Three Mobile Internet

[jelunga]

3 absolute rubbish all day today at work but better back on the boat tonight. All these mobile suppliers talk big but deliver small.

[Ex- Member]

We've been having trouble with three for a couple of weeks now, poor signal and intermittent service, written to them several times though over the past few months. I've warned them I'll cancel the contract if it's not sorted we're 6 months into an 18 month contract, but we were told there would be no connection problems at this location, they've clearly over stretched themselves here.

[Trento]

Me too. Both in Worcester and here in Gloucester speed is very slow but I had rather gone over my 'fair use' allowance which usually means I'm restricted but even in the mornings when it is unrestricted it is not brilliant. Will wait until we get back to Birmingham in July - a known area - before complaining again.

 

Looked at 3s MiFi today but it has no external antenna socket and it is more expensive than I am paying at present - £10.50 for 3GB.

 

Regards

Pete

My 3 MiFi has an external antenna socket (Huawei E586) and on a 18 month contract I pay £15/month for 15GB... Perhaps you were looking at an old offer..

[Paul C]

My 3 MiFi has an external antenna socket (Huawei E586) and on a 18 month contract I pay £15/month for 15GB... Perhaps you were looking at an old offer..

 

.... or one which doesn't tie you into an 18 month contract.

[Trento]

 

.... or one which doesn't tie you into an 18 month contract.

As I intend to use WiFi for some considerable time yet, tying into an 18month contract did not seem too onerous. So providing I don't peg out before the end of the contract period, I'm on a winner, and if, God forbid, I have to return my bedding...I still win..

[Paul C]

As I intend to use WiFi for some considerable time yet, tying into an 18month contract did not seem too onerous. So providing I don't peg out before the end of the contract period, I'm on a winner, and if, God forbid, I have to return my bedding...I still win..

 

Its not whether you'll still be using 3G in 18 months time, its whether there will be a better contract price available at the end of yours. If you're on a shorter contract, then if a better deal comes along its easy to change to it. If you're tied in.....you're stuck.

[Scooby]

Wife just got s4 which uses the best going and she struggling for anything atm in hemel hempstead, i using dongle and currently getting 11meg.

[Trento]

 

Its not whether you'll still be using 3G in 18 months time, its whether there will be a better contract price available at the end of yours. If you're on a shorter contract, then if a better deal comes along its easy to change to it. If you're tied in.....you're stuck.

Understood, but the way the world is with communications, 3 will happily upgrade my service and still remain competitive simply to take their market share.... I hope!!!..

[Bobbybass]

I have had a 3 MiFi for a few years now..the E586.

It started getting slow and draggy lately, and I went to a 3 shop.

 

They told me that the dongle has now been superceded and that's why its slow.

They gave me a new dongle (no charges...same monthly charge as before)

Its a A168 and it now 'flies' again.

[alan_fincher]

We tried to use "3" with a Huawei dongle (and external antenna) at the Ricky Festival last week.

 

It was crap, the connection software actually indicated a strong signal, but it was consistently dropping and reconnecting at intervals of no more than a minute or two, making it nigh impossible on occasions.

 

It was no better at one time of the day than another, so didn't seem to even be evening overload.

 

I can't recall having had problems in that area previously, but don't know how others consider it signal-wise?

 

Not sure what the answer is though - just joining in with the complainants!

[Bobbybass]

We tried to use "3" with a Huawei dongle (and external antenna) at the Ricky Festival last week.

 

It was crap, the connection software actually indicated a strong signal, but it was consistently dropping and reconnecting at intervals of no more than a minute or two, making it nigh impossible on occasions.

 

It was no better at one time of the day than another, so didn't seem to even be evening overload.

 

I can't recall having had problems in that area previously, but don't know how others consider it signal-wise?

 

Not sure what the answer is though - just joining in with the complainants!

 

Hi..just a thought..

Do you have a proper internet SIM or is it a phone SIM ?

Three told me that the PAYG phone SIM will constantly disconnect to stop people using it soley for internet.

[nb Innisfree]

I have had a 3 MiFi for a few years now..the E586.

It started getting slow and draggy lately, and I went to a 3 shop.

 

They told me that the dongle has now been superceded and that's why its slow.

They gave me a new dongle (no charges...same monthly charge as before)

Its a A168 and it now 'flies' again.

I don't get that, are you saying a MiFi is a dongle and that it has been superceded by another dongle i.e. a A168 MiFi? Or are you confusing a MiFi with a dongle? Three launched the E586 MiFi in 2011 to supercede the E585 MiFi.

[nb Innisfree]

 

Hi..just a thought..

Do you have a proper internet SIM or is it a phone SIM ?

Three told me that the PAYG phone SIM will constantly disconnect to stop people using it soley for internet.

I was told by Three that a data only sim will take priority over a phone sim, which makes sense as data only sims are not unlimited, I.e. 'all you can eat'.

[Richard10002]

Understood, but the way the world is with communications, 3 will happily upgrade my service and still remain competitive simply to take their market share.... I hope!!!..

Not until one month before the end of your contract - I tried in January, and they said they could/would do nothing until August.... My contract ends in September.

[Lady Muck]

<Joins in>

3 has been utterly dire here this week, ok it's never that fabulous here at the best of time but I found I was havig to reboot it every 10 mins, I've a 3 PAYG sim and there's still 5gb on it (we use LOTS of data).

Fortunately I've just gone on a better mobile phone contract and they've given me unlimited internet for three months (it's Vodafone) so I'm tethering to that. I have T Mobile and 3 PAYG sims in an unlocked mifi dongle and also another mifi dongle that is Vodafone contract.

Like Chris says, I find it really hard to download with 3, it really does throttle the connection.

[Guest]

Not until one month before the end of your contract - I tried in January, and they said they could/would do nothing until August.... My contract ends in September.

 

Not entirely correct -

 

It depends what you are wanting to do and what you are prepared to pay -

 

http://support.three.co.uk/srvs/cgi-bin/webisapi.dll?command=new,kb=mobile,ts=mobile,t=article,varset_cat=upgrade,varset_subcat=4177,case=obj(4174),varset_username=Mobile:mobileUser?s_search=helpsearch

 

If you want to upgrade before your last month, you can but you'll be charged an early upgrade fee. This fee is the remaining months of your current contract and will need to be paid at the time of upgrading. You'll need to visit a 3Store to upgrade early. Find out whether you can upgrade early.

 

Hi..just a thought..

Do you have a proper internet SIM or is it a phone SIM ?

Three told me that the PAYG phone SIM will constantly disconnect to stop people using it soley for internet.

 

Any SIM intended for use in a phone will be picked up by Three if it is being used in a device such as a mi_fi or dongle. When they pick it up they will block internet access, and you get an on screen message to alert you to what they have done - I have seen that message......

 

They also have systems to detect if you are tethering using your phone and if your plan doesn't allow for it they will block that too.

[AidanLincs]

Well, 3 seems to be behaving itself here again. Wonder what the problem was.

[Richard10002]

 

Not entirely correct -

 

It depends what you are wanting to do and what you are prepared to pay -

 

http://support.three.co.uk/srvs/cgi-bin/webisapi.dll?command=new,kb=mobile,ts=mobile,t=article,varset_cat=upgrade,varset_subcat=4177,case=obj(4174),varset_username=Mobile:mobileUser?s_search=helpsearch

 

If you want to upgrade before your last month, you can but you'll be charged an early upgrade fee. This fee is the remaining months of your current contract and will need to be paid at the time of upgrading. You'll need to visit a 3Store to upgrade early. Find out whether you can upgrade early.

 

Technically, I agree

 

But I'm not sure where the benefit could be in that. You pay off the full balance of your existing contract, and it is ended. You can then take out a new contract.

 

Unless the fact that you are an existing customer gives a better deal than new customers, I don't see the benefit..... Unless the better deal for being an existing customer far outweighs the payment.

 

No problems with Three on The Bridgewater at Stretford in the past 18 months.

 

Well, 3 seems to be behaving itself here again. Wonder what the problem was.

No problems with Three on The Bridgewater between Stretford and Little Bollington in the past week. Edited May 25, 2013 by Richard10002

[Paul C]

Scratching my head a bit here - I just checked by broadband speed again - same as before, over 6Mbps. Throughout the life of this thread its been fine, too.

 

Perhaps the people who are experiencing speed problems are either using their mobile phone (eg tethered), or a SIM which was intended (by the network provider) for a mobile phone; and that they've recently been restricted on speed. After all, the technology definitely exists to detect what kind of SIM is accessing the network, and to throttle down the connection speeds. It might be that users on a proper dongle or Mi Fi contract, using the supplied device, are given priority while others get throttled (their internet speed throttled...) first, and only when the network is near capacity. Which explains why it might be geographic, or related to another issue which one can't know about (like other users usage pattern, or masts going offline, etc)

 

Make sense or way off the mark?

[AidanLincs]

Dunno about anyone else, but I have the 3 All-you-can-eat tariff, and use my phone as my wifi router. I download a fair amount of data, for work porpoises, but I don't file-share or stream movies or whatnot.

[Richard10002]

Dunno about anyone else, but I have the 3 All-you-can-eat tariff, and use my phone as my wifi router. I download a fair amount of data, for work porpoises, but I don't file-share or stream movies or whatnot.

Are you on the One Plan, which allows what you are doing, or on a mere "all you can eat" tariff, which doesn't, (officially)?

[AidanLincs]

Are you on the One Plan, which allows what you are doing, or on a mere "all you can eat" tariff, which doesn't, (officially)?

 

One Plan - just couldn't remember the name of it!

[Guest]

Technically, I agree

 

But I'm not sure where the benefit could be in that.

 

None I would agree....I came across similar when I wanted to upgrade my phone early in the contract - well yes you can Sir but you need to pay the rest of your current contract off or run another contract phone in tandem.....

[Trento]

Seems like Im stuck then, but today 3 is running at 6.37 download and 2.6 upload, I have no complaints.

[junior]

Dunno about anyone else, but I have the 3 All-you-can-eat tariff, and use my phone as my wifi router. I download a fair amount of data, for work porpoises, but I don't file-share or stream movies or whatnot.

Stoopid question..... Is that done through the 3G network?