Are Three Really That Bad?

ArklowHoop

I've been let out of my contract with out penalty by Meteor,once i send my 4S back,

So ive been looking around for the best deal with the 5.

Three seem to be the best offer wise,but everyone seems to have bad things to say about them?

are they really that bad?

Zhane

I wouldnt recommend 3. Their 3G coverage is sketchy, and doesnt flick between 3G and Edge properly. I had an awful experience during my contract. Including being outright lied to by 2 different people. If you looking for others providers, Id go with Meteor or Tesco mobile. Both have good coverage.

Kristopherus

Try Lyacmobile. They're about the only network that has not bee complained about.:rolleyes:

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

bullmccabe2010

Made the switch from O2 to Three last year. Worst move I ever made. Service is terrible both from the coverage and customer care. No tethering, no online texts and they restrict certain websites which they deem to be dodgy. And it doesn't have to be 'adult' to be restricted!

naasrd

bullmccabe2010 wrote: »

Made the switch from O2 to Three last year. Worst move I ever made. Service is terrible both from the coverage and customer care. No tethering, no online texts and they restrict certain websites which they deem to be dodgy. And it doesn't have to be 'adult' to be restricted!

Not true about online texts, you get 333 a month inc international texts. I've never had a problem in 3 years with three, honestly. Three Like Home is a great extra too, I'm off to Italy this week and will have free all I can eat data at no cost at all. Will be able to text at no cost too via jellysms and iMessage.

Elessar

bullmccabe2010 wrote: »

Made the switch from O2 to Three last year. Worst move I ever made. Service is terrible both from the coverage and customer care. No tethering, no online texts and they restrict certain websites which they deem to be dodgy. And it doesn't have to be 'adult' to be restricted!

I was with three up to last year and I had tethering, there were 333 online texts (honestly who still uses those anyway?!) and the internet filter is easily lifted with a call to customer service.

I actually found their customer service to be fairly good overall. They are good value too, but I switched to Meteor when their €15/month offer came up. Coverage was good overall, I couldn't complain. Though the iPhone did take ages to switch from 2G to 3G - a problem I don't have with Meteor with the iPhone 5 (I'm not sure if this is a carrier or handset problem though).

Overall I would recommend them!

srsly78

Elessar wrote: »

Though the iPhone did take ages to switch from 2G to 3G - a problem I don't have with Meteor with the iPhone 5 (I'm not sure if this is a carrier or handset problem though).

Definitely carrier related problem. Happens with loads of phones, not just the iphone. They seem to have no interest in fixing it.

Pacing Mule

ArklowHoop wrote: »

I've been let out of my contract with out penalty by Meteor,once i send my 4S back,

So ive been looking around for the best deal with the 5.

Three seem to be the best offer wise,but everyone seems to have bad things to say about them?

are they really that bad?

Yes !

elgriff

Find them pretty decent

miralize

Anyone have anything good to say about 3?

gafarrell

Absolute discrace of a network. Honestly dont even consider it. Worst company i ever had the privilage of dealing with.

mfceiling

With them 7 or 8 years now.

Find them good....bills of 70 - 80 a month and I'm a fairly heavy user for work.

No bother with customer care either.

1huge1

Been with them for 7 years since they started here in 2005, besides the odd hitch or two, have no complaints, found them to be good value which of great use when I was living in Austria and was able to use my internet, minutes and texts just like being at home.

Know that has not been everyone's experience, I don't personally find customer service to be all that great but I never really have to ring them.

meoklmrk91

I find them good in fairness, they are seriously cheap and their 3G is great in comparison to Meteor. I will happily stay with them when my contract runs out. The all you can eat data and the tethering is what does it for me, if they don't allow tethering again by the time my contract is up in December 2013 I will be moving as I use tethering every single day.

meoklmrk91

I find them good in fairness, they are seriously cheap and their 3G is great in comparison to Meteor. I will happily stay with them when my contract runs out. The all you can eat data and the tethering is what does it for me, if they don't allow tethering again by the time my contract is up in December 2013 I will be moving as I use tethering every single day.

I would recommend them over Meteor and Vodafone anyway. Never had any bother with customer service where as with meteor I did and I find Vodafone very expensive.

jenno86

Im with Three on prepay for a while now and I dont have any bother with them really. They prepay offer is brilliant.

For €20 every 30 days you get:

- All you can Eat data.
- Unlimited Texts to any network
- Free calls to all networks at the weekend
- Free 3 to 3 calls

I'm with them for the internet. Its great. I have been with Meteor and Vodafone and I found my credit ran out a lot quicker with them.

Jev/N

You'll always hear the bad stories before the good ones, and ten times as many too.

I've had very little issues with Three TBH and I've found them very good - All you can eat data, units as opposed to minutes and texts (I hate texting), free add ons on certain plans and Three Like Home (the best if you're heading to UK, Austria and some other European countries a lot).

You can take what you want from the above posters complaining about the network but keep in mind that I've seen numerous posts on Boards about Meteor, O2 and Vodafone as well. The only ones that aren't seen so often are the smaller networks and branch-offs and that's for obvious reasons, amount of users.

You'll find plenty of people absolutely ripping it out of networks when they have terrible experiences - fair enough. But TBH that happens with most mobile, broadband and TV providers.

I've been with UPC, Magnet, Meteor, Vodafone and Three and never had anything more than a minor issue yet I've heard terrible stories relating to most if not all - it comes down to a good portion of luck at the end of the day

whiterebel

Have a look through some of the threads on the Three forum and make up your own mind. Get a 3Pay sim first and try out the network.

vandriver

I got through 3 gigs of data,about 100 minutes to UK mobiles and hours to my wife last month for just over 40 euro.I'm a fan

And as for no 3g signal,mmmmmm

sumo12

No I'd avoid 3 if you can. I'm with them since they started in Ireland, but switching as soon as contract up. Customer service crap, all you can eat data is a joke cos they have almost no 3G coverage. They tell you one thing on the phone and its another thing in practice. I can go on, but you get the gist! Avoid avoid avoid.

Sumo

bohsfan

In my experience Three are currently an excellent operator. I was with them for a year about 5 years ago and the experience wasn't great. The service was patchy etc. I moved to Vodafone and they weren't much better to be honest.

I moved back to Three about 18 months ago and the experience so far has been good. I signed up to the €40 a month iPhone contract. My bills would hardly ever go over €45 a month. The all you can eat data is great value and the speed is pretty good.

I have never experienced the 'dropping 3G signal' issues that others have, so perhaps I'm just lucky. Or maybe Dublin City has better coverage than elsewhere.

I'd give them a thumbs up!

Ur[s]uS

miralize wrote: »

Anyone have anything good to say about 3?

Yes. Two things.

1. Free roaming in the UK (and Italy, Denmark, Australia, i.e., anywhere there's a sister 3 network). Your domestic bundle is used up, same as if you are at home in Ireland. That's great if you travel to any of those places more than a few times a year.

2. All you can eat data.

3. Some very fast network speeds (e.g., up to 4/5Mbps in Yeats country in Sligo ... more commonly >1Mbps in Dublin City).

There are downsides. Network speed is good, but 3G is far from nationwide. I use it on the train to Belfast, Cork, Galway etc. and 3G is only strong around built up areas. You'll get signal (in effect piggybacking on Vodafone GPRS) at other places, that will allow calls, sms, but not worthwhile data. Also, deep building penetration is not always great (goes for many networks).

The only annoying thing is that it drops iPhone from 3G to GPRS/EDGE quite often. If you airplane mode on/off, you'll reconnect to 3G and get faster speeds, but it's annoying to have to do that. I am almost embarrassed to say I am now immune to the inconvenience of that clunky workaround.

srsly78

Ur[s]uS wrote: »

I am almost embarrassed to say I am now immune to the inconvenience of that clunky workaround.

Your phone does not have an "always on" connection because of this. Thus you lose a big chunk of functionality on your smartphone by not being able to receive internet calls without manual intervention..

CarMe

Worst company I've ever dealt with.

baby and crumble

I've had an iPhone 4 and 4s with three (been with them for 4 years) and I have to say I rarely have any problems, and I live in the arse ed of nowhere. Yes, you'll get faster speeds in built up areas, but that's true of every network.

I will admit I was never too keen with their customer service when I was on a bill, but since I've moved to prepay I couldn't be happier. The €20 a month deal is amazing, and the three like home is awesome for when you're in the uk or elsewhere.

I'd happily recommend three as a network for the iPhone, with no real hesitation.

whiterebel

Ur[s]uS wrote: »

Yes. Two things.

1. Free roaming in the UK (and Italy, Denmark, Australia, i.e., anywhere there's a sister 3 network). Your domestic bundle is used up, same as if you are at home in Ireland. That's great if you travel to any of those places more than a few times a year.

2. All you can eat data.

3. Some very fast network speeds (e.g., up to 4/5Mbps in Yeats country in Sligo ... more commonly >1Mbps in Dublin City).

There are downsides. Network speed is good, but 3G is far from nationwide. I use it on the train to Belfast, Cork, Galway etc. and 3G is only strong around built up areas. You'll get signal (in effect piggybacking on Vodafone GPRS) at other places, that will allow calls, sms, but not worthwhile data. Also, deep building penetration is not always great (goes for many networks).

The only annoying thing is that it drops iPhone from 3G to GPRS/EDGE quite often. If you airplane mode on/off, you'll reconnect to 3G and get faster speeds, but it's annoying to have to do that. I am almost embarrassed to say I am now immune to the inconvenience of that clunky workaround.

I think Australia is gone now for new customers?

faceman

sumo12 wrote: »

No I'd avoid 3 if you can. I'm with them since they started in Ireland, but switching as soon as contract up.

Er, Three are in Ireland since 2005 - did you take out a 7+year contract??

I switched from O2 bill pay to 3 bill pay earlier this year and haven't looked back. Im a heavy mobile user. I just found O2 becoming less and less competitive and the level of customer service dramatically dropping

I did have a few hitches with 3 on switching but nothing worth losing sleep over. What I like about 3:

* All you can eat data
* no issues with coverage in the areas i frequent in ireland. (Some areas have better reception than O2)
* The 'units' allowance is far more customer friendly than a block of minutes and a block of texts. (Other providers text allowance is pants)
* Three's policy of "Three like Home" is fantastic. I can use my mobile in the UK and Italy including data at no extra charge! I dont think anyone else offers this.

in the past, there might be the odd delay when you move from a non 3G area into a 3G area before the phone catches up but its no longer an issue for me since i moved to iPhone 5.

What i dont like about 3 is having to contact a call centre in India for support. If its not in their script, its a nighmare. That being said, 3 have a dedicated forum on boards.ie and a twitter account which is staffed by Dublin based people.

miralize

I use tethering quite a lot. Is that available on any sub-35 packages? Looking at the 20 p/m for data alone..

ArtOfEscape

I've had a really good experience since switching in February. Their 3Pay €20 a month deal is perfect for me, no more issues with coverage than I've had with other networks (Dundalk and Dublin city centre areas), and customer service have been fine the odd time I've needed them.

dmcg90

Sketchy 3G coverage that doesn't switch back to 3G when it drops to Edge/GPRS unless you turn flight mode on/off.

Inconsistent customer service, some channels are fantastic, some are terrible.

Inconsistent story in some issues, shops say one thing, stores say another, online says another.

The way the iPhone 5 was handled.

I'd stay clear!