No TEXTING in France with 3

Surion

Hi all, just thought I'd let you know - despite others probs I took an account with 3 and got the SE880i, very slick!!

Was trying to text some friends in Paris and couldn't find the french dictionary. Then, couldn't send a text. Called 3..........

Firstly - they 'tried' looking for the dictionary in my settings menu (which I knew more about the phone than the indian chap I was taking too), then I got tired going thru the crap and ended the call.

Called back as for a few days couldn't text....only to be told "3 does not have a SMS agreement with anyone in France". Dear GOD!!!!! No one told me there were any restrictions on the service. I miss meteor Billpay, really.

Now they tell me that as I didn't return the phone within 14 days, I'm in the contract fully. Didn't discover probs with FR until about 21 days (despite being told I would have the same service with meteor (prompted to ask as a result of the feedback here!))....here goes the battle with them now......

Bluefrog

Three Ireland's lack of international SMS agreeemnts has come up here before. It is pretty pathetic state of affairs for such a large international company not to have these agreements in place but having said that I don't know the ins and outs of Three's dealings with other operators. Maybe the French operators didn't want to play ball, I doubt it but who knows.

In any case if you have a data addon you could use internet based SMS services as a workaround - for example VOIPBuster.com has a java client you can download to your phone which allows you to send SMS's via your data package. Even if you don't have a data addon, chances are it will still work out cheaper than sending regular SMS's

1huge1

So these are lies then? http://www.three.ie/international/country_fr_1.htm

http://www.three.ie/international/band_2_1.htm

Bluefrog

Well they don't explicitly say you can text those countries - only that they are in band 2 for charges.

Guess it's a bit like they don't actually say you can get 3.6MB from your USB modem but they're not shy about implying it.

Anyway, I've tried texting a couple of people in France with different providers there and none of the texts were delivered.

This page offers more clarification - not exactly very well flagged - http://www.three.ie/international/sms-interwork.htm

Pretty hilarious too that they don't seem to have partnered with Vodafone in the UK despite the fact that they ride Vodafone's network here for non-3G service.

Solair

Their international SMS setup is bordering on pathetic to be quite honest. I sent SMSs to people abroad and they repeated incessantly for days. It was very embarrassing and I was really annoyed with 3. Their customer care team were next to useless and kept fobbing me off about the issue for over a year, so I switched back to Meteor.

I miss the 3G features, but I need a phone. I have plenty of internet access from my laptop.

I'd consider a 3 data modem for my laptop and a Meteor phone. Not being able to send international texts in 2007, nearly 2008 is beyond a joke.

The "we're a new network" excuse is also a bit old now. These issues should be LONG sorted out. I could put up with that for 6 months, but they're on air long enough now to have resolved these 'teething problems. The impression I took from the way I was treated is that the Irish operation is seen as a bit of a tiny backwater market that's an off-shoot of their UK setup and they don't give a hoot about their customers. So, I voted with my feet and dumped them.

Their international roaming is also very ropey. I had severe difficulty connecting in SPAIN!!! Even though they're supposed to have agreements and I was on bill pay, I kept getting booted off the Spanish networks. You'll also find that you've very little choice of operator.

I travelled through the balkans and had to buy a new mobile locally as I simply couldn't roam with 3. It worked in Croatia on one network only and didn't work at all in the other countries in the region. I had no coverage at all when I crossed into Monetenegro.

In the UK you get free roaming IF you're on 3. So, if you are outside a 3G coverage area you are paying per min. This means that you don't get the coverage a 3UK user would get as you don't have the fill-in coverage provided by Vodafone UK ...

If you want internet, streaming video etc on your handset, they're great. If you want reliable voice and SMS services, consider another network!

They're fine if you only want to use your phone in Ireland and only ever text Irish numbers
Although, even saying that, I have had constant problems texting some 086 numbers and numbers that are ported ... not sure why. Customer 'care' could never explain it to me and never resolved it. But, I had regular problems texting irish numbers... Would take several attempts, or require me to reformat the number as +353 8X XXX XXXX rather than 08X XXX XXXX ....

ardmacha

The EU should move to regulate sms and data, following on from voice. Operators should be required to provide interconnection in the EU.

foggy_lad

three only have lomited agreements with o2/tesco mobile for sending mms. you can send mms up to 300kb to vodafone and meteor numbers but three claimed o2 would only agree to 100kb max for mms! this probably true as o2 have always tried to reduce mms and gprs use over their network

Solair

I agree completely - it has to be dealt with by the EU.

New EU regulator for telecommunications is on the cards fairly soon so, hopefully we'll see greater coordination.

This proposed new regulator will have the power to overrule the national regulators like ComReg.

HiredGun

As far as I understand, when an operator has a roaming agreement with an operator abroad it also has the ability to exchange SMS messages. In order to exchange SMS messages operators must have in place so-called signaling links.

According to their website you can roam with Orange and Bouygues so technically it should also be possible to send to subscribers of these french networks. If you can't it means '3' probably isn't willing to sign an interworking agreement, which means that they would have to pay these networks for the delivery of SMS messages. Because '3' doesn't have a roaming agreement with SFR, the 3rd french operator, sending messages to SFR probably won't work.

Bluefrog

HiredGun wrote: »

According to their website you can roam with Orange and Bouygues so technically it should also be possible to send to subscribers of these french networks. If you can't it means '3' probably isn't willing to sign an interworking agreement, which means that they would have to pay these networks for the delivery of SMS messages. Because '3' doesn't have a roaming agreement with SFR, the 3rd french operator, sending messages to SFR probably won't work.

Well if this is true why don't they have those networks on their page here http://www.three.ie/international/sms-interwork.htm? Though they may have romaing agreements set up it would seem the signaling links you talk about aren't in place.

How hard can this be to setup????

paulm17781

Three's international capabilities are a joke! I've had the issue of people getting the same text over and over (when they're roaming). Every I say this to three I get fed the "You weren't charged so the problem must be their network." It is amazing how no other Irish network has this problem.

I really do wish they'd sort themselves out. They have so many flaws, which is why they have a tiny market share. It's a shame really as their tariffs are very good.

thebman

There tariffs are good because the service sucks so bad they have to attract people that way.

Avoid 3 Ireland like the plague IMHO. Every other network is better, even Meteor who used to be the joke network in Ireland.

3's business plan isn't sustainable in the long run. You can't provide this poor a service and expect to build market share.

The Corinthian

Well, seeing that we've all gotten that off our collective chests I'm closing this thread as it appears to serve no purpose other than a bitchfest.