Three - Roam Like at home ** Merged **

dingding

I see on some of the international three sites and from threads in bargain alerts that three are getting rid of their free roaming on three networks worldwide on June 30th.

No mention of it on the Irish site, Has anyone any information on this as I use the feature quite a bit when traveling to the North and UK, particuarly the data roaming which is a brilliant feature.


I am out of contract on my phone, and I don't want to renew my contract with Three (i.e. get a new phone) as this fearure was one of the reasons that I selected Three in the first place.

Also I have a 12 month data contract with a 3G dongle, will the data roaming cease on this product also. :eek:

Not much point in ringing Three customer support on this one, as removing my sim and powering off my phone will not help. :D

If there is a change they should communicate it with their customers as significant roaming charges could be incurred in the summer and you might think you were OK on the three network.

Kenny Powers

This will be a big loss to the network.

Davy

Kenny Powers wrote: »

This will be a big loss to the network.

Defo would be. Its one of the biggest selling points for them. They can discontinue it if they want, once they give 30 days notice. So look out in another two weeks. The uk are saying they are changing it for another plan for the summer, so we will see.

dingding

Looks like when the had to reduce the cost of roaming in the EU, They needed the extra revenue.

Walkman

dingding wrote: »

Looks like when the had to reduce the cost of roaming in the EU, They needed the extra revenue.

Did 3Ireland verify to you they are getting rid of 3Like Home or are you just assuming they are because the UK are?

Sam Vimes

I asked and the guy said they're not for whatever that's worth

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

Walkman

Sam Vimes wrote: »

I asked and the guy said they're not for whatever that's worth

Just called them now. Was told there was no plans for them to drop the offer.

Random

I've not really heard anything either way but 2 points ..

1. How often does a network here follow the lead of it's sister networks abroad?
2. Since when do staff in the call centres actually get the information more than a day or two before us?

Davy

Walkman wrote: »

Just called them now. Was told there was no plans for them to drop the offer.

If the uk are dropping the plan, that might mean that the 3 like home may be gone for 3 irish customers over in the Uk which would be a huge loss its probably where most of like home service is used.

Walkman

Davy wrote: »

If the uk are dropping the plan, that might mean that the 3 like home may be gone for 3 irish customers over in the Uk which would be a huge loss its probably where most of like home service is used.

That is true. Suppose we will have to wait and see. If Ireland dont get rid of it them it should not affect Irish using the service in the UK as 3 Ireland will incur the cost of the roaming (all this is speculation, I could be talking outta my arse :-D).

AlmightyCushion

I really hope they don't get rid of it. I don't go abroad often but when I do this comes in very handy.

Davy

If would be beneficial for three Irl if they were to confirm it on their site that Irish customers wont be affected by 3 uk discontinuing the service and that they have no plans to discontinue it in the need future.

Would that be asking for too much?

dingding

Walkman wrote: »

Did 3Ireland verify to you they are getting rid of 3Like Home or are you just assuming they are because the UK are?

Just assuming it because UK and Italy are dropping it on 30 June. I thinbk they only have to give 30 days notice so watch over the next couple of weeks.

I am not going to renew my contract until I see what happnes with Three Ireland.

culabula

3UK is withdrawing 3 Like Home from the 30/06.

I can scarcely believe my eyes.....this is a major blow to anyone travelling between the two jurisdictions on this island at least, not to mention the other territories in which it can be used around the globe. Had I known this, I would not have renewed my recent contract with them.

So far, no mention of any changes on the 3 Ireland site but things are apparently changing soon with 3 Australia owing to a recent merger with Vodafone, I believe.

What a mess and what a sad day.. I hope to God this will not be true of 3 networks such as 3 Ireland.

Random

Two threads on the same topic merged.

Thanks

Our man in Havana

This is a total pain in the arse for anyone using the 3UK broadband dongle in this country.

Sam Vimes

Bond-007 wrote: »

This is a total pain in the arse for anyone using the 3UK broadband dongle in this country.

They should probably sign up to an irish one instead since it can be used in both countries. Assuming 3 Ireland aren't ending the offer of course

Our man in Havana

The 3 UK APN provides a better service than the Irish one.

drunkmonkey

Bond-007 wrote: »

The 3 UK APN provides a better service than the Irish one.

how?

culabula

Bond-007 wrote: »

The 3 UK APN provides a better service than the Irish one.

In my experience the opposite is just the case but the Irish connection was often throttled by the lousy Huawei software. Downloading better or later s/w from the 3UK site and configuring it for the 3 ireland APN boosted performance or using the SIM in an HSDPA phone over bluetooth or as a joikuspot gave much better results.

At the moment I am in Dublin using my 3 Ireland modem with Mobile Connect 2.8 to watch Friends on E4 (again) using TVCatchup. Since 1700 there has hardly been a stutter and this is often my experience.

Walkman

Bond-007 wrote: »

The 3 UK APN provides a better service than the Irish one.

Im not sure if the APN would make much difference. Using the .co.uk in Ireland you are still connected to the Irish network and subject to its performance (I would presume correct me if im wrong)

Our man in Havana

culabula wrote: »

In my experience the opposite is just the case but the Irish connection was often throttled by the lousy Huawei software. Downloading better or later s/w from the 3UK site and configuring it for the 3 ireland APN boosted performance or using the SIM in an HSDPA phone over bluetooth or as a joikuspot gave much better results.

At the moment I am in Dublin using my 3 Ireland modem with Mobile Connect 2.8 to watch Friends on E4 (again) using TVCatchup. Since 1700 there has hardly been a stutter and this is often my experience.

I am using it under ubuntu so I am avoiding using those horrible interfaces that 3 have so kindly supplied.
I did a simple experiment the other day. I connected up the 3IRL modem and then tried the UK one. The IRL one was giving slightly more than dial up speed and the UK modem was flying along at 130 kb/s.

drunkmonkey

I don't know about that theroy, it could be just fluctuations in the speed..

Ubuntu gives you better speeds is a bit of a long shot, i've used both and saw no difference..

without going off topic complelty how do you install it in Ubuntu..I have to admit it got the better of me...

Our man in Havana

No installing at all. Just select 3 uk handsets in the wizard and you are good to go. Simples.

Nothing to do with fluctuations as I ran them both side by side at the same time. In any event access to a UK ip is of more use to me.

Amalgam

Bond-007, the Huawei dongles perform better under Ubuntu full stop. I never had not detected/not connected problems under Ubuntu, quicker to respond too.

Any idea this was in the pipeline all along, aren't 3 just coming up to the 1 year anniversary of the 99 euro dongle roll out? The timing seems a tad sweet and handy..

I only bought my dongle for the UK roaming, ah balls.

What a shower of Oxford Punts.

paconnors

quick question I'm on 3pay broadband here can i select the uk carrier without been charged extra

Walkman

paconnors wrote: »

quick question I'm on 3pay broadband here can i select the uk carrier without been charged extra

Yes, when you get to the UK (or NI) your modem will automatically connect to 3UK so long as you are in coverage.

Our man in Havana

But you can't select the UK APN though so it will still be all going thru Naas Road as before.

Walkman

Bond-007 wrote: »

But you can't select the UK APN though so it will still be all going thru Naas Road as before.

I must have misunderstood the post. I thought the poster was just asking about roaming in the UK but not incurring roaming charges. Also all new modems do not go through Naas. Some will also pick servers in Limerick, Galway and Cork.

culabula

Walkman wrote: »

Im not sure if the APN would make much difference. Using the .co.uk in Ireland you are still connected to the Irish network and subject to its performance (I would presume correct me if im wrong)

This certainly did not used to be the case. I remember the days of massive outages on 3ireland.ie to which I would be subject while roaming in Belfast on 3UK or, as many posters here contributed, having the same experience in London while all around them where happily surfing.

Likewise, if I suffered lack of service in Dublin, I would use my three.co.uk SIM istead, and despite being on the Irish network, would suffer not such problems, for the duration. It was bizarre, to say the least, and I never quite understood it, but it worked.