Not having a 100 Mbps connection delivered straight to your cerebral cortex is little more than a breach of your human rights and an affront to the very dignity of all of our beings.
The fact that this isn't available everywhere with as close to zero latency as possible for a nominal cost basically says it all, we might as well admit we're cavemen living in the neolithic era. Disgusting.
I was actually talking about 3's 3G in reply to a post. And I do get a good signal on my 3 PAYG sim and I love playing youtube clips and listening to the radio on tunein with the 3G sim. And it's not even 10mbps. It might surprise you that 3G is still used extensively by most smartphone users.
I'll cross the bridge in terms of 4G when I come to it. But 22mbps on a 3 4G sim according another poster would be more than adequate if that's a consistent figure. Actually it would be pretty damned good for a no frills network. Yes it's roughly half the speed of EE, but wth 3 6GB of data would last roughly twice as long as EE's 6GB plus 3's data is cheaper than EE.
Of course you'll be disappointed with 3's 4G if you expect rolls royce quality. But you won't get much of 4G data to play with on EE each month after the 100GB per month for 2 months is over.
I've been waiting with bated breath for my text message/letter to come through telling me the end of my One Plan is nigh, and I'm still waiting. The only reason I've not ported out already is because I want to see what EE pull out of the hat in Jan/Feb (I'm assuming, like most people here, that they won't just let their SIM only tariff data allowances halve like they will according to the small print on their website).
I went to Kings Cross today on my lunch break, and Three's network was so congested I couldn't use any data at all. This morning, while waiting for the bus, I managed a paltry 0.4Mbps and struggled to refresh the bus times on my phone. Maybe Three are planning to wait until their network (hopefully) improves in Jan after the first lot of people loose their unlimited tethering, before asking One Plan users to pay more for the service? I'm a little skeptical whether this will happen though, as the 4G rollout hasn't done much to improve congestion (in London at least) despite my (overly optimistic?) hopes that it would. The way things are at the moment I wouldn't stay with Three even if they let me keep my £15/month One Plan - it's got to the point where I would rather just pay more for a service that works.
I use pretty much the average One Plan monthly data figures that have been posted on these forums, and would much rather pay £28/month to EE for a 10GB allowance than £25/month to Three for AYCE with the state their network is in at the moment. With cash back, the reality is the average One Plan user would be better off switching to EE on cost alone. The irony is that it's the heavy users who will find it harder to switch to EE, which are presumably the less profitable users for Three (though I realise heavy tethers might leave anyway since they can get more than 4GB tethered data elsewhere but not from Three). If the low to average One Plan users leave, and the heavy users end up staying (even with limited tethering), I can't imagine it would be a particularly good outcome for Three.
I've been waiting with bated breath for my text message/letter to come through telling me the end of my One Plan is nigh, and I'm still waiting. The only reason I've not ported out already is because I want to see what EE pull out of the hat in Jan/Feb (I'm assuming, like most people here, that they won't just let their SIM only tariff data allowances halve like they will according to the small print on their website).
I went to Kings Cross today on my lunch break, and Three's network was so congested I couldn't use any data at all. This morning, while waiting for the bus, I managed a paltry 0.4Mbps and struggled to refresh the bus times on my phone. Maybe Three are planning to wait until their network (hopefully) improves in Jan after the first lot of people loose their unlimited tethering, before asking One Plan users to pay more for the service? I'm a little skeptical whether this will happen though, as the 4G rollout hasn't done much to improve congestion (in London at least) despite my (overly optimistic?) hopes that it would. The way things are at the moment I wouldn't stay with Three even if they let me keep my £15/month One Plan - it's got to the point where I would rather just pay more for a service that works.
I use pretty much the average One Plan monthly data figures that have been posted on these forums, and would much rather pay £28/month to EE for a 10GB allowance than £25/month to Three for AYCE with the state their network is in at the moment. With cash back, the reality is the average One Plan user would be better off switching to EE on cost alone. The irony is that it's the heavy users who will find it harder to switch to EE, which are presumably the less profitable users for Three (though I realise heavy tethers might leave anyway since they can get more than 4GB tethered data elsewhere but not from Three). If the low to average One Plan users leave, and the heavy users end up staying (even with limited tethering), I can't imagine it would be a particularly good outcome for Three.
A lot of areas just haven't been upgraded, even in urban areas, some are using low speed HSPA+.
forgive me, not been following this topic recently. i have heard my one plan since last year, will i lose my unlimited tethering in january?
Not necessarily in January, as it depends on when your contract is due to end.
Jabba has said many times that this is a phased approach, so you'll be notified at some stage that the contract is being discontinued.
I think in essence, they're removing the unlimited tethering option and replacing it with a 4GB limit (like they did with new handset contracts earlier this year) and (possibly) increasing the cost.
I went to Kings Cross today on my lunch break, and Three's network was so congested I couldn't use any data at all.
I was at King's Cross station at 5pm yesterday and I too had some problems with data. Has to be a first, but it was frustrating as I was trying to check train times (and some other real time info) and it wasn't having any of it.
I had to try the old flight mode toggle trick to get it to work (something I did regularly back on Orange where data failed more often than it worked) and I was also stuck on 3G instead of 4G.
It does seem that Three's performance in London has fallen of late, which is odd as I can't imagine that they've signed up loads of heavy users this year - especially with tethering no longer an option on new tariffs since early this year.
I have also seen a sharp decline in performance round where I live. I don't use that much 3G data to be fair and I would be surprised if the people around me did as its all housing with excellent broadband links. But speeds have gone from 20Mbps+ to around 0.5
I don't now what has caused such a sharp decline in speeds in the past 6months. That speed test was done just and everyone should be at work / school.
It just seems to have got worse when they mess with the mast. EE are actually just as bad/slow.
Three's performance has always been crap round where I live in Sheffield. Only seems to be really good in Meadowhall but thats about it. Still, its a lot better than what Vodafone 3G was which is almost non existent almost anywhere I go.
So, generaly, 3 Data is rubbish for me, but its still better than Voda and probably EE in a lot of the areas I visit. Not a heavy user as I explained above - 2-3Gb most months but usually lower and zero tethering.
I have received a letter from 3 telling me that unless they hear from me they are moving my plan to 200 minutes & unlimited handset data for £18.00
This was a few weeks after I refused the same offer on the phone when they rang me to discuss it, at the time I told them the offer was not good enough and I would not pay more for less on principle they then offered me their new top package AYCE on everything with 4GB tethering for £15.00 which I accepted it.
This must be a generic letter going out to all one plan customers that are out of contract.
I have no idea why think anyone plan customer would ever settle for much less allowance and pay more money but I guess they can try their luck but I would never pay £18 for what was on that letter.
I wonder how many one plan customers have received this letter and refused it or haggled for better deal or completely left 3 due to removal of one plan.
I have received a letter from 3 telling me that unless they hear from me they are moving my plan to 200 minutes & unlimited handset data for £18.00
This was a few weeks after I refused the same offer on the phone when they rang me to discuss it, at the time I told them the offer was not good enough and I would not pay more for less on principle they then offered me their new top package AYCE on everything with 4GB tethering for £15.00 which I accepted it.
This must be a generic letter going out to all one plan customers that are out of contract.
I have no idea why think anyone plan customer would ever settle for much less allowance and pay more money but I guess they can try their luck but I would never pay £18 for what was on that letter.
I wonder how many one plan customers have received this letter and refused it or haggled for better deal or completely left 3 due to removal of one plan.
Well recently I have been using more data just to justify the monthly cost because I don't use many minutes but use some text.
My data usage has gone up from 2 to 3gb to 15 to 20gb per month recently but all on the handset. I don't even remember the last time I tethered. Probably last August when we were in Cornwall for holiday.
I don't think I have used more than 5gb tethering since joining 3 & One plan sim only deal.
So clearly they are not just targeting heavy tetherers as wrongly assumed they must be targeting anyone who is out of their minimum contract term.
I have no idea why think anyone plan customer would ever settle for much less allowance and pay more money but I guess they can try their luck but I would never pay £18 for what was on that letter.
Because it is better than the alternatives. If the price increases or the value decreases, that doesn't mean it's automatically inferior to everything else on the market.
I joined Three in 2012 on the One Plan SIM Only (30 day) - back then it was £25 per month
I got an iPhone 5 on a contract with Three in September 2012 (with the One Plan) - it cost £39 a month.
I am now back to SIM only, paying £15 a month on a 12 month contract, for 200 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited data (plus 4GB of tethering).
The only reason I ever got the One Plan was to have Unlimited Data with the option of tethering. I didn't need the 2000 minute allowance.
I still get that unlimited data my new plan, but I'm actually paying a lot less than before (and getting the 0800 calls included).
I have received a letter from 3 telling me that unless they hear from me they are moving my plan to 200 minutes & unlimited handset data for £18.00
This was a few weeks after I refused the same offer on the phone when they rang me to discuss it, at the time I told them the offer was not good enough and I would not pay more for less on principle they then offered me their new top package AYCE on everything with 4GB tethering for £15.00 which I accepted it.
This must be a generic letter going out to all one plan customers that are out of contract.
I have no idea why think anyone plan customer would ever settle for much less allowance and pay more money but I guess they can try their luck but I would never pay £18 for what was on that letter.
I wonder how many one plan customers have received this letter and refused it or haggled for better deal or completely left 3 due to removal of one plan.
The decision has been made at board level, no more loyalty discounts or discounted price plans.
You will have the option of accepting the 200 min plan or your PAC, whichever you prefer. I have been told there will be no exceptions to the policy.
I have received a letter from 3 telling me that unless they hear from me they are moving my plan to 200 minutes & unlimited handset data for £18.00
This was a few weeks after I refused the same offer on the phone when they rang me to discuss it, at the time I told them the offer was not good enough and I would not pay more for less on principle they then offered me their new top package AYCE on everything with 4GB tethering for £15.00 which I accepted it.
This must be a generic letter going out to all one plan customers that are out of contract.
I have no idea why think anyone plan customer would ever settle for much less allowance and pay more money but I guess they can try their luck but I would never pay £18 for what was on that letter.
I wonder how many one plan customers have received this letter and refused it or haggled for better deal or completely left 3 due to removal of one plan.
Whats the minimum term on that? 12 months 24? 30 days?
You just don't know when you need to use extra data than you normally do on your handset.
I agree with this. Most months I rarely use more than 1gb but lately I've been streaming a lot of Spotify and radio simply because I can. Also earlier this summer spent a week in Wales and tethering was a lifeline.
So, although I don't use a lot, it's nice to know it's there.
Really hope 3 don't mess this up for everyone due to the actions of a minority of heavy hitters.
Luckily I have an EE smartphone for work so can tether on that in emergencies and will leave three if there are better options elsewhere.
I think what Three will be surprised with, from me at least, is that I could dedicate hours negotiating with them on the phone. It won't be a case of me just accepting the new plan or getting my PAC. There will be so much more to the discussion, which I am 100% certain will result in me getting what I want.
So clearly they are not just targeting heavy tetherers as wrongly assumed they must be targeting anyone who is out of their minimum contract term.
I went out of contract at end of November and no letter so far - keeping me head down and hoping for the best...I may upgrade my handset but simply buy one and move across my existing SIM - then enjoy tethering for as long as it takes for 3 to catch up
I think what Three will be surprised with, from me at least, is that I could dedicate hours negotiating with them on the phone. It won't be a case of me just accepting the new plan or getting my PAC. There will be so much more to the discussion, which I am 100% certain will result in me getting what I want.
You'll be 100% certain to fail. They are not negotiating anything it seems. Take the new plan or go. Not up for discussion.
You'll be 100% certain to fail. They are not negotiating anything it seems. Take the new plan or go. Not up for discussion.
If that ends up being the case, then I'll be sure to make sure I've kept them on the line to the point where they're so irritated by me that they'll probably just give me something just so they can carry on with their day. I'm not in the 20GB+ club, I have tethered twice this year for about ten minutes in total, and I use around 300 minutes a month. I don't believe it's in their interest to lose my custom.
Obviously I should add that I won't be rude or anything, that isn't my style.
If that ends up being the case, then I'll be sure to make sure I've kept them on the line to the point where they're so irritated by me that they'll probably just give me something just so they can carry on with their day. I'm not in the 20GB+ club, I have tethered twice this year for about ten minutes in total, and I use around 300 minutes a month. I don't believe it's in their interest to lose my custom.
Obviously I should add that I won't be rude or anything, that isn't my style.
They don't care about usage, you could be in the 200MB club, it's a decision made on high, and there just any latitude left for anyone in a customer facing role, not even a lot of steps up the ladder to change that,
Comments
I was actually talking about 3's 3G in reply to a post. And I do get a good signal on my 3 PAYG sim and I love playing youtube clips and listening to the radio on tunein with the 3G sim. And it's not even 10mbps. It might surprise you that 3G is still used extensively by most smartphone users.
I'll cross the bridge in terms of 4G when I come to it. But 22mbps on a 3 4G sim according another poster would be more than adequate if that's a consistent figure. Actually it would be pretty damned good for a no frills network. Yes it's roughly half the speed of EE, but wth 3 6GB of data would last roughly twice as long as EE's 6GB plus 3's data is cheaper than EE.
Of course you'll be disappointed with 3's 4G if you expect rolls royce quality. But you won't get much of 4G data to play with on EE each month after the 100GB per month for 2 months is over.
I went to Kings Cross today on my lunch break, and Three's network was so congested I couldn't use any data at all. This morning, while waiting for the bus, I managed a paltry 0.4Mbps and struggled to refresh the bus times on my phone. Maybe Three are planning to wait until their network (hopefully) improves in Jan after the first lot of people loose their unlimited tethering, before asking One Plan users to pay more for the service? I'm a little skeptical whether this will happen though, as the 4G rollout hasn't done much to improve congestion (in London at least) despite my (overly optimistic?) hopes that it would. The way things are at the moment I wouldn't stay with Three even if they let me keep my £15/month One Plan - it's got to the point where I would rather just pay more for a service that works.
I use pretty much the average One Plan monthly data figures that have been posted on these forums, and would much rather pay £28/month to EE for a 10GB allowance than £25/month to Three for AYCE with the state their network is in at the moment. With cash back, the reality is the average One Plan user would be better off switching to EE on cost alone. The irony is that it's the heavy users who will find it harder to switch to EE, which are presumably the less profitable users for Three (though I realise heavy tethers might leave anyway since they can get more than 4GB tethered data elsewhere but not from Three). If the low to average One Plan users leave, and the heavy users end up staying (even with limited tethering), I can't imagine it would be a particularly good outcome for Three.
A lot of areas just haven't been upgraded, even in urban areas, some are using low speed HSPA+.
Not necessarily in January, as it depends on when your contract is due to end.
Jabba has said many times that this is a phased approach, so you'll be notified at some stage that the contract is being discontinued.
I think in essence, they're removing the unlimited tethering option and replacing it with a 4GB limit (like they did with new handset contracts earlier this year) and (possibly) increasing the cost.
I was at King's Cross station at 5pm yesterday and I too had some problems with data. Has to be a first, but it was frustrating as I was trying to check train times (and some other real time info) and it wasn't having any of it.
I had to try the old flight mode toggle trick to get it to work (something I did regularly back on Orange where data failed more often than it worked) and I was also stuck on 3G instead of 4G.
It does seem that Three's performance in London has fallen of late, which is odd as I can't imagine that they've signed up loads of heavy users this year - especially with tethering no longer an option on new tariffs since early this year.
I don't now what has caused such a sharp decline in speeds in the past 6months. That speed test was done just and everyone should be at work / school.
It just seems to have got worse when they mess with the mast. EE are actually just as bad/slow.
So, generaly, 3 Data is rubbish for me, but its still better than Voda and probably EE in a lot of the areas I visit. Not a heavy user as I explained above - 2-3Gb most months but usually lower and zero tethering.
This was a few weeks after I refused the same offer on the phone when they rang me to discuss it, at the time I told them the offer was not good enough and I would not pay more for less on principle they then offered me their new top package AYCE on everything with 4GB tethering for £15.00 which I accepted it.
This must be a generic letter going out to all one plan customers that are out of contract.
I have no idea why think anyone plan customer would ever settle for much less allowance and pay more money but I guess they can try their luck but I would never pay £18 for what was on that letter.
I wonder how many one plan customers have received this letter and refused it or haggled for better deal or completely left 3 due to removal of one plan.
Whats your monthly data usage? and do you tether?
Me too, I'm loving EE 4G.
Good on you mate consumer power
Asking more for less and upsetting loyal customers is not on.
I would port as well if they did not offer me their top package for £15
Well recently I have been using more data just to justify the monthly cost because I don't use many minutes but use some text.
My data usage has gone up from 2 to 3gb to 15 to 20gb per month recently but all on the handset. I don't even remember the last time I tethered. Probably last August when we were in Cornwall for holiday.
I don't think I have used more than 5gb tethering since joining 3 & One plan sim only deal.
So clearly they are not just targeting heavy tetherers as wrongly assumed they must be targeting anyone who is out of their minimum contract term.
Unlimited data is important.
You just don't know when you need to use extra data than you normally do on your handset.
Because it is better than the alternatives. If the price increases or the value decreases, that doesn't mean it's automatically inferior to everything else on the market.
I joined Three in 2012 on the One Plan SIM Only (30 day) - back then it was £25 per month
I got an iPhone 5 on a contract with Three in September 2012 (with the One Plan) - it cost £39 a month.
I am now back to SIM only, paying £15 a month on a 12 month contract, for 200 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited data (plus 4GB of tethering).
The only reason I ever got the One Plan was to have Unlimited Data with the option of tethering. I didn't need the 2000 minute allowance.
I still get that unlimited data my new plan, but I'm actually paying a lot less than before (and getting the 0800 calls included).
The decision has been made at board level, no more loyalty discounts or discounted price plans.
You will have the option of accepting the 200 min plan or your PAC, whichever you prefer. I have been told there will be no exceptions to the policy.
Whats the minimum term on that? 12 months 24? 30 days?
I agree with this. Most months I rarely use more than 1gb but lately I've been streaming a lot of Spotify and radio simply because I can. Also earlier this summer spent a week in Wales and tethering was a lifeline.
So, although I don't use a lot, it's nice to know it's there.
Really hope 3 don't mess this up for everyone due to the actions of a minority of heavy hitters.
Luckily I have an EE smartphone for work so can tether on that in emergencies and will leave three if there are better options elsewhere.
I went out of contract at end of November and no letter so far - keeping me head down and hoping for the best...I may upgrade my handset but simply buy one and move across my existing SIM - then enjoy tethering for as long as it takes for 3 to catch up
You'll be 100% certain to fail. They are not negotiating anything it seems. Take the new plan or go. Not up for discussion.
Agreed, I spoke to a few people at Three, including the Exec Office, the instruction has come from very high up, it's a new price plan or the door.
The decision makers don't seem to care which way the customer decides to go.
PAC for me then. I do like 3, but the speed over the last 11 months has gone from good to bad.
Obviously I should add that I won't be rude or anything, that isn't my style.
They don't care about usage, you could be in the 200MB club, it's a decision made on high, and there just any latitude left for anyone in a customer facing role, not even a lot of steps up the ladder to change that,