jimeller

Im thinking of switching onto 3's network with one of their 12 month sim only deals. I'm currently on Orange.

My question is, whats 3 like as a network?? Ive never used them, so I'm open minded. Whats the coverage and signal like?? What about 3g signal? Services? etc.

Does anyone regret using 3 too??

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@jimellerington

Pints

I moved from 02 to 3 and im currently on a 30day sim only deal for £15 per month
Data wise my deal is only supposed to have 1GB, although recently its been doubled to 2GB.
Coverage and signa; wise, it was ok, but over the last year or so things have dramatically improved.
As for customer support, well, "hello and welcome to tree" its based in India, however i have not had much need to use it as the network, and billing does what it should.

If your unsure you could try them with a pay as you go sim before you take the plunge, you can make some savings on a 12 month sim only deal, although for me i much prefer shorter contracts.

GIR

Im on payg with 3 and i used to enjoy 2 gig of data for £5 a month, but they since changed the tariff and now i get 80gig for £15, I used easytether with Ubuntu and its rock solid.

I find the coverage here in cornwall to be ok, but the weather can make a difference in battry life.

eSeM

3 are utter shite!

They block port 25 for SMTP for everything other than their own SMTP server. If you use an ISP that only uses port 25, like Pipex or Tiscali you have no other option but to use 3's SMTP server which seems to have numerous problems.

Their Indian customer support are fecking useless.

I work in the City and network coverage seems to disappear every day between 12noon and 2pm. I have to revert to using my T-Mobile broadband on my phone to check mail. The rest of the time network reception is patchy.

I would avoid!

jsp_1983

I've been with them since 2005. The network is generally good. A few patches, as you might expect from any network, but the last time I had that problem was in rural Wales - I just fell back on to the Orange network, which was handy.

Customer service is what it is. The only big problems I've had have been with my Android handsets (first the Hero and now the Desire). I've always managed to speak to a person within a few seconds and can't think of when I experienced a queue with them. As has been mentioned, the call centre's in India, so expect long-winded scripts and being treated like a simple child. That aside, they're friendly and can eventually be helpful in getting things done. Personally, I'd prefer to pay just a little bit more on my bill to enable me to speak to a UK representative who has the power to do things on the customer's behalf straight away and respect's the customer's level of technical knowledge.

A friend has just started on the One Plan. When he signed up for it, I was sceptical that the data allowance was genuinely 'all you can eat', but we hammered it for a couple of weeks and got a good few GBs out of it. Definitely a bonus, if you use data a lot.

I pay £18 per month for an HTC Desire, 500 mins, 2Gb data, Skype, 3000 3-to-3 mins and 3000 texts. I don't think that's too bad.