Well I was watching the Gadget show last night..
When they did the competition..
They said" anyone texting using the three network please not you won't be able to enter via text between 31st December and 2nd Jan....

So could still be them...

And and for Three lovers...
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/thre...gain-50009308/

That was from September, the latest report released in December, where EE / T-mobile were the worst.

http://www.broadbandgenie.co.uk/news...ktalk-improves

Well i will say that report I found said Talk Talk was complained about a lot..

But I've been with them several years and not had a problem..

Oh well that's ok then obviously your experience is statistically going to be the same as every other customer. Lets forget doing analysis on the number of complaints per thousand and Ofcom could just phone you up once a month and publish what you say.

That only affects services that use short code numbers which I believe the Gadget Shows is something like 81555.
I had a message from my bank stating the same, but you can still use full mobile/text numbers without interruption.

Yeah that sounds a good idea...

Indeed.

The exact period stated by Three was 16:00 on the 31st December to 02:00 on the 1st January

Yep.. Stood right next to the aerial in their phone.

whys that?

Voice gets priority at those times (every time in fact at busy periods) over data and text. So maybe just to make sure your 'premium' text doesn't get delayed or worst case lost. Although it shouldn't.

My understanding is that there's a control/handshaking channel that mobile phones listen out on for calls/texts. When a call is received the mast and phone negotiate another channel to transmit the voice on.
Texts are inserted into the control channel. There is only room for a limited number of texts per mast.
The Three communication re restricted service may simply have been advise not to use premium/important texts during that period as the system would likely be snowed under with "Happy New Year" texts,

Three told providers/users of short code messaging services that they simply wouldn't work between those times.

Yes, the networks are always busy, but I don't think that what Three did was a good idea.