When 3 first came out, everyone refused to go with them as the signal coverage was pretty poor, is this still the case generally?

Is anyone in the Manchester area with 3 and can comment on their coverage in this area?

My 12 month sim-only with O2 comes up next month and I'm considering a the £10 a month Sim100 30-day tariff: 100 Minutes, 3000 texts, 1GB internet.

try

www.three.co.uk/help_support/coverage

or call

333
0843 373 3333

I find their coverage to be excellent. they now share masts with T-Mobile which has improved things a lot.

Personally, I find the signal to be excellent. I've never had no signal.

However, it does depend on where you live, so best to check their coverage map.

I've found them ok round here when I tried them on a pay as you go sim last month. I did lose 3G signal every now and then and found data to be unusable over 2G (not sure who their partner is now but whoever it is has worse 2G data than O2). 3 do have all the built up areas generally covered so can't imagine you'd have a problem in Manchester.

If you are only looking at the 30 day sim only packages then there is nothing really stopping you trying them out and walking if the coverage isn't what you'd expect

The pay as you go sim also turned out to be a lifesaver the other week when my home broadband died and I was able to get a decent connection tethering my iPhone with the 3sim in to my PC

Did you have to pay extra to tether with 3?

If I ported my number over from o2, would there be a minimum period before I would be able to port away again if I didn't like them?

3 let you tether using any allowance you already have or your unlimited allowance if on the one plan. No need to buy a separate tethering bolt on like the others. Only issue is the same walled garden that can affect some sites on mobile will also affect tethered devices. The only site I've had an issue with is the website for a certain feature on the third page of the sun

I think you should be ok to port out straight away. I remember one time I ported into tesco and ported back out within a week as I'd seen a better deal elsewhere. Saying that someone on here was told the other day they couldn't port straight out with orange. A call to the exec office sorted it though

Wow that's fantastic! I mean it shouldn't be (if you're paying for 500mb/1gb it should be up to you how you use it), but I am seriously running out of reasons not to go with 3!

Thanks rosetech, I did a bit of coverage comparison and actually looks fine. They actually offer better coverage than Vodafone near my parents house which surprised me! All networks seem to have near blanket coverage where I am in Manchester which doesn't surprise too much however.

Anyone know what they are like for extra charges - the pricing guide says voicemail is 30p, but it isn't clear if it can come from your allowance. Are customer service calls free etc?

The only concern is customer service, but all the networks seem to come in for a slamming on that front these days anyway.

Voicemail comes out of allowances (except on the 1 plan where it is free anyway). I think calling customer services is free too. Certainly was when I rang them from my 3 pay as you go sim so can't see contract being different. When I did ring them, customer services did manage to achieve what I wanted them to do though it did feel a touch like pulling teeth to get there. Even with O2 though, I'll only use normal customer services if I have a basic query. Anything more complex and I'll generally contact the executive office.

I'm in same position and can see myself switching to 3 when iPhone 5 is released especially if their pricing remains as aggressive as it is for iPhone 4. O2 annoyed me quite a lot when they decided to amend their tariff downgrade policy and retroactively apply that new policy to existing contracts as well as new contracts. Only problem with 3 is whether they will have the iPhone 5 at launch as it was a few weeks before they got the iPhone 4 IIRC

Extra charges wise, it can depend on the tariff - most of them (for sim only) are detailed under the plan details links on this page; http://www.three.co.uk/Pay_Monthly/S...hoose_your_SIM

Calls to 333 customer service are free, as are voicemail calls on some tariffs. If voicemail is chargeable it's generally not included in allowances unless it's charged at the same rate as other calls (if that makes sense).

As for customer service standard, well, I've rung them with some pretty complex stuff before and they've handled it remarkably well - certainly better than some other networks I could mention anyway. On the other hand; calls to customer service can go on forever - the quickest call I've ever made to them lasted 12 minutes

If in doubt though, send them an email - their email team is excellent, I've never had to email more than twice about any particular query.

If the O2 signal and internet speeds are fine for you and you are doing it purely as a cost-saving, then perhaps check out Giffgaff which runs on the O2 network and is owned by Telefonica who also own O2.

£10/month currently gets you 250 mins, unltd texts and unltd data. Before that £10 gave 150 mins, unltd texts and data. As it's a payg network, there is no contract.

You can find out more by going to www.giffgaff.com

My affiliate link (which earns me credit if you sign up) is: http://giffgaff.com/orders/affiliate/bigm

O2 network generally has a reputation of slow 3G speeds. 3 is known for building their network around mobile data so if data/internet is important to you and there is good 3 reception in your area then it may be better to go with 3.

and for £10 from 3 I get a 30 day notice contract, 2GB of internet 5,000 3 to 3 minutes, 500 anytime minutes or texts and much better 3G coverage than O2.

Few people need more than 2GB.

Also can people please stop spamming their affiliate links for giffgaff all over this forum. They are in breach of the forum rules concerning advertising which can be found HERE. Also in that link is a link should anyone wish to discuss advertising solutions

Bear in mind that 3 seem to charge £100 per each GB of extra data usage.

Less than the Tesco £400 but massive all the same.

"External links and Advertising
We only permit links to third-party sites when they are relevant to ongoing discussion. Any Users posting URLs of sites excessively or in a way which could be construed as advertising are liable to have their right to post removed. "

They also keep you up to date by text message though and a lot of their plans have gone up from 1 GB to 2GB, allowances which virtually no other network allows for phone plans.

I think all the networks charge once you go over. With Three it's 10p per meg out of allowance rate, and they text you to tell you when your allowance is nearly used.

3 won't let you use the net once you've used up your allowance on PAYG.

A page comes up telling you, you are out of allowance and lets you log on to top up if you have a card registered with them.

I should add that that is using a 3g dongle, not sure how it would work with a phone or tethered to a phone.

10p a mb not too bad compared.

At least they don't mislead people now they've stopped using the word unlimited, and with the all-you-can-eat one plan you don't have to worry about extra data usage charges at all.

More of a reply to davethorp than you:
I think the way I did my post was fair enough. Only given the link once so not spamming, it was completely relevant to the discussion, I even included some reasons to not go with giffgaff and I made clear I stand to benefit if he uses the link.

I think the ToC is mainly to stop people posting that kind of thing in every thread, relevant or not. Or pretending to be an ordinary poster and advertising about something. (E.g. being a website owner and pretending to say "oh look, I suddenly found this great website").

To Thinewonk: you must have a special deal then. It's not on the Three website anyway. Three's £10 30day only gives 100 mins and 1GB internet. I do wonder if their One Plan will last the two years or will they not be able to cope with the transfer of heavy users.

Yep, a fair few people have been bitten by the Tesco data charges. They've reduced their prices to 60p/MB but this is still insane. At least T-Mobile just give you warnings instead. I'd much rather have my speed reduced or something than charged top whack.

Is the three per megabyte or do you have to pay for the whole gigabyte if you go over the limit?

True, but the t-mobile free but throttled system to me seems far better all round.

I do know that the moderators/site admin have removed several such links over the course of the last week and that site admin do consider them to be in breach of the forum rules. I don't however know if people were told by PM they'd been moderated or if it was done silently, hence my post

If you stand to benefit from the link then unfortunately it is advertising. Or there would be nothing stopping me from posting links to say amazon with my amazon affiliate ID inserted all over the forum. Say linking to CDs in the music section. TV DVDs in the tv section etc etc. Would be relevant to the discussion, and probably more relevant than a giffgaff link in a topic asking about 3's coverage, but would still be advertising

Now look again at Dave Thorp's status on the forum

Promoting affiliate links isn't allowed. Why should GiffGaff get free advertising? If everybody did it the forum would be full of people trying to make money and posting links all over.

Yes I am on a deal, but I believe it's a deal anyone can get if they are at the end of their contract.

I called up and asked for the sim only deal on the site and he said he would rather give me the other deal for the same price!!! so I took it.

just to clarify here, my status doesn't mean a lot. I have no powers of moderation, which is why the links haven't been removed as yet. My role is ultimately to welcome newcomers, maintain welcome and FAQ threads (which reminds me I must get on with the FAQ thread ) and alert admin if any threads start to get out of hand (which never happens round here does it )

I do have direct contact with site admin though which is how I know they consider giffgaff affiliate links to be advertising

Anyway, back on topic. OP, 3 have been investing in their network for several years now and 3G coverage has vastly improved to the point that in many areas they are removing the roaming onto Orange so you will need to check. I recommend getting a payg 3 sim to see how coverage is on your phone.