Ramsgate and even Canterbury has now been removed. I'm glad I only stayed with 3 for two months and didn't put up with no signal like I was in the promise that by the end of this year I'd have 4g
Yes ee have their faults like most networks but it's made my decision to go back to ee justified
Yes and Folkestone and even Dover gone as well! Seems that anything SE and East of bloody Ashford can go to hell.
And Canterbury is a bloody city, not just a town!
I have put all this to them on their Facebook page and boy have they failed to answer it in any way.
Just what is this ALL when they have just removed a bloody lot of people from the list?
Calm down dear! they said they were on track to deliver it to those towns, but it looks like as we suspected some wouldn't get done by the end of this quarter. A large number of the places have 4G.
They never promised, they published a list they were targeting to cover by the end of 2014. I should imagine that those places won't be too far behind.
If they remove the heavy users that makes the masts range go further technically, doesn't it? So maybe they are thinking less sites now with 4g as 3g can easily cope for most users and reduces costs, helping increase profits.
If they remove the heavy users that makes the masts range go further technically, doesn't it? So maybe they are thinking less sites now with 4g as 3g can easily cope for most users and reduces costs, helping increase profits.
That's more for 3G. And I doubt anyone can claim breach of contract for a list that was always subject to change.
Now if someone from Three actually said, on record, that an area would be covered by a date and that led to a sale, there might be a case there. But I bet few people would have it in writing or 'on tape'.
Calm down dear! they said they were on track to deliver it to those towns, but it looks like as we suspected some wouldn't get done by the end of this quarter. A large number of the places have 4G.
They never promised, they published a list they were targeting to cover by the end of 2014. I should imagine that those places won't be too far behind.
Some of the places on the list might have 4G, but it's debatable if it's any good (sparse coverage, low performance). Reading was an original launch town for 3 but at least until a couple of months ago, the difference in coverage and performance between 3 and EE is like night and day
Given that 3 seems to have taken most of Devon and all of Cornwall off their list it's not looking good. EE has managed to finally turn on 4G in a couple of places here, one of which was never on 3's list.
Still, at least it makes 3 consistent - 2 out of 2 4G promises broken. The key point is that 3 clearly knew it wasn't going to happen, but left it up to the last minute to change the list, the deadline, and have provided absolutely no explanation as to why. That, plus the price increases, isn't very palatable for most customers. If I'm going to pay more, I might as well go with the network that is most likely to deliver some return on that investment.
Given that it's taken EE this long to start doing stuff in Cornwall there must be some large, shared issue that both of them knew about for quite a while
They have made some progress in 9 months if you compare the maps from March to now, when I go to Birmingham or Bristol the coverage is certainly pretty good, around my areas there's about 4 or 5 cells and more work planned for January so hopefully some additional masts will spring up next quarter and some 800Mhz switch ons.
We'll have to see how it goes, but in fairness they didn't make firm promises, they said the 4G rollout will be aimed at improving capacity, that it will be "in and around" those places and that they were on track.
They didn't promise full coverage and nobody had that expectation, and they didn't promise that those towns would definitely get 4G, but that they were aiming to cover them by the end of the year. Hopefully some of them will get done in the next quarter.
I do understand people's frustration, but at the same time you have to be realistic, the majority of the places that were on the list do have some 4G coverage.
I have to admit, Three has let down some customers by setting expectations of coverage, and again angered them with the price rises and forced plan changes. I can see people's frustration, however they have had their hands forced on the unlimited tethering topic due to the people that were clearly taking the P, so it was inevitable that it was going to happen. I saw it coming a mile off and posted about it for months before it was announced.
They have made some progress in 9 months if you compare the maps from March to now, when I go to Birmingham or Bristol the coverage is certainly pretty good, around my areas there's about 4 or 5 cells and more work planned for January so hopefully some additional masts will spring up next quarter and some 800Mhz switch ons.
We'll have to see how it goes, but in fairness they didn't make firm promises, they said the 4G rollout will be aimed at improving capacity, that it will be "in and around" those places and that they were on track.
They said "We're on target to roll-out our 4G network to selected sites in or around the following towns and cities by the end of 2014. We’ll update it if for any reason our plans change."
That's quite a firm statement of intent, and they broke it. They've also ignored their promise to update the list (well, they did update it, but just before their previous deadline and long after they knew it wasn't happening).
They didn't promise full coverage and nobody had that expectation, and they didn't promise that those towns would definitely get 4G, but that they were aiming to cover them by the end of the year. Hopefully some of them will get done in the next quarter.
They won't have any coverage in many of the places on the old list.
I do understand people's frustration, but at the same time you have to be realistic, the majority of the places that were on the list do have some 4G coverage.
I think people are more frustrated that 3's communications are crap - they knew they couldn't do what was promised, an apology and a reasonable explanation of the issues would go a lot better than revisionism and changing the list with the expectation that people will totally forget about the old one. Even BT does better than this - I know people who have emailed Openreach or the local BDUK project asking about FTTC/P, and they come back with very detailed information as to what will happen, when it might happen, and what the holdups are
"Some" 4G coverage is a bit of a cop-out, too. It's useless if it is sparse and barely provides better performance over 3G.
I'm not sure why you feel the need to defend them at all costs. They've screwed up, massively, and at a very bad time too (while they're trying to hike prices and reduce value). If 3 doesn't offer any special deals when they want to take the one plan away from me, and if EE continues to expand around here, I might be tempted to go rather than waiting years for 3 to play catch up
I've completed my text comparison and can reveal that 193 towns and cities have been removed and 59 have been added. This could even be 194 if you count Hull that I believe was removed from the list this year. You can compare the list here:
Is there anywhere on that newly pruned list that doesn't already have coverage? Almost everywhere I've checked looks like it appears on the current map. If this is correct, it implies no significant coverage improvement in 2015. Could this be a foul-up - someone's put up the current coverage list, not the future list?
Yeah, I know, I'm an optimist, and Three's record in this regard isn't encouraging, but this looks like a major reduction in announced plans.
Wakefield has no 4G coverage, mind you saying that the centre of the city only has poor outdoor 3G coverage. EE isn't as good as it was as they have turned off some masts without upgrading the remaining sites or backhaul, so EE crawls. 3 have been planning (A) new mast for two years now, There is two ex Orange sites close to me still broadcasting with no 3 added. I find it so strange they are lunching in small areas and leaving bigger cities to stew?
Type in wf1 1dg you will see how poor the coverage is around the city alot of green areas, also a huge area of white ' no signal' DC across the city.
I've completed my text comparison and can reveal that 193 towns and cities have been removed and 59 have been added. This could even be 194 if you count Hull that I believe was removed from the list this year. You can compare the list here:
What it tells me is that the situation has changed from:
"Lots of 4G, unlimited data, aggressive 1800 rollout to broadly match EE"
To....
"Sorry, no 4G in the places we promised after all. But wait, you *might* get some if you wait another whole year, and then it might only be 5x800 (which will surely never deliver any significant improvement over reasonable 3g speeds today, and if they're planning to use 800 to increase coverage the cell spacing will be massive and it'll get congested quickly). Oh and by the way we're putting your tariff up and limiting your tethering".
POOR SHOW! Off to EE as soon as my contract allows.
"But you get free 0800 numbers"....
No ta. ;-)
Frankly Three's management of their 4G rollout has been, in my eyes, underhand.
Blooming heck they basically chucked away a big chunk of the south and just about all of Hampshire/Wiltshire with a bit of Berkshire thrown in for good measure
Calm down dear! they said they were on track to deliver it to those towns, but it looks like as we suspected some wouldn't get done by the end of this quarter. A large number of the places have 4G.
They never promised, they published a list they were targeting to cover by the end of 2014. I should imagine that those places won't be too far behind.
I'll be keeping some PAYG SIMs on the go (normal and MBB) but I think it's pretty safe to wander over to EE for a bit and maybe come back in 6-12 months.
By H2 there could be some major improvements on Three with 800 & VoLTE, but it doesn't seem like much else will be happening between now and then.
When prices start to go up, you do begin to notice that people were very forgiving about a lack of info, a rather flawed 4G switch on (trial nonsense) and so on. It was all worth it for paying so little and getting so much in terms of data.
I know AYCE data isn't going yet, but I now feel that Three wouldn't hesitate to get rid of it in the future if it wanted. It's set a precedent, and I will now pay more to sample what I perceive as a better service elsewhere (EE) after what has clearly been a more productive year for them.
I can now get speeds of 40-50 at home, 80 at my parents where I am now for Christmas and yet Three's 4G speeds are starting to fall to as little as 5 or 6Mbps a lot of the time. It's really disappointing.
"We're on target to roll-out our 4G network to selected sites in or around the following towns and cities by the end of 2014. We’ll update it if for any reason our plans change."
So 193 places that they said they were on target with are not even in the crosshairs even for next year.
Is that the slight adjustment some (well one!) is making it out to be or is it a complete and utter shameful big fat lie by Three to it's customers, some of whom went with Three based on this lie?
That 193 places that have now been told to go **** themselves. Thanks Three and Merry Xmas to you too!
What it tells me is that the situation has changed from:
"Lots of 4G, unlimited data, aggressive 1800 rollout to broadly match EE"
To....
"Sorry, no 4G in the places we promised after all. But wait, you *might* get some if you wait another whole year, and then it might only be 5x800 (which will surely never deliver any significant improvement over reasonable 3g speeds today, and if they're planning to use 800 to increase coverage the cell spacing will be massive and it'll get congested quickly). Oh and by the way we're putting your tariff up and limiting your tethering".
POOR SHOW! Off to EE as soon as my contract allows.
"But you get free 0800 numbers"....
No ta. ;-)
Frankly Three's management of their 4G rollout has been, in my eyes, underhand.
Thanks
It took a lot longer than I thought it would have. But worth doing!
08 numbers will change by law in 2015 anyway. Plus there are alternatives too like 0800 Buster and WeQ4U.
Blooming heck they basically chucked away a big chunk of the south and just about all of Hampshire/Wiltshire with a bit of Berkshire thrown in for good measure
Comments
Yes and Folkestone and even Dover gone as well! Seems that anything SE and East of bloody Ashford can go to hell.
And Canterbury is a bloody city, not just a town!
I have put all this to them on their Facebook page and boy have they failed to answer it in any way.
Just what is this ALL when they have just removed a bloody lot of people from the list?
Calm down dear! they said they were on track to deliver it to those towns, but it looks like as we suspected some wouldn't get done by the end of this quarter. A large number of the places have 4G.
They never promised, they published a list they were targeting to cover by the end of 2014. I should imagine that those places won't be too far behind.
Not really no, not any noticeable amount anyway.
I think you're on the wrong track with that idea.
Now if someone from Three actually said, on record, that an area would be covered by a date and that led to a sale, there might be a case there. But I bet few people would have it in writing or 'on tape'.
Some of the places on the list might have 4G, but it's debatable if it's any good (sparse coverage, low performance). Reading was an original launch town for 3 but at least until a couple of months ago, the difference in coverage and performance between 3 and EE is like night and day
Given that 3 seems to have taken most of Devon and all of Cornwall off their list it's not looking good. EE has managed to finally turn on 4G in a couple of places here, one of which was never on 3's list.
Still, at least it makes 3 consistent - 2 out of 2 4G promises broken. The key point is that 3 clearly knew it wasn't going to happen, but left it up to the last minute to change the list, the deadline, and have provided absolutely no explanation as to why. That, plus the price increases, isn't very palatable for most customers. If I'm going to pay more, I might as well go with the network that is most likely to deliver some return on that investment.
Given that it's taken EE this long to start doing stuff in Cornwall there must be some large, shared issue that both of them knew about for quite a while
We'll have to see how it goes, but in fairness they didn't make firm promises, they said the 4G rollout will be aimed at improving capacity, that it will be "in and around" those places and that they were on track.
They didn't promise full coverage and nobody had that expectation, and they didn't promise that those towns would definitely get 4G, but that they were aiming to cover them by the end of the year. Hopefully some of them will get done in the next quarter.
I do understand people's frustration, but at the same time you have to be realistic, the majority of the places that were on the list do have some 4G coverage.
I have to admit, Three has let down some customers by setting expectations of coverage, and again angered them with the price rises and forced plan changes. I can see people's frustration, however they have had their hands forced on the unlimited tethering topic due to the people that were clearly taking the P, so it was inevitable that it was going to happen. I saw it coming a mile off and posted about it for months before it was announced.
Great, if you live in Birmingham or Bristol.
They said "We're on target to roll-out our 4G network to selected sites in or around the following towns and cities by the end of 2014. We’ll update it if for any reason our plans change."
That's quite a firm statement of intent, and they broke it. They've also ignored their promise to update the list (well, they did update it, but just before their previous deadline and long after they knew it wasn't happening).
They won't have any coverage in many of the places on the old list.
I think people are more frustrated that 3's communications are crap - they knew they couldn't do what was promised, an apology and a reasonable explanation of the issues would go a lot better than revisionism and changing the list with the expectation that people will totally forget about the old one. Even BT does better than this - I know people who have emailed Openreach or the local BDUK project asking about FTTC/P, and they come back with very detailed information as to what will happen, when it might happen, and what the holdups are
"Some" 4G coverage is a bit of a cop-out, too. It's useless if it is sparse and barely provides better performance over 3G.
I'm not sure why you feel the need to defend them at all costs. They've screwed up, massively, and at a very bad time too (while they're trying to hike prices and reduce value). If 3 doesn't offer any special deals when they want to take the one plan away from me, and if EE continues to expand around here, I might be tempted to go rather than waiting years for 3 to play catch up
Title is to reference that if you have an LTE phone you'd be given 4G at no extra cost*
*As long as you pay extra for a new plan when your old cheaper plan is phased out
The CEO sent everyone a video message, maybe some customers should get together on YouTube and post him one back!
Wealdstone Raider cameo?
That'll send the kind of message that we want.
I've completed my text comparison and can reveal that 193 towns and cities have been removed and 59 have been added. This could even be 194 if you count Hull that I believe was removed from the list this year. You can compare the list here:
https://www.diffchecker.com/opybv7j7
Wakefield has no 4G coverage, mind you saying that the centre of the city only has poor outdoor 3G coverage. EE isn't as good as it was as they have turned off some masts without upgrading the remaining sites or backhaul, so EE crawls. 3 have been planning (A) new mast for two years now, There is two ex Orange sites close to me still broadcasting with no 3 added. I find it so strange they are lunching in small areas and leaving bigger cities to stew?
Type in wf1 1dg you will see how poor the coverage is around the city alot of green areas, also a huge area of white ' no signal' DC across the city.
Good work compiling that list mate.
What it tells me is that the situation has changed from:
"Lots of 4G, unlimited data, aggressive 1800 rollout to broadly match EE"
To....
"Sorry, no 4G in the places we promised after all. But wait, you *might* get some if you wait another whole year, and then it might only be 5x800 (which will surely never deliver any significant improvement over reasonable 3g speeds today, and if they're planning to use 800 to increase coverage the cell spacing will be massive and it'll get congested quickly). Oh and by the way we're putting your tariff up and limiting your tethering".
POOR SHOW! Off to EE as soon as my contract allows.
"But you get free 0800 numbers"....
No ta. ;-)
Frankly Three's management of their 4G rollout has been, in my eyes, underhand.
EE do free 0800 calls as well.
Haha well that swings it then.... ;-)
Looks like there'll be a home signal box going spare in a month or two if anyone wants....
Frome
Salisbury
Winchester
Eastleigh
Devizes
Andover
Newbury
KERCHING! Xmas bonus on the way!
By H2 there could be some major improvements on Three with 800 & VoLTE, but it doesn't seem like much else will be happening between now and then.
When prices start to go up, you do begin to notice that people were very forgiving about a lack of info, a rather flawed 4G switch on (trial nonsense) and so on. It was all worth it for paying so little and getting so much in terms of data.
I know AYCE data isn't going yet, but I now feel that Three wouldn't hesitate to get rid of it in the future if it wanted. It's set a precedent, and I will now pay more to sample what I perceive as a better service elsewhere (EE) after what has clearly been a more productive year for them.
I can now get speeds of 40-50 at home, 80 at my parents where I am now for Christmas and yet Three's 4G speeds are starting to fall to as little as 5 or 6Mbps a lot of the time. It's really disappointing.
"We're on target to roll-out our 4G network to selected sites in or around the following towns and cities by the end of 2014. We’ll update it if for any reason our plans change."
So 193 places that they said they were on target with are not even in the crosshairs even for next year.
Is that the slight adjustment some (well one!) is making it out to be or is it a complete and utter shameful big fat lie by Three to it's customers, some of whom went with Three based on this lie?
That 193 places that have now been told to go **** themselves. Thanks Three and Merry Xmas to you too!
Thanks
It took a lot longer than I thought it would have. But worth doing!
08 numbers will change by law in 2015 anyway. Plus there are alternatives too like 0800 Buster and WeQ4U.
Up here in Scotland in Ayrshire (25 miles south of Glasgow) was not done this year and wont be done next year either. Its a joke >:(