Well maybe it's the 3g signal in the middle of the factory/clean room that is causing the battery drain?

If i just have 2g and data the battery has more than 50% at the end of 14 hours.

Sorry, the bit in bold is erroneous, especially as the OP's profile says south Wales, which is predominantly urban and has similar coverage characteristics to any other part of England or Scotland given varying topography. Indeed, I've seen a lot of posters from S Wales on here (and its my experience too) stating that their coverage on Three is very good compared to other networks.

Is there maybe a touch of the 'Its Wales so it must be a bit backward' going on here?

Here here, couldn't put it better myself.

In fact, before I fled them (Orange) I used to hope for the Indian call centre - that way, when I caught them out in a lie then they'd at least have the decency to be ashamed of it... Not a quality that could be applied to the UK call centre staff.

I doubt i would use that much but nice to know i won't have to worry about limits. Shame about the Visual Voicemail but it's not a deal breaker.

Indeed.

In my last job, they took out a HUGE contract which involved off-shoring a lot of work to India. The Indian guys always made a BIG effort to do their job well (though I must admit their skills were not always up to the same standard). This was explained to us as partly cultural but also because if they didn't make an effort they would simply be got rid of. There was always a MASSIVE waiting list of people waiting for their job.

Jobs with UK (and I suspect most Western countries) were seen as a prime catch with many educated Indian up and comers.

I've also experienced more "meh" attitude from UK based staff than I have from Indian based.

In fact, shoving "UK based call centres" as a selling point for a company always struck me as being slightly racist! (Or encouraging customers to be ....)

How about EE swap, which gives customers the option to upgrade their phone for a fee every 6 months mid contract. Do three offer this facility ?

On the £51 per month tariff you can change your phone for £49 every six months. There is some value in that for some people, the type of people that want the latest iphone every year for example

Dat premium price!

(Also it's from £49, an iPhone switch is more like £250 on £36pm tariff + you have to give the original phone back)

£51 a month!!!!! (And that doesn't even get you unlimited data!)

Whats the contract length on that?

I pay £18 a month. So if thats a 24 month contract then thats £792 you're actually paying for the phone! No wonder they don't mind upgrading you. And you then start a new contract. (ie. it resets) And the phone you trade in has to be in perfect condition.

Doesn't sound like good value to me ....

(I ditched contract phones years ago now. 30 day roller and I upgrade once the phone I want drops to what I regard as a sensible price and the one I currently have still has some trade in value)

To be honest. You're wasting your time trying to convince me.

My primary concern above all others is unlimited data (inc. tethering) with a decent signal and as little contract tie in as possible. No-one comes close to Three on those terms ...

No they don't but honestly it really isn't needed. Differences between last years model and this years are quite similar honestly. Take the iPhone 5S and 5 they are extremely similar with very little change in the device it self. I think two years now is the right sort of length you need replace your phone to notice a difference in performance honestly any sooner and it not worth the extra cost. All high end devices are extremely fluid these days. I can see Three eventually offering a similar sort of plan not sure when but eventually. It does seem to be becoming a main stream thing now all 4 major American networks now do it think if it had been done in past it would of been more important but now I don't.


Yeah I can't imagine ever paying £51 for a mobile phone a month that is just a bit crazy specially as I would still be limited on what I could do.

I agree, but personally i'm against two year contracts. It's too long a tie in with no real benefit to the consumer. I think 12 months or 18 months would be the perfect contract length.

It is a bit long I agree on that one but can't see it changing any time soon. I think cutting roaming charges is the far more important thing at the moment and glad it is happening.

Three has it's disadvantages main one obviously indoor coverage and rural coverage but it is working towards fixing those and hope it succeeds.

For what its worth, here's my experience...

I used to love giffgaff. But its just a shame that O2s network is terrible. I could hardly ever use data. ( same when I was on O2 directly - before anyone tries to blame giffgaff)

After speaking to a friend, I got a 3 one plan sim card for £15 a month. With £61 topcashback.

What a difference! Much better data coverage. I can tether. Its unlimited. I did a speed test and got over 20mbps.

Free 4g starting from December too.

Only contacted customer support once, just to double check that my PAC thing was scheduled to go through. Although they seemed to be in India, they were very helpful. And the port over went through fine.

Best thing I ever did.

3g does use more juice than 2g but nowhere near as much as wifi. I turn off wifi whenever im out. Still you should get a full day on 3g mode. Perhaps your battery is dying?

Thanks for the feedback. So far, so good then, overall. I'll be sticking with Giffgaff until my goodybag expires on the 19th but then I'll be trialling Three. I've ordered a couple of sim cards from other networks also just in case, but hopefully Three will prove themselves during the trial run.

I went from o2 to Three and, same as coachtrip_fan99, the data signal quality was night and day. Massive improvement.

But as usual, thats location dependent so not a guarantee ....

what planet are you on? the majority of us don't have that kind of money to spend on mobile for such a poor service, in reality those deals are terrible.

As others said I don't do 24 month contracts, but did take a12 month one plan sim only deal with that £61 cashback as I know I wont be leaving three anytime soon.


I used between October-November last year 500GB so pretty sure its very high limit if there is one.

If you're thinking about moving networks, best thing to do is get a PAYG sim card and try it out when you go to your normal areas (I.E work, home, pub etc)

It really depends on where you are. Some parts of South Wales are also very rural. And even in areas that aren't, the mountainous nature of some parts mean mobile signal can be awful. Certainly going up the valleys north of Pontypridd, Three get a lot worse.

I agree with that! Hence why I usually carry around a 2nd mobile, usually on Vodafone!

And to answer the OP, as others have said, there is no better test than a PAYG SIM from your prospective network for testing purposes. Don't rely on the coverage maps. Apparently I should get excellent indoor coverage but I don't! BUT Three have sent me a Home Signal box (NEC femtocell) FOC so now I have 5 bar indoor coverage
If Three have good coverage where you're most likely to use your phone then you will not be disappointed.

I hope not as it's a brand new Nexus 4, funnily enough wifi doesn't seem to bother the battery. Maybe it's because i'm in the middle of the factory and it keeps hunting for the 3g signal?

That's why. A phone will use more power searching for stronger signal when connected to a weaker signal.

I've been very impressed with them in the two weeks since I moved across from VF. Signal coverage has been better a lot better around my local area, so no regrets so far. Nice to also be able to not worry about my data allowance as well.