the a 3Phone like a "home phone".

 

I wonder how good phones (we could use a spare iPhone or one of the phones provided by 3) really are as a WiFi hotspot (we will have 3-4 devices connected at a time during weekends) vs Huawei MiFi.

 

Also, does the one plan's "all you can eat" really mean that or is there a Fair Use Policy that could actually make it less useful than the Mifi dongle 15Gb limit?

 

 

 

I've been using the 3 One Plan for a couple of years, tethering my iPhone to either my laptop or iPad and it works a treat. I've had both running at once but never tried more than 2 devices.

[Roger Gunkel]

I've been using the 3 One Plan for a couple of years, tethering my iPhone to either my laptop or iPad and it works a treat. I've had both running at once but never tried more than 2 devices.

Just for the hell of it, I connected my iPad, 2 laptops and my wife's netbook at the same time last night and had them all looking at different sites with no problem. I also went on line with my LG on o2, then tried connecting the LG wirelessly to the Samsung hotspot signal through 3. The improvement in speed through the Samsung connection was phenomenal. O2 and 3 were both showing the same number of bars on the phone signal.

 

I know that it's all dependant on locality, time of day etc and that each person will find different results, but I have to say again that so far the one plan has been very impressive, particularly in what is acknowledged as a poor signal area.

 

Roger

[carlt]

If it looks too good to be true, it usually is!

 

If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's a duck!

 

Buy cheap, buy twice!

 

No such thing as a free lunch!

 

And so on

Well I can hopefully reassure the sceptics that OH's phone arrived this morning and I am now posting with my laptop tethered to her phone.

[Richard10002]

Well I can hopefully reassure the sceptics that OH's phone arrived this morning and I am now posting with my laptop tethered to her phone.

 

I notice earlier she didnt go for cashback, but a better phone. Which phone did she get in the end? Does she pay the £22 per month to "3" directly, or to Affordable Mobiles? I'm assuming "3" directly from what you've said.

 

Clearly The One Plan plus a phone for £22 per month is a really good deal!