3 uk question

Higs

hi all,i've a brother living in uk and he mentioned this deal to me http://threestore.three.co.uk/offerdetails.aspx?offercode=18VDT5D007&id=1201so i was thinking of embarking on it.he will get phone in his name and i pay by standing order to his account.i was onto 3 and they mentioned 3 like home so i would be able to use phone here,using my 500 minutes from 3uk to call irish mobiles and landlines.seem too good to be true?

culabula

Higs wrote:

hi all,i've a brother living in uk and he mentioned this deal to me http://threestore.three.co.uk/offerdetails.aspx?offercode=18VDT5D007&id=1201so i was thinking of embarking on it.he will get phone in his name and i pay by standing order to his account.i was onto 3 and they mentioned 3 like home so i would be able to use phone here,using my 500 minutes from 3uk to call irish mobiles and landlines.seem too good to be true?

Of course it's not true! It's 3 Like Home! -in other words the 500 minutes are available on a UK 3 phone to phone UK landlines and UK mobiles. That's all. It will work from Ireland or even Hong Kong or Australia.....but only to UK numbers (no non-geographic). What you want is a 3 Ireland account.

1huge1

I thought it was that you could use 50% of your calls/texts for another country that 3 has a netowrk in or was that just the deal for us calling UK mobiles/landlines
so many deals hard to remember

culabula

1huge1 wrote:

I thought it was that you could use 50% of your calls/texts for another country that 3 has a netowrk in or was that just the deal for us calling UK mobiles/landlines
so many deals hard to remember

Yes, that was a deal specific to 3 Ireland; it never existed in the UK. I suspect that all that has gone now and been replaced by '3 like home'.

1huge1

Ill call them to find out becuase if im getting charged rather than it getting taken out of my minutes if calling/texting the UK ill be very annoyed.

Ok just found out you can now use ALL your mintues to call/text the UK and when in the UK you can use ALL your minutes/texts to call a UK landline/mobile or a irish landline/mobile
very pleased

from what i understood on other 3 networks like say italy you can only call other people on 3 and be charged at that rate

I believe that was what she said

can anyone verify this?

culabula

1huge1 wrote:

Ill call them to find out becuase if im getting charged rather than it getting taken out of my minutes if calling/texting the UK ill be very annoyed.

Ok just found out you can now use ALL your mintues to call/text the UK and when in the UK you can use ALL your minutes/texts to call a UK landline/mobile or a irish landline/mobile
very pleased

from what i understood on other 3 networks like say italy you can only call other people on 3 and be charged at that rate

I believe that was what she said

can anyone verify this?

If it's the case then it is fantastic though I would be very suspicious of the 2nd part -i.e. that you can phone UK mobiles from your minutes.The 1st part is more than likely the case since it was possible to phone UK numbers using 50% of your minutes. With '3 like home' now on stream, then it is logical than 100% would now be available to you.

I do not believe that any such UK->Ireland reciprocal arrangement exists.

As for Italy the case is that you would be charge exactly the same rate to call nationally once there as though you were calling from 'at home'; that is you will pay the existing international rates without any punitive roaming charges. Calls back to Ireland will come out of your minutes.

culabula

There is nothing to support what she is saying on the Three Ireland site, though it would appear to be a fairly logical development and probably true. When I was first about to get the datacard, they told me that 50% of the bundle would be available to me on 3UK but when 3 Like Home was then introduced, they confirmed that ALL of the MBs would be at my disposition -which has of course turned out to be the case.

But there has never been any indication that UK minutes could be used to phone 3Ireland, Irish mobiles or landlines before or since the introduction of 3 Like Home and there is nothing to suggest that such is the case on their website. I guess the only way to test this theory is to phone my 3 IRL number from one of my 3UK numbers -I'll report back as soon as I have done this.

culabula

OK, a quick test has settled that: an SMS sent from my 3UK (on 3UK) to my 3IRL SIM was charged out-of-bundle at a whopping 32c.

I then sent an SMS from my 3 Ireland roaming on 3UK to one of my 3UK numbers; it was charged immediately at 15c, not 9c.

There is therefore no need to waste money on any calls.

If you guys are lucky enough that all your calls to UK numbers are included in your bundle (as well as SMS) then go ahead and fill your boots. But proceed with caution.

1huge1

It is a very confusing situation to be honest, like calabula said I will proceed with caution as their website is very misleading
all the same it is a much better offer than any other networks are offering by a long shot

Higs

thanks for all replies and info,i might try it when my contract with 3 ireland expires next month,i'll report back how i get on

culabula

Higs wrote:

thanks for all replies and info,i might try it when my contract with 3 ireland expires next month,i'll report back how i get on

Try what exactly? There is NO WAY you can use the UK minutes to call Irish mobiles and landlines, that is for certain.