3 Network In Ireland

Sam Vimes

Zapho wrote:

ya seen those....they're miles long!

You couldn't give me a brief summery?

a brief summary:
three refuse to unlock certain phones saying they "can't". they insist that nokia has no idea how to take off a lock that they put on. instead of unlocking the phones, they take the locked phones and replace them with different models that they've admitted to being able to unlock. the replacement phones are refurbished, i.e. second hand. when mine arrived i had to phone up for its unlock code and they said it'd take a few days. it took a month and four calls. the first three people told me they had to send away to motorola for the code and the fourth guy just typed my imei into a piece of software and got the code in 30 seconds.

after i got the code i found out the phone was faulty and they tried to claim that it had no warranty and told me to contact motorola directly. i refused to do that and asked for a different model. they refused to give me the one i wanted and instead offered me a crap one they don't even sell anymore. after 5 or 6 calls, a written complaint letter and telling them about the thread breadboard linked to they agreed to send me out the phone i wanted. when it arrived they tried to mess me about again for the unlock code and another 3 or 4 calls later i got it. the whole thing took 2 and a half months

Urban Weigl

In brief, 3's "customer service" (in quotes for a reason) is horrid. Furthermore, they also do not give you access to the internet, only to their walled garden and certain "approved" web sites.

Coverage itself is good, probably better than Vodafone (3 have more 3G sites, I believe, or at least they used to). When there is no 3G coverage, your phone will fall back onto Vodafone's network. And finally, trying to get unlock codes from them is difficult. I suppose if you get a 3Pay phone for €99, that doesn't really matter, but if you're on bill pay and invested hundreds in a nice Nokia, well...

Roaming is also **** with 3. But you can always keep a Vodafone SIM around for roaming purposes.

joerules

Personally I think they are a great "national" or domestic network. They are cheap and they have great coverage, esp if you are interested in 3G. I found their customer service to be ok, but I only had to ring them twice, both occasions were to register my details. However, if you do have problems, well.. it doesn't sound like it's pleasant experience.

Their big problem is the international side of their business. Sending texts to foreign destinations barely works, to put it mildly. Roaming destinations have improved in the last week but has any 3Pay customer roamed in the last week? Based on other people's experiences, roaming doesn't work well. Hopefully, that has improved but...

I suppose to summarise things. If you only plan to use your phone in Ireland and communicate with people on irish networks I would really recommend them. However, if international support is important I don't think I could recommend them.

Cabaal

Sony W850i
http://www.three.ie/ireland/ihandsets/handsetoverview.omp?&cid=1161178581037&subleft=1

Sony Z610i http://www.three.ie/ireland/ihandsets/handsetoverview.omp?&cid=1161853564322&subleft=1

Nokia N73 is also listed in the on0line store so you can order it and they appear to haver dropped Motorola completely

amby666

Cabaal wrote:

Sony W850i
http://www.three.ie/ireland/ihandsets/handsetoverview.omp?&cid=1161178581037&subleft=1

Sony Z610i http://www.three.ie/ireland/ihandsets/handsetoverview.omp?&cid=1161853564322&subleft=1

Nokia N73 is also listed in the on0line store so you can order it and they appear to haver dropped Motorola completely

And the N80 seems to have gone too.


.

Dellas

Cabaal wrote:

Three look like they'll be opening their Waterford store pretty soon,

Its just near the City Square, right beside the Vodafone store

Looks like the Belfast one , all black . Their stores are actually nice and being able to play with all the handsets and use the Planet 3 is a good idea. Just shame about their customer service.

optiplexgx270

New phones set there on sunday/monday dont remember which i forgot to warn ye

Blaster99

amby666 wrote:

And the N80 seems to have gone too.

They probably couldn't figure out how to block WiFi access to anything other than www.three.ie and decided to drop it.

Urban Weigl

Still no business phones like the Nokia E-series? Still no proper Internet access? I'm beginning to get extremely bored with 3, especially considering their offerings in some other markets aren't all that bad. Was browsing their Austrian site today, nice phones, 2000 minutes a month for €35, unlimited FULL access to the internet for €24.50 with a data card or USB modem at speeds of 3.6mbps.

But when I go to three.ie, nothing? Are they sleeping at the steering wheel again, or just think it'll be easier to get customers in Ireland, so they don't need to actually compete with the other networks? I'm not asking for anything for free, and would gladly pay for having uncensored access to non-approved sites, and would also gladly pay for a business phone with business email. As always, they just don't get it.

Cabaal

When it comes down to it their offering a package that is competitive with the other networks here in Ireland so they have no need to push themselfs to expand on their current packages.

Its the same as complaining that O2 Ireland's packages are nothing like O2 UK's, very different markets.

Basically it comes down to it, either take up one of there offers or take up somebody else's

Sam Vimes

Blaster99 wrote:

They probably couldn't figure out how to block WiFi access to anything other than www.three.ie and decided to drop it.

actually they have figured that out. that's why they never listed wifi as a feature the three website. i rang them about it and they said its out of stock and thats why its not shown

joerules

Has anyone noticed that some of the prices on their site are a bit screwy?

The w850i is actually 20 quid more expensive when you decide to purchase it. eg: In their handset section, it's 229 euro when you go on a 25euro plan. But in their online store it's 249.

If you click on the music section it says dual downloads are 99c. But in the music store and on my phone it's 2 euro.

Urban Weigl

Cabaal wrote:

Basically it comes down to it, either take up one of there offers or take up somebody else's

That's exactly what I've done; I've taken my business elsewhere. I have a Vodafone Unlimited Data plan for €49 month, a personal mobile with O2, and a business mobile with Meteor.

Why? Because 3 aren't even competing properly with other Irish networks, I'm not even talking about them competing with, say, what they offer in Austria. I'm not asking them to give me 2000 minutes for €35. I understand we have to pay a lot more here, and I'm willing to pay more.

I suppose that's the whole reason they don't have many customers. Father Ted clips don't appeal to me, and I loved the show!

Sam Vimes

Urban Weigl wrote:

I suppose that's the whole reason they don't have many customers. Father Ted clips don't appeal to me, and I loved the show!

ye that's something i can't understand. the shows years old and the whole of ireland has seen every episode. why would anyone pay 50c for a ten second clip of it?

joerules

Hmmm, So it seems like I can't get a contract phone with 3, well not directly anyway. Since I haven't lived in the country for the last 3 years, they say they can't do a proper credit check (my God, I lived in Japan for only a week before I got my contract phone there. I didn't even have a credit history.lol). He recommended going to a shop and trying. Oh well, I'm not gonna push the issue. If they don't want my money, I'm not gonna be bothered to give it to them. But I will continue using my 3Pay account:p

Sam Vimes

joerules wrote:

Hmmm, So it seems like I can't get a contract phone with 3, well not directly anyway. Since I haven't lived in the country for the last 3 years, they say they can't do a proper credit check (my God, I lived in Japan for only a week before I got my contract phone there. I didn't even have a credit history.lol). He recommended going to a shop and trying. Oh well, I'm not gonna push the issue. If they don't want my money, I'm not gonna be bothered to give it to them. But I will continue using my 3Pay account:p

having signed many an unfortunate bastard up to their network i can tell you that you don't have to be in the country three years. but i'd advise against it anyway

joerules

having signed many an unfortunate bastard up to their network i can tell you that you don't have to be in the country three years. but i'd advise against it anywa

That's what I was thinking. lol. Vodafone played a similar stunt when I moved back from Austria. They would have given me a contract if I paid a deposit of 240euro as well as paid 399 for the phone. I told them where to shove it.

Moral of the story, I should never live in another country again.

BuffyBot

Has anyone with problems tried emailing executive.office@three.co.uk? While I know it's a UK address, it might be worth trying, seem as most of their operation seems to be run from their UK office anyway

copacetic

Cabaal wrote:

Sony W850i
http://www.three.ie/ireland/ihandsets/handsetoverview.omp?&cid=1161178581037&subleft=1

Sony Z610i http://www.three.ie/ireland/ihandsets/handsetoverview.omp?&cid=1161853564322&subleft=1

Nokia N73 is also listed in the on0line store so you can order it and they appear to haver dropped Motorola completely

considering moving to 3 to get either the n73 or k800i, moving from meteor, not bothered about 3G really, all i care about
is call coverage tbh. anyone have any major reason not to move to 3 from meteor?

plonk

http://store.3ireland.ie/handset.aspx?loc=C&catid=1.0
there you go

Cabaal

daveym wrote:

considering moving to 3 to get either the n73 or k800i, moving from meteor, not bothered about 3G really, all i care about
is call coverage tbh. anyone have any major reason not to move to 3 from meteor?

Coverage in Waterford in some area's is better then Vodafone, O2 or Meteor...found it iffy in Kilkenny County but ok in City,

After that I'm not sure

Cabaal

Just noticed on the Nokia N73 discription...

> Built in Yahoo! Go with unlimited Yahoo web access

Is this not a Three UK service at the moment?
Are Three Ireland falsely advertising this as a service in Ireland now?

BuffyBot

Guess it's like something I spotted a few pages back about the "3 Music Store", it just seems like lazy copying and pasting from 3 UK's website

Urban Weigl

iTunes €0.99 is already overpriced, €1.99 is entering highway robbery territory.

Cabaal

Urban Weigl wrote:

iTunes €0.99 is already overpriced, €1.99 is entering highway robbery territory.

With itunes, 99c is pretty reasonable when you consider what you'll pay in a shop, but at 2e Three might as well bump it upto shop prices as its a joke.

Its funny to note that in the UK:
iTunes is priced at 79p and Three is 99p

Why the crazy price difference for Ireland?, even Apple learned not to take the piss when they opened the Irish iTunes store.
Such a shame Three don't have sense when it comes to the same situation..

joerules

A few days ago they had all the graphics (not just text) saying it was 99c for a song. A few hours later that dissapeared. Maybe they are going to reduce the prices. Or is that just wishful thinking:D

Has anybody noticed that they seem to be planing to launch TV content here? If you go to the Dunphy show there's a link to TV which says something like more content coming soon. I wonder are they planing to launch the Sky channels here, since Sky are now allowing 3 in the UK to do so.

1huge1

yes they are launching a tv service soon as they recently got a licence to offer dhb (is that right) for onr year
and when you stream the dumphy show it sayd channel 27
anyway ive been in the north for the last week and i have to give it to them roaming in the UK was no problem at all
i was unaware you could use O2 UK i thought it was only t-mobile and 3 UK (which i only came across once actually)
strangly the only one i could call 333 on was O2 UK

Bluefoam

daveym wrote:

considering moving to 3 to get either the n73 or k800i, moving from meteor, not bothered about 3G really, all i care about
is call coverage tbh. anyone have any major reason not to move to 3 from meteor?

I would stick with Meteor, I have been on O2 & Vodafone in the past and my bills are about half what they used to be noe that I am on Meteor.

Three seem good, but their price plans don't tempt me.

I'm currently using a k800i and have no problem with it on a GSM network.

rogue-entity

Tried to get the N73 today.. called into the 3 store first and they told me they had no N73s in stock and they also said they couldnt even bring it up on the ordering system. I called the sales line who told me they have N73's but she couldnt bring up the details to sell me on on an upgrade.. the phone wasnt listed. She said she could sell me one new, but not as an upgrade

When I got home and checked the online 3 store, the N73 is no longer listed. I hope that this is just because of a stock issue that will be sorted in the next few days because I really really want to get this handset before the 20th. I really hate it when their sales staff tell me one thing and the website tells something different.

joerules

So I finally got my w850i after delivery cockups etc..

First impressions:
1) Wow, the menus and everything are so fast and responsive. Bare in mind this is in comparison to an N70. I never could go back to a Series 60 phone again.
2) The screen is really lovely. The theme is prefectly orange (I like that colour).
3) Unlike my N70 I can now use my own songs as ringtones. I think 3 had this disabled on the N70.
4) The walkman feature is brilliant. I think I can hear my iPod crying in the distance.
5) The 3 Portal works effortlessly. I hated the way a new application (realplayer) had to start up, ask me for confirmation before playing a stream. It just works with the W850i.
6) It doesn't seem to be able to hold the weak 3G signal in my house as well as my N70. But Nokias always seemed to have great RF performance.

Those are my initial impressions (in 10 mins). I do want to say that I compared it to the N70 regarding MY needs. Comparing a smartphone and a normal phone isn't a good idea but for MY needs it seems like Series 60 phones aren't there yet (This has been a really big dissapointment).

Now I'm in the middle of porting my 3Pay number to my contract, via meteor (long story). I wonder how that'll go