3 - what are they like?

NightStrike

Hey guys, just looking for a bit of advice here.
I want to upgrade my phone to an e71 for Christmas but o2 are refusing to give me an upgrade. I went into an o2 store at the weekend to be told that I had to spend 1700 in a year to be eligible for an upgrade. However, after checking my bills online last night it seems I've spent over 2300 euro between October 07 and October 08. Basically I've had enough and am thinking of porting to a different network.
I'm not too fussed on Vodafone to be honest and Meteor don't have the phone in question that I'm looking for. That leaves me with the option of going to 3 where my monthly package would be cheaper and the handset itself would be cheaper.
I live in Louth but don't actually know of anyone with three so I was just wondering how people found them? I don't want to go to a network where the service is terrible or I can't get service down the country as I travel quite a bit for work.
Also looking at the three website, there doesn't seem to be the option of a txt add-on like there is with o2, vodafone etc. Is there the option of adding txts? I was hoping to sign up for relax 350. The 350 minutes would suit my needs but I would prefer to have about 800 txts a month so just wondering is it possible to add txt bundles?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

drunkmonkey

If there is 3 3G coverage in your area I wouldn't have any worries about going with 3, just make sure you've 3G coverage as 3 don't have a data roaming agreement with Vodafone....

tbh, it's hard to beat them on price, i'm with them 3 years, they've done my head in once or twice but in fairness my bills are more than half the price they were with 02....

No you can't add text bundles with the relax tarrif...you'll just have to start talking a bit more...

humanji

Not sure if you realise this, but the units system they use has 1 unit = 1 minute of talking, 1 MB or data downloaded or 3 text messages. So for the 350 package you're getting 1050 texts.

Not sure if they have any text add-ons though. I checked their site and the only add on they seem to have is the internet add-on. Might be worth going into a store and asking one of the people there.

Saint_Mel

NightStrike wrote: »

I want to upgrade my phone to an e71 for Christmas ...
....
I'm not too fussed on Vodafone to be honest and Meteor don't have the phone in question that I'm looking for.

http://phones.meteor.ie/phones/nokia_e71/#/in_all_phones

Sam Vimes

to quote chandler bing :can open. worms everywhere


you should be aware that if you have any problems that are not standard, everyday and easily fixable by taking the battery out of your phone, they will not be fixed. their customer care have a script in front of them with pre-defined responses and will not deviate from it under any circumstances.

they will never acknowledge that the problem is on their side, they will insist that every problem is in your phone, even if you tell them that you have the same problem in 6 or 7 phones and several friends are having the same problem

each time you call you will be made go through the same basic handset troubleshooting techniques regardless of how many times you've already done them. two days ago i had to threaten to make a formal complaint against one of them because he wouldn't do anything until i took the battery out of my phone for the 10th or 11th time for an issue that's been ongoing since may

if you have a contract with them and you want to cancel, do it by registered post or they will pretty much invariably continue to bill you no matter how many times they swear they've cancelled it and will pass the imaginary debt onto debt collectors. search the consumer issues and broadband forums if you don't believe me

other than that they're great

drunkmonkey

i'm not sure if louth would be the best place to have a 3 phone....it's not looking great on the coverage map.....do you know what networks offer 3G around you?

http://maps.three.ie/coverageViewer/jsp/content/mapScreen.do

Some testement to 3 when Sam still has a 3 sim even after all his problems, they must be doing something right:D

Sam Vimes

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Some testement to 3 when Sam still has a 3 sim even after all his problems, they must be doing something right:D

yes i do have a 3 sim which i use only for the internet. i also carry a meteor phone for everything else and i would never use 3 as my main phone

drunkmonkey

Sam Vimes wrote: »

yes i do have a 3 sim which i use only for the internet. i also carry a meteor phone for everything else and i would never use 3 as my main phone

I think I might to start to think about considering to get myself a Meteor phone, that free calls to landlines is starting to appeal to me.....I wish they'd hurry up with there 3G...

UsedtobePC

Free calls to landlines ONLY IF you're an Eircom customer yourself and the Eircom account is on your name afaik (i.e. if the Eircom acc. is on the wife's name, you won't qualify).

drunkmonkey

UsedtobePC wrote: »

Free calls to landlines ONLY IF you're an Eircom customer yourself and the Eircom account is on your name afaik (i.e. if the Eircom acc. is on the wife's name, you won't qualify).

Ohh I didn't know that (and i should have:o), I thought once you were on eircom you call all meteor mobile for free and meteor bill pay mobiles could call all landlines for free...

think i'll be sticking with my 3 relax tarrif....

Sam Vimes

UsedtobePC wrote: »

Free calls to landlines ONLY IF you're an Eircom customer yourself and the Eircom account is on your name afaik (i.e. if the Eircom acc. is on the wife's name, you won't qualify).

sounds right:
http://www.meteor.ie/plans/bill_pay/latest_offers/free_calls_landlines/

Customers just need to bring thier eircom bill into any Meteor store when signing up to Meteor bill pay and you can get the combined offer

your name would have to be on the bill

Zulu

Don't expect any customer care.
At all.

I left them 6 months ago because of how utterly poorly they treated an issues I had. And I had lots of issues. (Was using them for mobile broadband)

drunkmonkey

I knew I should have started a thread on the topic, here was me thinking eircom and meteor had a really good offer.....shoud have known it was only 3 that does good offers:D

drunkmonkey

Zulu wrote: »

Don't expect any customer care.
At all.

I left them 6 months ago because of how utterly poorly they treated an issues I had. And I had lots of issues. (Was using them for mobile broadband)

This is the mobiles and pda thread....dont associate there phones with there mobile broadband it's not fair...

Rsaeire

Sam Vimes wrote: »

sounds right:
http://www.meteor.ie/plans/bill_pay/latest_offers/free_calls_landlines/


your name would have to be on the bill

Meteor T&Cs wrote:

7. To avail of the Promotion, valid proof of an eircom broadband or landline account, at the same address as where your Meteor account is registered will need to be provided in advance.

This makes it even more attractive as it doesn't have to be your name on the bill, it can be another person living at the same address as yourself with the bill in their name.

Sam Vimes

drunkmonkey wrote: »

This is the mobiles and pda thread....dont associate there phones with there mobile broadband it's not fair...

their mobile broadband is brutal while their phone packages are generally quite good, this is true.

but his point was that when something goes wrong you can't expect any support. you're less likely to have a problem with a phone as opposed to bb but if you do it's the same idiots failing to deal with it and the problem is just as unlikely to be solved

Sam Vimes

Rsaeire wrote: »

This makes it even more attractive as it doesn't have to be your name on the bill, it can be another person living at the same address as yourself with the bill in their name.

ah i see so it's not just the bill payer. you'd think they'd make that clear on the page i linked to :rolleyes:

Rsaeire

Sam Vimes wrote: »

ah i see so it's not just the bill payer. you'd think they'd make that clear on the page i linked to :rolleyes:

I know. It's one of the major selling points of the offer and it's ideal for families or friends living together.

Back to the topic at hand. I have had no dealings with 3 as a network, but after reading on Boards a couple of years ago about the hassle one guy had regarding an unlocking code, I would avoid 3 like the plague.

Zulu

drunkmonkey wrote: »

This is the mobiles and pda thread....dont associate there phones with there mobile broadband it's not fair...

Are you insane?
They are a company.
They provide a service.
Part of that service is customer "care" (sic).
Their customer care is appalling.

Appalling.


It's fair to advise the OP of the same.

Sam Vimes

Rsaeire wrote: »

Back to the topic at hand. I have had no dealings with 3 as a network, but after reading on Boards a couple of years ago about the hassle one guy had regarding an unlocking code, I would avoid 3 like the plague.

one guy?

for almost the first two years of operation they lied to every one of their customers, saying that they were incapable of unlocking nokia handsets. instead of giving people unlock codes, they would replace their handset with a different make of handset which they said they were able to unlock. their excuse was that nokia had sent them the wrong software and they used this excuse for two whole years

firstly, i had to fight with them for about a month to get a handset that was even near the specs of the one they were taking off me

then when the handset they gave me went faulty they said that the warranty of my first handset counted as the warranty period for the new one and said they wouldn't do anything about it. cue another few weeks of fighting for my basic entitlements.

if you search the forums you'll find lots of examples of people who had similar problems and it might still be up on Cabaal's blog

Sam Vimes

and breathe. i think i've made my point in this thread

back OT everyone. we've made the point about CC. now onto other things.

i don't think they do text add-ons, the idea of the relax tariffs is you have units that you spread across minutes, text and internet.

they don't have webtexts in case you use them

coverage in louth might be a bit shakey. you'll pretty much always have voice and text coverage but you might not have data coverage

you can use your phone at no extra cost on most other 3 networks, eg the UK, denmark, sweden, italy, australia and a few more. roaming outside of three networks can be quite unreliable though. and if you text certain countries or are in certain countries when you send a text, your recipient will get the message dozens, if not hundreds of times. you'll only be charged once but the message isn't acknowledged so 3 keep sending it. this is another case where customer care has failed to solve a problem since the problem was first experienced in 2005 because they blame every other network in the world

their internet add ons are much better than anything offered by other networks

Rsaeire

Sam Vimes wrote: »

one guy?
...
if you search the forums you'll find lots of examples of people who had similar problems and it might still be up on Cabaal's blog

Let me guess, you are the "one guy" I was referring to?

I mentioned "one guy" as I recall "one guy" looking for blood from 3, and rightfully so, over the entire debacle that was "the unlocking code fiasco". I am aware other users were affected by this issue also; and not just one person. I merely made reference to one user as they stood out in my mind.

Sam Vimes

Rsaeire wrote: »

Let me guess, you are the "one guy" I was referring to?

I mentioned "one guy" as I recall "one guy" looking for blood from 3, and rightfully so, over the entire debacle that was "the unlocking code fiasco". I am aware other users were affected by this issue also; and not just one person. I merely made reference to one user as they stood out in my mind.

i may well have been because i started the thread way back when

that was the beginning of my decent from one of 3's biggest fans when they first launched to wanting to fly out to mumbai (where the cc is based) with a flamethrower in tow

Rsaeire

Sam Vimes wrote: »

i may well have been because i started the thread way back when

that was the beginning of my decent from one of 3's biggest fans when they first launched to wanting to fly out to mumbai (where the cc is based) with a flamethrower in tow

I thought as much. I think you had a different user name at that stage; Commander Vimes perhaps?

I'm surprised Drunkmonkey's presence hasn't been more prevalent in this thread, since it would a great way to increase his commission by praising his favourite mobile network.

Also, I thought Hutchinson were going bankrupt recently and would be scaling back their mobile operations?

Sam Vimes

Rsaeire wrote: »

I thought as much. I think you had a different user name at that stage; Commander Vimes perhaps?

t'was indeed commander vimes. i retired

Rsaeire

Sam Vimes wrote: »

t'was indeed commander vimes. i retired

Enjoying retirement I hope? :P

The good thing about 3 is that when 3G coverage isn't available, it defaults back to Vodafone’s 2G network. Great if you are making calls around the country or in fringe 3G areas with 3.

Walkman

Rsaeire wrote: »

I thought Hutchinson were going bankrupt recently and would be scaling back their mobile operations?

Hutchison are most definately not going bankrupt. Infact they have recently acquired 3g licences in New Zealand and Israel with 3 recently launched in Indonesia. They are selling their stakes in non 3h networks to concentrate on expanding the 3 brand in other countries.

opus

Sam Vimes wrote: »

that was the beginning of my decent from one of 3's biggest fans when they first launched to wanting to fly out to mumbai (where the cc is based) with a flamethrower in tow

I can appreciate that feeling! Last year I spent three months in Mumbai helping set up a call centre for a company that's I'll leave unnamed, most of my time was spent picking up the pieces after the local team drove customers over the edge

I've been with 3 for four months now and have had zero problems *but* I've never had to call their customer support centre. They did call me once to see if everything was going ok mind you.