@jonn Hi, we have been told its the end of February for the London rollout of 4G as this was confirmed yesterday.
So another month to wait...
Once again three's social media team cant get anything right.
They're quoting the article posted a couple of days ago which said three are on track to have everyone on LTE by the end of feb (rather than by the end of march as Dyson said before).
The word "by" indicates they'll start rolling out before. The three twitter page seems to have clocked on and are using "by". This post from the blog states end of February as a start date.
Now obviously no one really knows when the start date is. But Three should at least be able to communicate their own press release correctly rather than saying something different. Someone at Three needs to write a Q&A with stock answers.
This is how Three worded the press release
we aim that by the end of February all our customers with a 4G ready device will have access to our 4G network
Three know what they're doing. Its just their communication that hasn't been great.
They may know what they're doing when it comes to supplying customers with a great 3G network, but 3's business today involves far more than that and keeping customers informed of happenings forms a large part of that.
To say 3's communication "hasn't been that great" would (IMO) be a HUGE understatement, as it implies there has been at least a level of greatness to it, when in actual fact, it has been erratic, robotic and just plain poor.
This post isn't aimed at you, I'm just trying to highlight the point about 3's (lack of) PR.
FWIW, I'm a (happy) 3 customer on The One Plan. I get good 3G (7/8Mbps) and I'm looking forward to unlimited 4G & being able to tether.
I just wish 3 would have been more open about their plans-I genuinely wouldn't have cared back last summer if they'd said "It should be live March 2014", at least I would have known.
I think most people's issue here is that 3 appear to have planned a series of, shall we say misleading or at the very least ambiguous statements, that led customers to believe 4G was coming soon (December).
I suspect this was done to stop people who were nearing the end of a contract saying "Sod this, I'm not waiting until March, I want 4G now, so I'm off to VF/O2/EE".
Now, that's understandable from a business perspective, but ultimately if customers feel lied to and deceived it could easily backfire.
I don't take it personally, it just kind of is what it is (3 having really poor internal communications), but at £15 per month for 2000 minutes (more than enough for me), 5000 texts (again, more than enough), lots of 3 to 3 minutes and unlimited data (inc tethering), I look at the competition and realise that I can't get that anywhere else, so I'll stay with 3.
I was looking at alternatives myself (especially as I had a mast problem at home for over a month), but for my personal circumstances and how I use my phone, there isn't really an alternative (not one I would want to pay extra for).
I too am not annoyed about the lack of 4G, just the awful communication. They should have published a clear schedule / apology / what's holding stuff up long ago, and if they wanted to run a trial they should have said so. No silly "yes we have launched because a few people can use it".
It's not a reason to cancel though, it will work eventually and in the meantime I have superb 3g performance and coverage for a low cost (except in Reading) . My only other serious option is EE and I don't feel like taking out a loan to pay for 500mb of data. The less said about o2 and Vodafone and their devotion to GPRS the better.
The less said about o2 and Vodafone and their devotion to GPRS the better.
That'll be why both have shown considerable improvements in all the latest RootMetrics tests? Both have made some heavy investments and have 4G in major areas and it has pulled their RootMetrics rankings up considerably in many areas.
It's wise to remember that things change and 3 managed to make big improvements so why should that not apply equally to others? There is a game of leap frog going on right now in terms of deployment it seems and that's good news for customers!
That'll be why both have shown considerable improvements in all the latest RootMetrics tests? Both have made some heavy investments and have 4G in major areas and it has pulled their RootMetrics rankings up considerably in many areas.
It's wise to remember that things change and 3 managed to make big improvements so why should that not apply equally to others? There is a game of leap frog going on right now in terms of deployment it seems and that's good news for customers!
I couldn't give a toss about how good root metrics claims it is in a few select cities, as I live and travel around in rural areas most of the time. 3 have genuinely improved from the bad old days, o2 and Vodafone have not, at least where I use it. It'll be interesting to see if they meet the coverage requirements this time around.
Anyway, you are derailing the thread with this non 3 related stuff. Please keep to the topic, which is the 3 LTE rollout.
Anyway, you are derailing the thread with this non 3 related stuff. Please keep to the topic, which is the 3 LTE rollout.
And this is on-topic? "My only other serious option is EE and I don't feel like taking out a loan to pay for 500mb of data. The less said about o2 and Vodafone and their devotion to GPRS the better."
Some remarks deserve challenged with evidence whereever and whenever they appear!
Interesting to note that RootMetrics reports are no longer of interest. They were posted and highlighted for quite a while when the results favoured one particular network!
Meantime, if you buy an insurance policy and they promise you a free TV (as some do) and they run out of stock and keep promising, then you find out they have some in the warehouse and you still can't get yours does that mean you can cancel your policy without penalty? Does the same apply to free 4G when it's been promised and is clearly available to a select few?
Just wondered what the opinion was on this which is clearly related to the thread discussion currently?
I too am not annoyed about the lack of 4G, just the awful communication. They should have published a clear schedule / apology / what's holding stuff up long ago, and if they wanted to run a trial they should have said so. No silly "yes we have launched because a few people can use it".
It's not a reason to cancel though, it will work eventually and in the meantime I have superb 3g performance and coverage for a low cost (except in Reading) . My only other serious option is EE and I don't feel like taking out a loan to pay for 500mb of data. The less said about o2 and Vodafone and their devotion to GPRS the better.
I seems everytime three make an official statement we need a team of lawyers to give an opion as to what they actually mean. its getting crazy.
Not much use to standard 3 custoemrs but a good find!
Perhaps this is reception from the 3 contact centre in West Nile Street which is in a reasonably tall building on a hill? 3rd level support are situated there so it would make sense for that location to be involved in testing.
@jonn Hi, we have been told its the end of February for the London rollout of 4G as this was confirmed yesterday.
So another month to wait...
I thought today that actually they were all agreeing on end of Feb for all 4g users but alas, unfortunately, with three communications things aren't that straight forward as they are now saying the following in addition to the above:
"We’ll be sending out the 4G software update up until the end of March. Different devices will get it at different times. Your device’s software version will need to be up-to-date before you’ll be able to accept the update we send you though."
So they may allow Feb user who have the update to use it at the end of march but seems they will still be rolling out the update to many of us. If that happens then they are going to get inundated with complaints from people who havn't had the update yet and demanding they are next.
Three really are asking for trouble. And mostly self inflicted.
I thought today that actually they were all agreeing on end of Feb for all 4g users but alas, unfortunately, with three communications things aren't that straight forward as they are now saying the following in addition to the above:
"We’ll be sending out the 4G software update up until the end of March. Different devices will get it at different times. Your device’s software version will need to be up-to-date before you’ll be able to accept the update we send you though."
So they may allow Feb user who have the update to use it at the end of march but seems they will still be rolling out the update to many of us. If that happens then they are going to get inundated with complaints from people who havn't had the update yet and demanding they are next.
Three really are asking for trouble. And mostly self inflicted.
What a mess.
I am really surprised that no media source has picked up on this 4G launch saga and run a story about the lack of information and bad organization.
I am really surprised that no media source has picked up on this 4G launch saga and run a story about the lack of information and bad organization.
Totally agree. Problem is now everyone is going to jump on their end of Feb 'Go Live' date and then when it arrives they will see all those with the update using it and then realise with horror, that they havn't got it yet, and will have to watch everyone boasting about their 4g speeds while they are siting around on the old 3g for another month. Really poor show. If any of the 4g guys have issues and want to call 3, they probably wont get through because all the non-4g enabled users will be jamming their board wanting the update.
Maybe they should move the roll out team who worked on the 4g Ireland project over to the UK to run things. All they did was name a date and just need to flick the switch on the 27th- done. No testing was announced no broken promises. simples.
With 10GB links and small cells yes, but as I say I don't think single LTE sites can support enough to warrant 100Gig links, I may be wrong. I think I saw the figure that a typical 4G cell with a certain amount of spectrum can support.
What you would have in highly populated areas is low powered small cells, this is the only way to deliver top speeds in heavy population areas.
Do you have any rough figures on how much data a single mast can handle?
Some remarks deserve challenged with evidence whereever and whenever they appear!
I could not agree with you more wavejockglw. That is why myself and a few others here are still waiting to the see the proof you have of Three not planning to launch 4G in Glasgow until mid-2014.
This comes as a real surprise to me since wavejockglw has previously posted claiming that Glasgow has no Three 4G signal as of yet. I can only assume he is wrong.
I am really surprised that no media source has picked up on this 4G launch saga and run a story about the lack of information and bad organization.
I wondered that too. But Three is a generally well liked network and I suppose people cut them some slack as a result.
Plus, it really isn't that big a deal for many people. Mind you, it's a story for the likes of the Register (but, perhaps it has done something?).
As I've said all this week and before; the 4G coverage is still pretty minimal. I've been doing testing and coming up with results that seem to improve day by day, which is great, but I still don't have 4G at home and you only need to go to zone 3 and beyond in London to more than likely lose 4G (a few corridors making up the exception to places like Enfield and Watford).
So, while we all wait, we're not missing that much. If half the country was live, people would have good reason to be upset but that isn't the case.
The good news is that while Three keeps us waiting, it isn't stopping the network continuing to grow.
What I would have liked was a concrete date and perhaps even a decent technical explanation of the process, which could easily be summarised. In other words, not just vague dates and the talk of 'rolling out' which doesn't give any detail at all.
We're currently relying on hearing if someone on Twitter states they've got 4G access to know if/when the process has begun - and not every Three user will necessarily know straight away, or think to tell anyone.
I could not agree with you more wavejockglw. That is why myself and a few others here are still waiting to the see the proof you have of Three not planning to launch 4G in Glasgow until mid-2014.
This comes as a real surprise to me since wavejockglw has previously posted claiming that Glasgow has no Three 4G signal as of yet. I can only assume he is wrong.
3 Store staff locally informed me that they expect 4G to be live for customers in Glasgow and surrounding areas in late spring/early summer. So Mid 2014 is a fairly reasonable interpretation eh?
I DID NOT state there was no 3 4G signal in Glasgow but I did state that I had seen no evidence of any masts being upgraded or new cabinets installed at EE sites for 3's 4G. There is quite a difference! Lucan has stated there are about 6 (half a dozen sites) of which three (quantity) are testing in Glasgow and three in Edinburgh presently. He thought they were on top of buildings so that explains why nothing was visible. No reason to disbelieve him as 3 have a major technical centre in Glasgow which will probably be involved in testing.
The Mid 2014 for Glasgow and surrounding area seems perfectly reasonable when no new cabinets are in evidence next to monopoles. It takes a few weeks to install the facilities at sites and as it's now the end of January, supposing they magically appeared within two months that would make a switch on likely in April or May which by definition is within the middle months of the year!
Just a thought.... but as EE gifted 3 UK the 1800MHz spectrum for 4G could they have some say in being assured that 3 operating within their spectrum allocation does not cause them interference or service issues? Could that be an explanation why 3 have to be more stringent testing their service and why customers are having to wait longer?
T Mobile (EE)GSM 1800:1721.5 - 1751.5 MHz 1816.5 - 1846.5 MHz
4Gs been available in Glasgow for a while! But I think what you mean is Three have at least one site transmitting a 4G signal in Glasgow which 99%+ of Threes users can't access until some time in the future.
I wondered that too. But Three is a generally well liked network and I suppose people cut them some slack as a result.
Is it? I work in IT and I don't know anyone else on Three in our office (or even out of my friends). We all have the newest phones, change networks and phones regularly but it seems everyone has a very poor opinion of Three, especially their customer service. I'd say they are regarded as the worst network provider, however true or not that is.
I can't speak for those who aren't on Three, as there's this stigma about poor customer service that Three has really failed to shift.
But anyone that IS on Three, which includes a lot of people in the tech industry (especially when Three axed roaming fees for all the people going to Las Vegas for CES!) usually has nothing but good things to say.
What's more, people that work in tech or in the mobile industry in general (and this is who I was referring to in the context of the post I was replying to) can understand more about the pros and cons of various networks and tariffs. Three's tariffs, and the things it has done over the years to 'shake things up' are all very commendable.
But, even though I've always thought highly of Three, I did also feel compelled to call them out on the 4G launch issue and talk about it - both as a journalist and as a disappointed customer.
Don't know if its been mentioned but now when you go onto the three website and click support for network and coverage it takes you to a page where you can search for planned maintenance in your area. Handy feature I think. I believe it use to come up on the coverage map before.
Comments
Once again three's social media team cant get anything right.
They're quoting the article posted a couple of days ago which said three are on track to have everyone on LTE by the end of feb (rather than by the end of march as Dyson said before).
The word "by" indicates they'll start rolling out before. The three twitter page seems to have clocked on and are using "by". This post from the blog states end of February as a start date.
Now obviously no one really knows when the start date is. But Three should at least be able to communicate their own press release correctly rather than saying something different. Someone at Three needs to write a Q&A with stock answers.
This is how Three worded the press release
I wouldn't even mind it being March, but I wish they would put a page up with details of proper information.
Three know what they're doing. Its just their communication that hasn't been great.
They may know what they're doing when it comes to supplying customers with a great 3G network, but 3's business today involves far more than that and keeping customers informed of happenings forms a large part of that.
To say 3's communication "hasn't been that great" would (IMO) be a HUGE understatement, as it implies there has been at least a level of greatness to it, when in actual fact, it has been erratic, robotic and just plain poor.
This post isn't aimed at you, I'm just trying to highlight the point about 3's (lack of) PR.
FWIW, I'm a (happy) 3 customer on The One Plan. I get good 3G (7/8Mbps) and I'm looking forward to unlimited 4G & being able to tether.
I just wish 3 would have been more open about their plans-I genuinely wouldn't have cared back last summer if they'd said "It should be live March 2014", at least I would have known.
I think most people's issue here is that 3 appear to have planned a series of, shall we say misleading or at the very least ambiguous statements, that led customers to believe 4G was coming soon (December).
I suspect this was done to stop people who were nearing the end of a contract saying "Sod this, I'm not waiting until March, I want 4G now, so I'm off to VF/O2/EE".
Now, that's understandable from a business perspective, but ultimately if customers feel lied to and deceived it could easily backfire.
I don't take it personally, it just kind of is what it is (3 having really poor internal communications), but at £15 per month for 2000 minutes (more than enough for me), 5000 texts (again, more than enough), lots of 3 to 3 minutes and unlimited data (inc tethering), I look at the competition and realise that I can't get that anywhere else, so I'll stay with 3.
Which I guess, was their intention all along....
I was looking at alternatives myself (especially as I had a mast problem at home for over a month), but for my personal circumstances and how I use my phone, there isn't really an alternative (not one I would want to pay extra for).
It's not a reason to cancel though, it will work eventually and in the meantime I have superb 3g performance and coverage for a low cost (except in Reading) . My only other serious option is EE and I don't feel like taking out a loan to pay for 500mb of data. The less said about o2 and Vodafone and their devotion to GPRS the better.
That'll be why both have shown considerable improvements in all the latest RootMetrics tests? Both have made some heavy investments and have 4G in major areas and it has pulled their RootMetrics rankings up considerably in many areas.
It's wise to remember that things change and 3 managed to make big improvements so why should that not apply equally to others? There is a game of leap frog going on right now in terms of deployment it seems and that's good news for customers!
http://www.rootmetrics.com/uk/?s=London (Examine results for October/November 2013).
I couldn't give a toss about how good root metrics claims it is in a few select cities, as I live and travel around in rural areas most of the time. 3 have genuinely improved from the bad old days, o2 and Vodafone have not, at least where I use it. It'll be interesting to see if they meet the coverage requirements this time around.
Anyway, you are derailing the thread with this non 3 related stuff. Please keep to the topic, which is the 3 LTE rollout.
And this is on-topic? "My only other serious option is EE and I don't feel like taking out a loan to pay for 500mb of data. The less said about o2 and Vodafone and their devotion to GPRS the better."
Some remarks deserve challenged with evidence whereever and whenever they appear!
Interesting to note that RootMetrics reports are no longer of interest. They were posted and highlighted for quite a while when the results favoured one particular network!
Meantime, if you buy an insurance policy and they promise you a free TV (as some do) and they run out of stock and keep promising, then you find out they have some in the warehouse and you still can't get yours does that mean you can cancel your policy without penalty? Does the same apply to free 4G when it's been promised and is clearly available to a select few?
Just wondered what the opinion was on this which is clearly related to the thread discussion currently?
I seems everytime three make an official statement we need a team of lawyers to give an opion as to what they actually mean. its getting crazy.
Just did a network search while in the Saint Enoch Center in Glasgow and my Galaxy S4 found Three's 4G network but I wasn't able to register on it.
http://i41.tinypic.com/1zf34fs.png
Not much use to standard 3 custoemrs but a good find!
Perhaps this is reception from the 3 contact centre in West Nile Street which is in a reasonably tall building on a hill? 3rd level support are situated there so it would make sense for that location to be involved in testing.
Told ya ;-)
Plenty of other masts live in other locations across the UK
I thought today that actually they were all agreeing on end of Feb for all 4g users but alas, unfortunately, with three communications things aren't that straight forward as they are now saying the following in addition to the above:
"We’ll be sending out the 4G software update up until the end of March. Different devices will get it at different times. Your device’s software version will need to be up-to-date before you’ll be able to accept the update we send you though."
So they may allow Feb user who have the update to use it at the end of march but seems they will still be rolling out the update to many of us. If that happens then they are going to get inundated with complaints from people who havn't had the update yet and demanding they are next.
Three really are asking for trouble. And mostly self inflicted.
What a mess.
I am really surprised that no media source has picked up on this 4G launch saga and run a story about the lack of information and bad organization.
Totally agree. Problem is now everyone is going to jump on their end of Feb 'Go Live' date and then when it arrives they will see all those with the update using it and then realise with horror, that they havn't got it yet, and will have to watch everyone boasting about their 4g speeds while they are siting around on the old 3g for another month. Really poor show. If any of the 4g guys have issues and want to call 3, they probably wont get through because all the non-4g enabled users will be jamming their board wanting the update.
Maybe they should move the roll out team who worked on the 4g Ireland project over to the UK to run things. All they did was name a date and just need to flick the switch on the 27th- done. No testing was announced no broken promises. simples.
Do you have any rough figures on how much data a single mast can handle?
Careful! The one man band O2/VF brigade will be after you..
I could not agree with you more wavejockglw. That is why myself and a few others here are still waiting to the see the proof you have of Three not planning to launch 4G in Glasgow until mid-2014.
This comes as a real surprise to me since wavejockglw has previously posted claiming that Glasgow has no Three 4G signal as of yet. I can only assume he is wrong.
I wondered that too. But Three is a generally well liked network and I suppose people cut them some slack as a result.
Plus, it really isn't that big a deal for many people. Mind you, it's a story for the likes of the Register (but, perhaps it has done something?).
As I've said all this week and before; the 4G coverage is still pretty minimal. I've been doing testing and coming up with results that seem to improve day by day, which is great, but I still don't have 4G at home and you only need to go to zone 3 and beyond in London to more than likely lose 4G (a few corridors making up the exception to places like Enfield and Watford).
So, while we all wait, we're not missing that much. If half the country was live, people would have good reason to be upset but that isn't the case.
The good news is that while Three keeps us waiting, it isn't stopping the network continuing to grow.
What I would have liked was a concrete date and perhaps even a decent technical explanation of the process, which could easily be summarised. In other words, not just vague dates and the talk of 'rolling out' which doesn't give any detail at all.
We're currently relying on hearing if someone on Twitter states they've got 4G access to know if/when the process has begun - and not every Three user will necessarily know straight away, or think to tell anyone.
3 Store staff locally informed me that they expect 4G to be live for customers in Glasgow and surrounding areas in late spring/early summer. So Mid 2014 is a fairly reasonable interpretation eh?
I DID NOT state there was no 3 4G signal in Glasgow but I did state that I had seen no evidence of any masts being upgraded or new cabinets installed at EE sites for 3's 4G. There is quite a difference! Lucan has stated there are about 6 (half a dozen sites) of which three (quantity) are testing in Glasgow and three in Edinburgh presently. He thought they were on top of buildings so that explains why nothing was visible. No reason to disbelieve him as 3 have a major technical centre in Glasgow which will probably be involved in testing.
The Mid 2014 for Glasgow and surrounding area seems perfectly reasonable when no new cabinets are in evidence next to monopoles. It takes a few weeks to install the facilities at sites and as it's now the end of January, supposing they magically appeared within two months that would make a switch on likely in April or May which by definition is within the middle months of the year!
Just a thought.... but as EE gifted 3 UK the 1800MHz spectrum for 4G could they have some say in being assured that 3 operating within their spectrum allocation does not cause them interference or service issues? Could that be an explanation why 3 have to be more stringent testing their service and why customers are having to wait longer?
T Mobile (EE)GSM 1800:1721.5 - 1751.5 MHz 1816.5 - 1846.5 MHz
Orange (EE)GSM 1800: 1751.5 - 1781.5 MHz 1846.5 - 1876.5 MHz
3 (Hutchison UK Ltd) GSM 1800 - 2 x 15 MHz of the above T-Mobile/Orange spectrum was gifted by EE to 3 in 2012.
That's 100% correct.
I'm impressed how fast Three are rolling out across the country.
(Obviously none of this can be seen on the coverage checker just yet.)
4Gs been available in Glasgow for a while! But I think what you mean is Three have at least one site transmitting a 4G signal in Glasgow which 99%+ of Threes users can't access until some time in the future.
Is it? I work in IT and I don't know anyone else on Three in our office (or even out of my friends). We all have the newest phones, change networks and phones regularly but it seems everyone has a very poor opinion of Three, especially their customer service. I'd say they are regarded as the worst network provider, however true or not that is.
But anyone that IS on Three, which includes a lot of people in the tech industry (especially when Three axed roaming fees for all the people going to Las Vegas for CES!) usually has nothing but good things to say.
What's more, people that work in tech or in the mobile industry in general (and this is who I was referring to in the context of the post I was replying to) can understand more about the pros and cons of various networks and tariffs. Three's tariffs, and the things it has done over the years to 'shake things up' are all very commendable.
But, even though I've always thought highly of Three, I did also feel compelled to call them out on the 4G launch issue and talk about it - both as a journalist and as a disappointed customer.