First problems:

Broken links on portal. Missing images (despite page reload) in services.

Tried to register in email section only to be told 3 times "data server not available".

Used to happen to me all the time on Vodafone live - but to be fair at that time I did live quite remote.

Mind you, at least you're not paying for your failed portal pages - I was!

I remember my first 3 phone was an Nec 228, and I used to get that all the time, but didnt happen when I registered my 616v.

I nearly bought an 8120 today, but will wait for further test results.

They have some of the cutest adverts too! I want one of the pandas

Heard on Five Live that it costs 3 £212 to get every customer. That seems a hell of a lot of money, so i'm not surprised that the service seems to have been improving

It's not improving much!

It still loses texts/MMS, Drops calls, and services are hit & miss!

Cheap though! (if that's any conselation for it being pretty useless).

Thinking about 3? .... Think carefully then think again! (Dealer commissions that allow them to give you most of your money back should alert you).

it`s not the network it the sh*t NEC phones that let them down.

I spent £120 on the LG and thats still performing badly dropping calls and in some cases not even making the call!

Same here with Nokia and Motorola models.

hello were else can u get a nec616 for 44 quid
the phones bluetooth and got an mp3 player on it what over network is offering this type of fone at this price
praise three

My A1000 doesn't seem to drop calls or have any problems at all.

`
Handsets only form part of the problem and in the case of the current range I dont believe they are at fault at all.

There is no question that Three is subsidising a much larger portion of the handset cost than other networks, hence making the handset cheap, which is great - unlock them and sell on ebay - people seem to pay alot for a c975 or LG unlocked, thanks Three!

Now there's a reason to praise three, even if thats the only reason

I wouldnt say the current range is not at fault atall, I would say that there are some minor bug fixes needed, but in general I agree it's the network at fault causing most problems, but hey, I'm happy

I dunno how Three can cope if it costs them more to buy the phones than to sell them although they must have got at least 100,000 new customers at christmas time there and it even has a message when calling 333 that they have been experiencing large amounts of calls for people registering their details.

I think its ok if you dont use the phone for business calls. I couldnt stand too many calls being dropped, some people I speak to are on the other side of a switchboard and a dropped call means going back through the switchboard again - more time!

You are easily pleased nodnol

Simple things please simple minds.........errr... did I just say that

I know what you mean Steve, I'm not business dependant on my phone, although I do make alot of calls.

So for me I can live with it.
For others who need the phone ie. "mission critical"(stolen quote from another ds user!) then it would appear to be unstable, judging by the posts on here from business users.

But again, things can only get better. I'll eat my phones if they don't

Wow, bashing and praising getting popular, I'm torn between the two threads!

Part of the reason that Three (UK) won't open the 'walled garden' to the rest of the internet is because of the revenue they make with their content.

This is one way of making some money back towards the cost of each new user.

There are rumours about on different forums that Three will open their online service in Feb / March this year to the full internet for all users, but I doubt very much that will happen.

Instead of us being given full net I think we'll see more companies paying Three to have access to their services and sites through the Three portal, such as lastminute.com where you can surf for free for details etc. as Three make more money this way.

When i went into the 3 shop to buy my phone a couple of months ago, i was very impressed by the salesman, he did say that there was some problems with network coverage but it had improved.

I'm sure less than 3 years after Vodaphone, One-2-One, Orange, and BT-Cellnet launched there were problems with their coverage so doubt that it is a new experience.

The receipt that i got did say that the phone was orginally going to be £414. So 3's 212 quid to get me as a customer is more like 365.

When you add on the amount they paid for their 3G licence then they are gonna need a lot of customers to become profitable

So far I'm happy with 3.

BTW what seems to be the verdict with the other 3g providers?

Again, all good points.

Orange were complete and utter rubbish at first. Now look at them.

3 paid billions for the licence, it will take a while to claw that back.

Agree with lala about revenue being earned from their own content, I've heard that rumour too about opening the walled garden, we shall see.

Don't know about other 3g providers, I have no interest unless they can beat 3 for value in terms of handsets and tariffs etc.

I have no experience of other 3G networks, just what I have read etc. but it appears that the other networks have less 3G coverage than Three and it could be that way for quite some time.

I think Orange are aiming to have the 3G coverage that Three have now in 2007. They are currently at 60% where as Three are at 80%.

This is where it's going to get interesting though. Now all the networks are starting up their 3G networks for public use we should start seeing some good offers and competition.

Many predicted Three would have faided away by now, but I think they are here for a lot longer yet and will still give the others a run for their money.

Correction: Orange have 70% coverage of UK population

Extract from Orange site:
The Orange 3G network currently covers 70% of the UK population but more importantly, Orange also has the largest integrated 2.5/3G network. That means if you go out of the 3G range you will be seamlessly transferred to our 2.5G network. (and bloody calls wont be dropped)

(Three have 80% coverage of UK population)

Networks use surveys to decide where to activate 3g. Orange used its already massive customer base to decide where 3g would be most in demand.....

From what i have heard 3 can and do use either BT/O2 transmitters when you go out of 3's 3g range

I know but they drop calls whilst doing it.

Problem is that the cover the last 20% of the country they will need a lot of transmitters as the population in these areas is sparse (and people will be complaining about the transmitters in their backyards even though they own a mobile!)

There are still parts of the country which have difficulilty in receiving BBC1 and how long have they had to cover the country

Even landlines drop calls so it would be almost impossible for any provider to promise no dropped calls, it is an unfortunate fact of life

I know its ok to drop calls once in a while but 3 are just overboard with dropping them.

Well no calls dropped in the two months i have been with 3, maybe you are unlucky