Three headaches (contract, coverage and fring)

MagicBusDriver

I recently joined Three and have an e65.
I joined these pack of yahoos so I could use skype and msn messenger on my phone. Messenger is fine - once in any sort of coverage seems to work fine, though login is tedious.
Skype (through Fring) on the other hand is not so excellent.
I had no idea that you had to purchase a data package to use the skype app on the phone so I installed Fring instead. I'd be pleased to find out how other people are getting on with Fring on Three. For me, sending skype messages works well but voice is a disaster. The quality is awful. This may be linked to my second issue, which is coverage..
I'm in the Templeogue area of Dublin and I'm getting a weak, intermittent signal. I spend a lot of my time in UCD and the coverage there varies from mediocre to non-existent. Has Three's contract for 2g roaming with Vodafone expired because I tend to have 3g coverage or nothing at all? Their coverage maps indicated full coverage for 2 & 3G in my area and UCD.
I'm really getting bothered by Three's quality of service and underhanded way of marketing their products. Their 'walled garden' approach to web access is highly irritating as well.

My primary question then is, considering the lack of decent coverage in my area and where I use the phone - despite claims on their website to the contrary - do I have any ground for termination of my contract with Three?
I read that some guys here canceled their contracts and were refunded because of trouble with data, do I have any case myself?

1huge1

Coverage might have something to do with you phone (yes it still happens this day in age), I'd imagine in a place like UCD it would most definetely be full 3G. I would suggest calling them but we all know how far that gets you.

foggy_lad

MagicBusDriver wrote: »

I recently joined Three and have an e65.
I joined these pack of yahoos so I could use skype and msn messenger on my phone. Messenger is fine - once in any sort of coverage seems to work fine, though login is tedious.
Skype (through Fring) on the other hand is not so excellent.
I had no idea that you had to purchase a data package to use the skype app on the phone so I installed Fring instead. I'd be pleased to find out how other people are getting on with Fring on Three. For me, sending skype messages works well but voice is a disaster. The quality is awful. This may be linked to my second issue, which is coverage..
I'm in the Templeogue area of Dublin and I'm getting a weak, intermittent signal. I spend a lot of my time in UCD and the coverage there varies from mediocre to non-existent. Has Three's contract for 2g roaming with Vodafone expired because I tend to have 3g coverage or nothing at all? Their coverage maps indicated full coverage for 2 & 3G in my area and UCD.
I'm really getting bothered by Three's quality of service and underhanded way of marketing their products. Their 'walled garden' approach to web access is highly irritating as well.

My primary question then is, considering the lack of decent coverage in my area and where I use the phone - despite claims on their website to the contrary - do I have any ground for termination of my contract with Three?
I read that some guys here canceled their contracts and were refunded because of trouble with data, do I have any case myself?

yes you most certainly have a case if you have records of all difficulties with three you should have no problem cancelling your contract!

they are contracted by you to provide their services in the areas they have marked on their coverage maps and if they fail in this they cannot hold you or other customers to an agreement/contract which they are not fullfilling/standing by

Sam Vimes

I wouldn't be as confident as foggy lad. None of the networks guarantee coverage in any particular area. They couldn't possibly due to the nature of mobile coverage. I believe they all have it as a clause in the contract. Have a look


those people who got let out of contracts were using the mobile broadband and their problems weren't caused by coverage, they were caused by the poor setup of the system

MagicBusDriver

Thanks for the replies guys.

1huge1, I'll give them a call and see if there's a firmware update or something like that.

foggylad, I really hope you're correct!

Commander Vimes, their T&Cs don't say a whole lot but I suppose I would have to get hold of the contract I signed to see if there's a clause in there.

Do 3 handsets still roam on 2G Vodafone when out of 3 UMTS coverage?

Solair

Yup, they fall back onto Vodafone 2G (Plain GSM) or Vodafone 2.5G (GSM+GPRS) when not in a 3GSM* (3G) area.

*3GSM is what the GSM association are trying to brand UMTS as because the version used in GSM countries is built on GSM style modular architecture etc. The UMTS bit is only really a change in the over-the-air interface.

When you're in a vodafone covered area, your phone will still display "3" and you won't notice any difference in voice or text services. However, you'll be limited in terms of what you can access via the browser as there is not as much bandwidth.

If you try in a GSM only area i.e. without GPRS (this seems to happen occasionally, I'm not sure if there are still Vodafone Cells without GPRS or, if it's just 3 not being granted access) you will only get voice and SMS service.