3 Network In Ireland

Blaster99

I think with 3 I would probably pay about half as much as I'm currently paying O2, possibly less. That €25 package would cover all my mobile usage. Come on 3, get rid of that poxy walled garden and you'll get yourself a customer...

Dellas

I was in CPW today and tried out the LG flip phone. I wanted to make sure there was 3G in Dundalk. I had to go outside the shop to get 3G network but once I did this it was maximum bars and downloaded a video clip in lightning speed so was impressed by that. CPW could not connect phones today as their systems were down!!! Was this the same everywhere???

I think the launch was a bit of a let down I expected mass TV ads and all CPW shops covered in show stands and posters as in the UK but nothing was up. They could have pulled off such a publicity stunt if they had have thought it through.

The phones online www.3ireland.ie are very good value and easy to order. The price plans are impressive and website very informative. If you loose your mobile manual you can download another free in PDF format and print it out. You can track your handset order online and this is updated as I ordered yesterday and it showed status as 'Order Approved' then this evening is says 'Dispatched' im due to get it delivered to my office tomorrow by courier. I chose talk and text 400 for Eur 45 a month. Its a good deal as I top up with Vodafone on pay as you go at least Eur 50 a month. So considering Im getting free news,weather,some music and other stuff its a great deal. I admit that the firewall is a bit of a pain but I will live with it. Their content is impressive and RTE to come soon so that will make it more local also GAA. A Motorla V975 for only Eur 59 and a smarter look than Vodafones is a bargin. I feel sorry for people that cant get a contract but hopefully 3 will see this and launch Threepay ASAP. If Threepay were out now id proberbly go for that but im not willing to wait.

By the way its a shame that the LG isnt tri band/Bluetooth with a facility to install a memory card otherwise I would have gone for that. The screen is a good size bigger than V975. I looked at the E1000 but the whole feel of it including the keys are plastiky and flimsy.

Its a shame the NEC E616v wasnt out..I have a friend who has it in UK and its a cool phone.

I see alot of plus comments about Meteor but when I had a contract with them the coverage was crap and with no 3G they are behind the times. Now Eircom have taken over its all downhill from now!!! I have an eircom landline and cant even get broadband or ISDN and when you write to them they dont bother to reply!!!

I have to say 3 could have done alot more to promote themselves but on the whole its a good product and the more players in this CLOSED market the better and that applies to everything in this country!!!!

Im surprised CPW wernt more on the ball also and that alot of the bargins are on 3's website 50pct cheaper than buying from CPW!!!!

Apparantly 3's website has had more than 3 million hits since yesterday!!!!

Sam Vimes

JBoyle4eva wrote:

The whole 3 network at the moment sucks. NO prepay, no free voicemail and their website is just pricing/coverage etc. information with no self servicing(e.g. My Vodafone) and their pricing plans are awful if you're a teenager like me.

ATM, I would like to consider three if they were to have prepay service. As this will probably happen towards Christmas so people will get them as presents, I'll have to wait until then. Or maybe even longer...............................

i was trained up in 3 last week cos i work in a phone shop. we told them that they'd get a lot more business if they did prepay so hopefully they'll take heed.

the company that run 3 (Hutchison Whampoa Limited) are not adraid to throw a hell of a lot of money at this service. they already have 60% 3g coverage and 100% call coverage through a deal with vodafone. the range of the 3g signal is 3.7 miles and they have 80% coverage or so in england. each cell site costs between half a million and a million pounds. and their licence in england cost over 5 billion pounds. needless to say they are minted in the extreme. they showed us a picture of a 60 foot high fake tree they built in england with a cell site in it

i got to make my own video call and play around with all the phones. very snazzy stuff. every 3g shop has their own demo model so come in and play with it if you want

the downloading speed is 384,000bps. compare this to a dial up modem:56,000bps. its well into broadband terrority (bb=128k or up afaik)

they launched today btw

rymus

I was wondering about the video calls actually.. I presume they're inclusive in the minutes package as well as voice calls? If snowballs survived a week in hell and I actually did port over next month I'd like to know that if I did so choose to make a few video calls I wouldnt be paying extra for them. I think that's all that's bugging my brain for the moment.. Keep us informed about your experiences with your new toy Dellas

1985

ahem, didnt anyone see any of the hidden charges with 3? make vodafone look like ****ing saints!

€4.50 a month to pay by any non re-occuring way (aka non-direct debit)
€15 for a change of number for nuisance calls!
€8 for a copy of a bill!
€4.50 for a full itemised bill!

sheee-it!

quintron

Whats that about hidden charges? Whats the 4.50 for?

Anyway I have a bunch of daft questions that just have to be answered...

Does anyone know about email content on these. Didn't see anything on the web about it...a "three" mail account. Any details appreciated.
Also this walled garden...Surely there is some software out there that can bypass the firewall? What good is Netfront or Opera on a S60 phone (eg. 6680) if you cannot visit websites??? Any 3rd party S60 apps and by jeex theres loads that use internet access to update thenmselves or browse net for content are useless? What do they take Irish people for? Its insulting...

The Theoretical max speed of 3G phones is 384kbps. ON Edge networks this is limited to 110kbps (read this somewhere on a US site)..Is that the case here? Is the dl limited capped? (Not that it matters if you can't get outta the garden)

Grey area of Video content... Its free right?..or is it? Is it a limited time offer or is that the deal always....What IS the deal...

I saw on the 3 website in small print at the bottom of the page...
* Offer valid until the 31/12/05. Price thereafter 50c per minute. couldn't find exactly what they were referring to....
see here: http://www.3ireland.ie/ireland/iexplore/ihowmuch/ipriceplans/index.omp

No cheaper weekend calls...very sad..

Reading small emails will cost you 5c replying to them will cost you 9c.. this puts the free email thing a bit out...

Read a small email (less than 10 Kilobytes, approx 500 words) 5c

Send a small email (0 – 10 kilobytes. With or without attachments) 9c

Send a medium email (10 – 100 kilobytes. With or without attachments) 25c

Read a medium (10 – 100 kilobytes) or large (100 – 500 kilobytes) email (with or without attachments) 25c

Send a large email (100 – 500 kilobytes, with/without attachments) 50c

Nothing about reading a large email so be careful ya might lose all yer minutes...

Anyway my last point is on o2 vodafone etc accessing content BEFORE you even download anything costs you money and on o2 payg its a mental ripoff..
Can someone clarify... Everything move you make within the "Walled Garden" is free..(the ACTUAL downloading of the free 3g news footie etc not the fact that the content is provided free..) Correct?

Please put me outta me misery..

fin.
Q.

Solair

Doesn't ComReg require operators to provide call details for free?!

Certainly applies to landlines...

E.g. BT don't charge extra for a printed bill they give you a 5 euro discount for an online bill instead.

Dellas

Hi guys was anxious all this morning waiting for my phone. Got it around an hour ago. Have to say its very sleak and easy on the eye. Took out my Vodafone V965 and compared it to the 3 one and it looks like two different phones. The 3 one is brushed steel!!! Very smart...makes my Vodafone one look like plastic!!! (which it is)lol...

I got the Vodafone one unlocked and am giving it to my cousin so he can put his Vodafone Greece 3G sim in and use it there. I set up a new profile with the Greek settings in and have tested it here with my Vodafone Greek sim and it works a treat. The Vodafone live menu cam up in Greek so he will be sorted!!! Same phone is Eur 300 in Athens!!!

I have the phone on charge at moment but all my collegues agree its a smart phone. I got a new 083 number which is a nice one. I will test everything in a few hours and let you all know. Video calls are not part of my 200 minutes and 200 texts package so I will pay 30c a minute for those and 1.50c for calling UK etc... I knew that though and it doesnt bother me that much.

Im interested to see if I can get this handset unlocked and see if my Vodafone card will work...only thing is 3 may have barred setting up a new profile. I will soon know!!!

Dont know anything about 3 mail as I would never use it.....dont know if firewall is removable proberbly not but then again I dont use phone for web surfing as I have laptop at home to do that and its cheaper!! BT does an internet package for Eur 30 a month for 180 hours anytime of day!!!! I switched to BT as Eircom were ****e!!! All my calls all ireland unlimited for Eur15 a month!!! Great deal!!!!

Will revert later when I have it charged and tested....

rymus

video calls not part of a package named "VideoTalk"? That's beyond stupidity...

Dellas

I guess when they mean Video talk they mean video content such as news/weather/mtv etc.. and not video calling!!! But yeah it could be a bit misleading!!

I have been using the phone over lunch and its very good. It has Irish news aswell as UK news and full pop video downloads although these are Eur2 but the sound and quality is amazing . I cant understand why 3's V975 is so much better than Vodafones...it must be an upgraded model....even the camera is different. The load speaker is very load on max volume which is great for video calling although I havnt tried a video call yet. I downloaded a few things..news video and new on 3 and Show biz weekly video all free of charge,havnt got round to sport yet. So far Im very impressed. Even the menu on the phone is brighter and keypad superior. People couldnt believe it when I told them what I paid for it. A few of my collegues are signing up too.

If anyone has any questions or want me to try something just let me know...

paulm17781

What's the general call quality like? Compared to other operators?

quintron

rymus wrote:

video calls not part of a package named "VideoTalk"? That's beyond stupidity...

I asked in both the 3G shop & CPW today and they said that video calls were included in the monthly allowance...Can anyone else clarify? Its still grey and I haven't been able to get thru on the 3 line...

Also does anyone know how long the Free content is Free for? News Weather Etc. Is this a permanent feature or a lure?
Cheers,
Q.

JTMan

The number of countries you can roam in has jumped from 10 yesterday to 17 today. Still a lot of big gaps compared to reoaming with any other provider.

http://www.3ireland.ie/ireland/iexplore/icoverage/intIndex.omp

JTMan

The website has different prices on different pages.

http://www.3ireland.ie/BlobServer.srv?blobdir=ROIDnloadDocumen&blobfile=roi+price+guide+280705.pdf says it is 89 cent to call USA. While http://www.3ireland.ie/ireland/iexplore/icoverage/networkdetail.omp in the "calling abroad" section says it is 20 cent ... who is right?

Also the webiste says it does not offer raoming in Czech Republic but 083 333 333 says that they do.

Dellas

Hi the news/most sport/some MTV/Weather is free for ever. Calls to USA 20c or 89c Im not sure but will find out. I noticed roaming has increased and I think will get bigger as weeks go by. So far im very happy with my new 3 phone. Gonna try a video call to UK tomorrow. 3G in Dundalk is very good and even 10 miles out of the town its working ..something that my Vodafone 3G phone didnt do....suddenly Ive got 3G at home....I couldnt believe it!!!! You can call 333 and it tells you how many minutes and texts you have left which is good.

quintron

Dellas wrote:

Hi the news/most sport/some MTV/Weather is free for ever. .

Forever...Thats prety good altough, according to 3 site, MTV is free only until end of August..then its probably pay per clip..

Sam Vimes

Dellas wrote:

Im interested to see if I can get this handset unlocked and see if my Vodafone card will work...only thing is 3 may have barred setting up a new profile. I will soon know!!!

your vodafone sim card wont work in the 3 phone apparently. also dont under any circumstances put the sim card in a 2g phone. unless of course you never want to use the phone again

rymus wrote:

video calls not part of a package named "VideoTalk"? That's beyond stupidity...

yes video calls are included

rymus

hurrah, something we're not being fleeced for!

Don't put a 3g sim into a 2g phone? why? that's like telling a child not to push "the big red button of mystery". I'll have to go find myself an old phone and a 3g sim now.

Boden

Went into a certain CPW last night to buy a 3 phone. It was late night shopping so shop was open till 9pm. Was first customer in that shop to purchase a 3 phone - went for 6680.
After about an hour giving information which the CPW guy was entering on the 3 website he had to call them as he was having probs. They asked to speak to me (callcentre sounds like its in Scotland) confirmed my details but couldn't understand why I didnt have a postcode (I'm in Co. Dublin). This went on and on.. the CPW guy told them he knew Swords is in Co. Dublin and there's no postcode, eventually they were OK, told him to call another number.
CPW guy rang the other number but they told him he couldnt give me out the phone tonight and they could not complete processing. He rang back again and the line was closed (8pm).
So 2 hours wasted and still no phone!.
I'll let you know what happens today.. apparently there was minimal training provided to shops, they were taken out for drinks/food was all!. I hope their customer service improves or I may live to regret going 3.
Was onto GPO this morning to get a map of irish postal districts/postcodes which I'll send into 3 and tell them to photocopy for each agent!

quintron

Can you carry over minutes each month i wonder...

paulm17781

quintron wrote:

Can you carry over minutes each month i wonder...

I think I read somewhere that you can not.

BuffyBot

I'm fairly sure the balance doesn't carry over from month to month

Dellas

Ok firstly you cant carry minutes or texts after the month they are wiped!!! MTV certain content is free and some chargable. I down loaded full pop video and it cost Eur 2 which I thought was very good value as the quality was brilliant both picture and sound. Problems had a CPW was due to lack of training and teething problems in 3 call centre in Glasgow. I noticed today that on the number 083 3333333 they now answer 3 Ireland and dedicated team. It will take some time to address everything like postcodes etc...but I guess its only to be expected. The call centre opens 9am to 8pm. In the beggining some calls went to 3 UK so they didnt know much about 3 Ireland as there is a 3 Ireland desk. I had to call today as I sent various text messages to friends abroad...Vodafone UK,O2 UK,Vodafone Malta,Vodafone Greece. No one got my texts. Complained to 3 helpline and the girl told me that not all SMS agreements are in place and at the moment they are still being set up as 3 is so new!!! Im a bit annoyed about this as this should have been clearly stated on the website. They have agreements with Mauritius though so I guess its ok (sarcastic)....

I was charged 25c per text but the girl did say she was crediting my account straight away so at least I havnt lost money. So at the moment you cant sent texts to non Irish or non 3 networks as they say they are sent on the mobile but in fact dont go through. The girl said this is only a teething problem...I hope so as I use alot of international texting. Im keeping my Vodafone ready to go anyway for international texts til its sorted.

I didnt even realise that they needed agreements for SMS...its not as if its a free service ...Im paying for it!!! I have to say thats the only complaint so far everything else is fine.

Does anyone know about SMS agreements?? I always thought you could send a text anywhere in the world. MMS to any network even Vodafone Ireland is not working either!!!!! I got a MMS picture from a friend on O2 Ireland and I had to go onto O2 website to view it...

Dellas

Anyone Wanting A Phone Buy Online Its Cheaper Easier And The Motorola V975 Is Nothing Like The Vodafone One. Its A Class Phone And Not On Sale At Cpw!!!!!

Pythia

Dellas wrote:

Anyone Wanting A Phone Buy Online Its Cheaper Easier And The Motorola V975 Is Nothing Like The Vodafone One. Its A Class Phone And Not On Sale At Cpw!!!!!

Aagh, why all the capitals?

jesus_thats_gre

An SMS interconnect agreement has to be in place to send SMS to other networks..

Dellas

Youd think they would have sorted out agreements with all major networks at least in Europe!!!!


I found out that If I got my phone unlocked I can put Vodafone 3G sim in and set up a new internet profile. Was in Belfast today and couldnt get 3 UK content so called 3 and they told me how to set up a 3 UK profile didnt think they would allow that as you can also set one up for any network if you have Vodafones settings etc.....

Boden

Dellas wrote:

I noticed today that on the number 083 3333333 they now answer 3 Ireland and dedicated team.

I'm wondering if you call 083 3333333 from your 3 mobile is it free? I know if you call 333 it is.. It automatically has customer services entered as the long number on your contacts when you get the phone I edited mine just to be safe!.

Dellas

If you dial 083 number it comes off your minutes so best to dial 333 number.

Dellas

Hi guys did a call from here to London today and it worked perfectly crystal picture and sound.....