written by wannause3 on 03/02/2011
Have been with 3 for years. Always been very pleased with with the service, reception and their pricing plans but when I upgraded my phone last
November I started having problems with reception when I was at home. I have been told that at the same time they ceased their contract with Orange which would affect my reception (even though the 3 mast is less than 1/4 mile from my house). MAJOR PROBLEM for me as this is the only phone I have, - no land line - and I also use a dongle supplied by 3 for my internet connection (which is also failing). I really wish I had been told that for periods of at least 1/2 hours I may not be able to use the phone - and that is NOT at peak time!!!
written by on 28/12/2010
I have been happy with my 3 service for most of my time with them until recently. I always used to to have good signal at my place of work and now nothing at all so i can't recieve any calls texts internet etc... i emailed 3 and they did call me withing a few days. i said i would be terminating my contract when my conract ends and changing networks. They offered me a £5 a month reduction on my bill until then end of my contract which i thought was pretty good of them. they said they had turned off the 2G network! I will be changing to O2 as soon as poss, my boyfriend is with O2 and he always has signal wherever he goes! Sorry 3.... i will be leaving you!
written by on 12/12/2010
3 have always been really good for me, and I've always appreciated their help from customer services. The coverage is fine; I live in the middle of Norfolk so there is a severe lack of coverage here as it is, but I would like 3 to look into that a bit more. I am on a 24 month contract and thought that cost-wise 3 were the best in the market. I wouldn't recommend 3, but I am content with them for the moment.
written by on 29/11/2010
I joined last night, inserting the free sim they sent into my iPhone and activating it. It picked up a strong signal quickly, which has continued into London (from suburbs), so happy enough with that.
However the website and telephone systems they have are atrocious. It asked me to register a debit card and then promptly took £10 without any word of warning. It then wouldn't let me buy the add-on, so I was unable to text or call without incuring penalties. Tried via the 333 number, but again hit problems when the system didn't recognise the number they gave me, menus were horible taking you down blind alleys.
They sent a helpful text, to a webpage that doesn't exist.
Their systems are useless.
On a positive note when I did get to speak to a real person they were clear, helpful, and told me about 444 (where did that come from?). But the system let him down as they still couldn't take my PAC code at this time.
I'm hoping once set up I'll be running free, but until then I couldn't recommend them to a friend.
written by on 10/11/2010
I've been with 3 for about 3 years. On the 28th October my signal strength at home reduced from poor to incredibly poor. The signal strength in my office reduced from Poor to non-existent.
This apparently has been caused by three turning off the backup network (Orange) in Staffordshire. PAC code has been issued to me :/
written by on 25/10/2010
Three's HSDPA/HSUPA and voice call coverage has recently degraded in the SN5 6 area. There is zero signal strength is this postcode. The reason for this is that until 21st October this postcode was served by an Orange mast under Three's partner agreement. Three do not have any means of improving the service in this post code for at least the next 3 months. It seems a rather short sighted decision to end their agreement with Orange.
written by on 27/09/2010
I am a newcomer to the three network. So new in fact i am yet to receive my phone which is expected tomorrow.
This review is based upon my experience so far with three, hence the three star rating. I will review once again when i have my phone and experienced the full range that three offer.
I had initially signed up with O2 but as the iPhone 4 was out of stock I looked elsewhere and came across the three deals.
Compared the O2 deal I paid £40 less for the phone, £5 a less per month, and also recieve a generous amount of minutes and texts. You also get 5000 minutes three to three minutes which as my dad, brother & sister are also with three means I can speak to them at length without it coming off my 500 minute allocation.
The first customer service guy I spoke to was clearly of non-british origin but spoke very legible english and informed me of the recommend -a-friend deal which banked my dad I £30 each. Surely if were three are as under hand as some reviews make out then this bit of info would of been kept from me.
At his stage i had decided to cancel my pending contract with O2 and go woth three. When i phoned three again i got through to a scottish guy who again was very helful and friendly. The contract setup was dealt with smotthly and quickly and the recommend-a-friend deal was also completed.
I was told ththat my phone would arrive on Tuesday (tomorrow) which would be a wait of 2 days as i spoke to them on a Sunday. With O2 i was looking at a wit of 7 days+ as the iPhone 4 was out of stock.
So my experience so far has been very good. As i said some of my family are with three and they are quite happy with the service they receive.
I will update this review in a couple of weeks once i have bedded down into my three contract.
written by markcarr on 10/09/2010
Well I have been with three for a few years.
There are no real issues with three unless you have to deal with customer services. I found the signal strength better or as good as most (far better than t-mobile), I do suffer from the odd dropped call, but not that many that it causes me a problem.
The only problem I had was with a faulty Sony phone(common problem), It was sent back and repaired about 3/4 times, and each time I got it back it was still faulty. Again customers services were poor, but most phone companies are.
Anyway they changed my terms and conditions (stopped home like 3) - and it states that I can cancel my contract if it directly effects me. Again customer service refused to do this saying it would not effect me, as I have never traveled to one of those countries, and then asked for my future travel plans, which I refused to tell them as it nothing to do with them. I did get it resolved, but you have to go through the 3 executive offices.
Still I took out a new contract, and sold my old phone (only 3 months old) on ebay (made a tidy sum, and have had no problems with them since.
Now looking at an Iphone 4, but since I have 4 months of my old contract left they want to charge me the rest of the contract, even though I'am not using the minutes and want to take another contract out with them. They have tried everything to sell me another phone. You have to play hard ball with them, and they eventually will give in and give you the deal, rather than losing you (still waiting, down to £40 termination charge.
So three are okay as long as you don't have to deal with customer services. Customer services are also quite aggressive when trying to sell you a new deal, but play hard ball with them and they will give you a good deal thats suits you.
anybody have any experience of the iPhone 4 on the 3 network ?
written by on 20/07/2010
Have been with H3G mobile network for around 5 years.
For the first 4 years, no problems at all with phones, network, anything.
Then the infamous "network improvements" start a few months ago.
I then start getting endless amount of call drop at home, I can't hear the caller and they can't hear me, signal dropping off for no reason.
I put up with it for a while thinking it would improve and was probably just due to the work they were doing.
First round of phone calls reveal its in fact network overload in my area and they promise to put a new mast up by the end of September but that I will continue to have problems until October.
A few days to mull this over and I decide not good enough.
Reviewing the terms and conditions: Under 10.1 (d) you can end your agreement with 3 within one month of 3 telling you of a detrimental variation to your agreement.
I called 3 back and they were very helpful and polite. Offered me free line rental until October but I emphasised I still wouldnt be able to use my phone. The chap then asked me if I had a solution and when I quoted this and stated how sad I was to leave the network (!!!) after so many years, they rolled over completely and now my contract is finished 17 months early.
Motto of the story - keeping a calm head, being polite to the customer service team and knowing your contractual terms and conditions is worth the while!
In fairness to 3, the problems I had were only at my home address, I rarely had network problems anywhere else.
The customer service I experienced was very good. My issues were promtly addressed and everyone I dealth with was very polite.
The contact I had perhaps wasn't the best deal out there.
In short, if I hadn't encountered the network problems I did and if they had been able to fix it a lot quicker, I probably wouldn't have left 3.
If you are within your rights to, getting out of your contract early is easily done (as per my situation). If you aren't within your rights then expect to be told to do one!
written by ripple98 on 16/07/2010
i have never had a problem with three until now, i recieved a call to say i was due a upgrade phone,said they were the three upgrade team, told me what phone it was ,i asked if it was the equilent of my phone or better as its a upgrade so u except a better phone , the sales man said yes it was told me it was a refurbished phone which he said to ignore box usually means the seal was broken from box ,i said i would have a look and swap it if i didn,t like it.Phone came horrible no wear near the same or better than mine, rang to see if i can swap phone after 3 hours of getting no wear apparently three use different companys for the upgrades this cerain company will not exchange the phone they don,t give a 14 day cool off period even thou i have gone onto a different contract aswell ,ive argued with the upgrade team and three can,t do anything about it they rang up on my behalf aswell and got same answer i can,t even cancel my contrack as they say i have to pay the full 24months rental on it i have never heard anything like it ,they never once said on the phone that it is non returnable, because i would never have agreed to it.I feel three have let me down badly i have even said i will up my contract and pay abit more for my phone but all i get is you cannot return the phone ,anyone know how i stand legally it was verbally done over the phone nothing in writeing
written by decoded on 12/05/2010
To be honest, the signal strength isn't that bad and I can get a signal in most places. The problem lies with their handsets. They are either cheap and nasty or really expensive with nothing much in between. I've had 2 faulty Skypephones and 1 faulty Ericsson. To get a refund is impossible in a store if it's faulty within a 28 day period. The freebe's are good though. On a £10 top up you get free fast internet for 3 months, free 3 - 3 calls, 300 text messages to any network and free voicemail. You also get skype which works without any credit. So if you are willing to chance getting a good working phone it all works ok great. If the phone is faulty you can only expect a replacement not a refund sadly.
written by on 28/04/2010
Ordered HTC Desire on 12th April. Was to be delivered on 23rd April. On the 22nd April 3 cancelled my order saying they had been trying to get hold of me for more informattion and so had cancelled my order. This was pure fiction. They simply didn't have the phone. Why not tell the truth. I had to waste time talking to people who couldn't be honest with me and order it again. This time it is due to arrive with me on the 30tyh April. I sincerely hope that it arrives. I have always been happy with the service that 3 gives it would be a shame to move to someone else.
written by Keith the Astrophysicist on 15/11/2009
After 9 months my 3 phone stopped working. Numerous calls to 3's foreign call centre failed to get them to understand the problem. So, minus a service, I decided to cancel my contract payments. This got their attention and eventually a debt recovery service contacted me. As they were in the UK it was a simple matter to explain what had happened and as 3 were not providing me with a service the contract was cancelled without further ado. Good luck to others trying to dump 3!
written by on 15/09/2009
I have read some of the comments here and have to agree with some aspect and disagree with others.. I have two phones and have been with 3 for more years than I care to remember but for two reasons only..
1. I have alway found the reception good and 2. good value for money.
However, just over a year ago I got one of their dongles and was offered it at a knock now price of £12 because I had been with them for so long.. thought that was good until I tried to use it.. Apparently, I have now been told, that although it is for mobile use.. it only applies if you're standing still. Forget using it in a train or car (passenger of course) because as soon as you move out of range from one mast you get cut off so have to sign in again, of course while you are signing in you may move out of range of that mast and so it goes on.. Eventually I stopped trying to use it and for the last 6 month it has been sat in a draw.. Waste of money and no compensation for a bad service.
Now I have had the misfortune of having to deal with the dreaded customer services and here I'm afraid that I most stongly disagree with anyone who says that they are in any way, shape or form, good. It all starts with a call to them on a Friday in July, to ask when one of my phones was due for an upgrade. Was told that I was "so lucky" to call when I did as I could have an offer that was due to run out that day.. woo hoo!! Told the gentleman that the phone in question was my sons and he was away so didn't know which of the phones he wanted. This is when it all started to go wrong.. I was told to pick one and provided I let them know before the end of the weekend I could switch the phone over before it was delivered. Spoke to my son he (of course) wanted the other phone so I called them on the Saturday at about 7am and gave the details of the correct phone and where it should be delivered.. I was due on the Tuesday. Unfortunately they didn't take any notice of the call on Saturday so the original phone ordered was still sent out but to the wrong address. After numerous apologies and their total understanding of why I would be upset at the problem, they still refused to send out the correct phone to the correct address until the first phone was returned. So I had to wait for a Jiffy bag to be sent and then take it to the post office to send it back, then I had to confirm (via the royal mail) that they had received it in Glasgow. I then had to call them to let them know, which I did, was told that was fine and after more apologies and more total understanding, they would send out the correct phone to the correct address.. on the day confirmed as delivery day, still no phone, so called again the next day and apparently the reason was that they hadn't received the original phone. (knowing that they will put the phone down if you swear) I suggested that they check their records as I had been told that they had the phone in Glasgow and that I was promised that the correct phone would be dispached within 24 hours.. yet here we were days later and still no phone.. After more "apologies" and "totally understanding" my reasons for not being happy they still could not send the phone until they had receipt of the other phone.. A day later the manager called and yet again very apologietically admitted that they had made mistake and the phone had been received when I said but somebody didn't update their records.. So yet again they promised the phone would be delivered within the next 24 hours and they would also credit my account with £15 pounds for all my trouble.. What he didn't realize was my son had lost two day work waiting at home for the delivery of the phone which was worth a little than the sum offered and the upshot was that the first phone call was made to get the upgrade on the 24th July, more than 3 hours of phone calls, speaking to 6 different people, the phone was finally delivered on the 13th August.. Unfortunatly it is time for the upgrade on my phone and already I have had a problem with them as said that I wanted the same deal I had for my sons phone, but have now been told that their deal change all the time and the same deal will be about £7 more expensive.. when I explained what had happend I was told that they were very "apologetic" and "totally understood" my situation but in effect it was tough luck (I'm paraphrasing). So all in all phones good, signal good, value for money - but if I ever have to deal with their inept customer service department again, I'll give up and get two yogurt pots and a very long piece of string... Just tried to confirm this and was told that I have to give them at least 1 star for Customer Service.. So under protest I will mark 1 star but that is not by opinion..
written by on 10/09/2009
There's some real moaning going on about 3 Mobile in here, and this is an attempt to provide a vaguely balanced review.
I've been with 3 Mobile for 3 years having come from Orange (and will be switching from them soon, but not due to its service) and it's been fine. The signal is an issue, but I've been in many situations where it's substantially better than signal friends get with their O2, Orange and Vodafone handsets, so what figures? It's a 3G carrier, and it's down to the technology that transmits it as much as the network provider. People don't seem to understand this. Also, you can easily change the handset to pick up from another signal if 3G's low (e.g. go 2G). Is it really so hard to read the manual?
As for customer service, I have always found them to be very polite and helpful. Every problem I've ever needed sorting has been sorted, so how could I complain? I fear it's the old "it's an Indian call centre so let's be spiteful" syndrome going on, which is just offensive.
As for price, it's not bad. If you push they'll give you very good discounts. They also offer free Skype, which is pretty innovative. So what's the issue here?
A lot of the people complaining in here seem to be very bitter and these sort of sites in my experience attract very negative types of people. I'm not sure what value most of these so-called reviews have. I learned nothing after reading 30 comments, and no matter what is written, 3 is simply not a 1-star company. A pragmatic rating would be 3/5. They're not outstanding, but they're not terrible. Let's have some intelligent reasoning and reflection here if this is to be of any value to anyone.
written by on 16/07/2009
Been with 3 for 2 years now.never had any problems. Phone got delivered ultra fast. Works fine.
I live in the highlands so coverage is poor - keeps switching between 2g/3g hense signal drop others talk about. (hops onto Orange/O2 when out of 3G range)
Poor signal is also down to phones ability, sadly most phones nowadays have internal ariels which are shoddy to say the least.
Customer services are out of country, but always helpful when ive phoned - have some patience, they are only doing their job.
When my contract ends, i'll go back to O2, this company is Average, nothing more, nothing less.
When in London, signal is great, no dropped calls - 10/10.
When at home, 3/10 calls dropped after 10 minutes, poor signal - 6/10
If you have a choice of network, heed advice and go elsewhere - if you only use your phone for emergencies - try it.
Hope this helps.
written by mikefromlondon on 13/01/2009
All in all the services are ok, the phones are good. If you want shed loads of minutes and texts for a cheap deal and like playing on the internet then it is good. If you rely on it for work or to make an urgent call, i'd think again.
it hardly works in some places, constanly dropping calls and displays "no access to network " on various occasions. Receive text messages a day late and dont even get told i have a voicemail message which is useless as i rely on it for work.
Rarely works in my own home so i'm back off to voda, little pricey but it actually works and the customer service is good.!
written by father teds lover on 27/11/2008
I don't think they are any worse than most other companies. They all make mistakes & they all have good and bad signal areas. This one works for me in the places I use it most which is the important thing.
written by ABarrowman on 17/11/2008
My contract has just been renewed as I have no problems. Adding more services through the telephone service is easy and straight forward. I caheck my data usage and balance everyweek on the website. The HSPDA data rates are the best I have used. Well recommend 3 - Three for a mobile phone network!
written by jonous101 on 31/03/2008
I joined 3 Mobile in November 2007 on a mix and match tariff, don't get me wrong the tariff is excellent and fantastic value for money. However, the phone is rubbish - got a W910i and it keeps switching itself off - got to go another 12 months before i can upgrade.
Will definately stay with 3 when i upgrade, however, will go for their new 12 month contract instead of 18 months.
I have never had a bad signal!
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