DS Forums

 
 

Three pull 'all you can eat data' from PAYG add-on


Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 07-12-2014, 18:02
Jack_Wilson2
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Posts: 561
It's also worth pointing out that EE's business tariffs work out at about £8 per gigabyte.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolog...ta-bundle.html

Those who are using 100 or even 1000+ GB for £15 on Three are getting an absolute bargain, but are probably costing the network a fortune.
It's only a small amount of users who actually consume for than '2GB' worth of data it's not a huge amount of Three UK's customers.

I remember the Traffic Management Policy used to say '5%' of users are classed as 'Heavy Users' which was defined as '2GB+'.
Jack_Wilson2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Please sign in or register to remove this advertisement.
Old 07-12-2014, 18:06
omnidirectional
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 10,877
The One Plan isn't getting changed until AT LEAST march 2016 when all The One Plan tariffs contract officially end (Even if Three UK wanted to change it they couldn't until at least march 2016) Unless they'd be customers complaining about a breach of contract (I know Three UK can do it but the complaints against them would mount to something extreme) . I honestly don't think Three UK will drop that tariff they already have the least customers out of any other major provider and that wouldn't do Three UK any good.
Isn't it funny how quickly things can change...!
omnidirectional is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2014, 18:09
jabbamk1
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: London, UK
Posts: 8,759
I remember the Traffic Management Policy used to say '5%' of users are classed as 'Heavy Users' which was defined as '2GB+'.
Why do you keep making up crap and posting it as fact...?

Heavy usage was never defined as 2GB +

In fact the AVERAGE usage on "The One Plan" is 5.6GB across all users. 2.6GB for all customers combined. So how can every single person on Three be defined as a high user?
jabbamk1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2014, 18:10
Jack_Wilson2
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Posts: 561
Isn't it funny how quickly things can change...!
Yeah i've said before I was wrong about that... Although they haven't stopped everyone and they can't as there's still users contracted on The One Plan for a while yet.
Jack_Wilson2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2014, 19:35
d123
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 3,986
No and according to the Three UK Social Media Team AYCE is here to stay. *They may change the tariffs but Three will continue to offer AYCE as it's a major selling point for Three UK.
Which doesn't mean they won't increase the price...AYCE for £20? £25? £30?

It's still being offered, just not the same price.
d123 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2014, 21:42
Jack_Wilson2
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Posts: 561
Which doesn't mean they won't increase the price...AYCE for £20? £25? £30?

It's still being offered, just not the same price.
Hence why I said they may change their tariffs >.<
Jack_Wilson2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2014, 23:35
david16
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Central Belt
Posts: 12,277
Which doesn't mean they won't increase the price...AYCE for £20? £25? £30?

It's still being offered, just not the same price.
If they offer the AYCE £25, existing PAYG'ers will still stick with 3 and pay for it.

£15 for AYCE is (soon to be was) a great bargain and £25 would still be great value for money. Nobody else can offer AYCE data (apart from EE's special 100GB per month data allowance for 2 months max) and if 6GB is the average PAYG usage with 3 you still can't get that anywhere else (apart from that spevial EE offer) without having to use 2 or 3 PAYG sim cards to do so.
david16 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-12-2014, 00:20
d123
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 3,986
This was posted in the other thread about AYCE

I went to get my monthly 15 payg top up to use for my ayce

and was told that as of January I'd have to sign up to get it as that add on was being stopped on payg.sucks I hate contracts,suppose it's a 12month at 15 or 18pounds on
1Month contract!still cheap but on a contract!.

Merry Xmas!
d123 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-12-2014, 00:24
david16
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Central Belt
Posts: 12,277
This was posted in the other thread about AYCE
The way I read his post on the other thread is that 3 will no longer be offering AYCE on PAYG any longer from January.

If that's the case then that's really very disappointing. The AYCE data on PAYG but offered for £25, surely 3 could easily do that.
david16 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-12-2014, 01:18
The Lord Lucan
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Scotland
Posts: 4,966
EE are bloody stupid if they think any business is going to give them £8mil.
It was asked for..
The Lord Lucan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-12-2014, 02:31
carnivalist
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 4,412
...

The One Plan isn't getting changed until AT LEAST march 2016 when all The One Plan tariffs contract officially end (Even if Three UK wanted to change it they couldn't until at least march 2016) Unless they'd be customers complaining about a breach of contract (I know Three UK can do it but the complaints against them would mount to something extreme) . I honestly don't think Three UK will drop that tariff they already have the least customers out of any other major provider and that wouldn't do Three UK any good.
VIrgin removed AYCE from existing customers a few months after heavly promoting it. I don't think they were hit with mass walkouts - mass grumbling maybe, but in the UK we tend to pretty supine when it comes to protest action rather than protest talk. I can't see why 3 acting in the same way would produce an insurmountable problem - certainly not a mass revolt.
carnivalist is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-12-2014, 04:02
Jack_Wilson2
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Posts: 561
VIrgin removed AYCE from existing customers a few months after heavly promoting it. I don't think they were hit with mass walkouts - mass grumbling maybe, but in the UK we tend to pretty supine when it comes to protest action rather than protest talk. I can't see why 3 acting in the same way would produce an insurmountable problem - certainly not a mass revolt.
Three is a little different AYCE is three's major selling point. So they wouldn't remove it...

Three can't remove services which are in a contract or else it would be a 'Breach of contract' there's things in place to protect consumers against this sort of stuff.
Jack_Wilson2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-12-2014, 10:36
WelshBluebird
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 720
Three is a little different AYCE is three's major selling point. So they wouldn't remove it...

Three can't remove services which are in a contract or else it would be a 'Breach of contract' there's things in place to protect consumers against this sort of stuff.
Nope. Three are more than within their rights to change current customers contracts. They would have to let customers leave without penalty if they wanted to, but certainly it wouldn't be a "breach of contract" or whatever.
WelshBluebird is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-12-2014, 10:37
jonmorris
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: a land filled with trolls
Posts: 12,014
As we've seen, Three can change the terms but in doing so it would also have to immediately give the customer the option to leave the contract early.

It has of course chosen NOT to do this, or else it could get everyone off the One Plan even quicker - but given all those people who might have signed up for two years in March this year, it would be financial suicide to give up over a year of revenue that will be helping pay back a handset subsidy.

Nevertheless, Three could do it and it wouldn't be breach of contract as long as it let you leave.

I really do think a lot of people have lost faith/trust in Three now and are of the belief that they wouldn't be surprised what they did next. Even if Three isn't going to do anything radical, like ditching AYCE data or scrapping the AYCE add-on on PAYG next year, people might think they will and that could sway them towards signing up or buying a SIM card on another network instead.

How mad that a network that scored so many points over the other nets increasing charges in line with RPI, and about Three offering free roaming in many countries, has now ended up having people just thinking 'they're as bad as the rest of them'.

Maybe it's a cultural thing, where the bosses in China don't fully appreciate the impact of their decision. I've seen it many times over the years. I've seen it with the arrogant views of companies like Huawei that expect they can manage the media the same way as they do 'at home' and get rather surprised and put out when the Western media doesn't just say what it's told to say.

I've seen Samsung, LG and HTC all try and do the same. They just expect that they can do whatever they want to do without resistance, but I think Three UK has always been good at making sure HQ knew how things work in the UK (and Europe in general) so as to avoid these situations. But now new rules have been sent down that are going to ruin everything!
jonmorris is offline Follow this poster on Twitter   Reply With Quote
Old 08-12-2014, 21:52
japaul
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 1,662
I think Three should bite the bullet and get rid of AYCE data completely from contract and PAYG or failing that substantially increase the price to create some space below. Longer term it will probably have to as it's likely to prove a major drag on revenue growth.

It's not really about it being unsustainable. That's a bit of a red herring. What it is about is giving Three a chance to grow if that growth isn't coming from an increase in customer numbers. Unlimited data is fine whilst customer numbers are growing healthily especially if it's contributing to that growth. But once that slows down you need to look elsewhere for growth and the only game in town is data. For all the operators voice and text revenue growth is dead so they have all adopted unlimited as the last defence against the OTT providers. I know some have said that VoLTE and the associated services can provide some growth but I have little confidence in any of them competing against the OTT networks.

So revenue growth has to come from data but how do you do that if you already have unlimited at quite low levels? By keeping unlimited the only choice you have is continual price increases. But that's a hard sell as customers just see a price increase and don't perceive they are getting anything extra. Far easier to try and sell the customer a higher data tier that they perceive they need. That's what all the other networks are trying to do. Drive data use and set plans so that the extra use outstrips the fall in price per GB they have to deliver it at so overall revenue grows. EE are trying to drive data use with ever higher speeds. Note they don't charge for the speed capability but restrict it to higher tiers which is the same thing. Vodafone giving content isn't so much about making the plans look more attractive but to drive data use and get you to buy a higher tier plan. For Three though it's the reverse as higher data use gives them nothing.

For sure there would be a short term hit in getting rid of AYCE but longer term doing this or increasing the price of it it so much that it creates room for a lot more tiered plans below it would provide far more potential for growth. Nobody would have to worry about tethering caps either!
japaul is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-12-2014, 23:20
clewsy
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Midlands
Posts: 2,860
A lot of sense written above. I would like to go with 3 as there data speeds are amazing compared to o2, as are their prices.

My issue is the still poor coverage. Loads of Orange 2g sites not upgraded in my area so as a result no hope of 3 coming. Shame and I bet others have the same issue
clewsy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-12-2014, 10:21
moox
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 14,640
I think Three should bite the bullet and get rid of AYCE data completely from contract and PAYG or failing that substantially increase the price to create some space below. Longer term it will probably have to as it's likely to prove a major drag on revenue growth

.....

For sure there would be a short term hit in getting rid of AYCE but longer term doing this or increasing the price of it it so much that it creates room for a lot more tiered plans below it would provide far more potential for growth. Nobody would have to worry about tethering caps either!
Could still be risky. People, myself included, deal with 3's niggles and issues because they are cheap and good value. If 3 removed unlimited data and raised prices without a very substantial network upgrade I can see a lot of people moving to EE for what would be similar pricing and a much better network.
moox is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-12-2014, 12:08
Batch
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Swindon
Posts: 2,893
Could still be risky. People, myself included, deal with 3's niggles and issues because they are cheap and good value. If 3 removed unlimited data and raised prices without a very substantial network upgrade I can see a lot of people moving to EE for what would be similar pricing and a much better network.
You aren't alone in that view. £15 for AYCE is the differentiator. Remove it and you are just like everyone else.
Batch is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-12-2014, 12:38
finbaar
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 3,921
I think an increase up to £18 is about all I am prepared to pay 3 for aye data or a capped 10gb. Any more and I would look to EE. I have moved operators several times over the las 4 years (I reckon at least 5 times) so I have no probleams moving again.
finbaar is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-12-2014, 12:53
DiandalScotland
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Central Scotland
Posts: 717
There was a bit of a stink up when https://giffgaff.com/ increased their unlimited tariff to £18 but as long as existing customers continued on that tariff they would get it for £15.

I at one point was ready to jump ship to three when giffgaff anounced the increase as was the rest of my family but my family have stayed with them at mo, but giffgaffs £18 for new customers doesnt look too bad now (tho that is going up to £20 in April) if three do increase theirs to £20/£25.
DiandalScotland is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-12-2014, 13:02
moox
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 14,640
There was a bit of a stink up when https://giffgaff.com/ increased their unlimited tariff to £18 but as long as existing customers continued on that tariff they would get it for £15.

I at one point was ready to jump ship to three when giffgaff anounced the increase as was the rest of my family but my family have stayed with them at mo, but giffgaffs £18 for new customers doesnt look too bad now (tho that is going up to £20 in April) if three do increase theirs to £20/£25.
The key difference is that 3's network is lightyears ahead of the O2 network in 3G coverage, performance and reliability, let alone the further problems introduced via giffgaff
moox is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-12-2014, 13:58
japaul
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 1,662
Could still be risky. People, myself included, deal with 3's niggles and issues because they are cheap and good value. If 3 removed unlimited data and raised prices without a very substantial network upgrade I can see a lot of people moving to EE for what would be similar pricing and a much better network.
Yes I agree there would be some risk and in the short term no doubt it would lose them some customers. But the point I was trying to make is that it's really about long term growth and I don't see that coming with unlimited everything. In the past it was driven by growth in customer numbers but for the first half of 2014 at least that was well below the others. Now it could be a blip and they'll return to strong growth in which case there's no problem and the current offers can continue. But if not then the only other alternative is continual above inflation price increases which is likely to make customers just as unhappy. In any case proper tiered plans don't have to be priced at the same level as EE.
japaul is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-12-2014, 18:23
canvey
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 165
So does one go for a contract now - maybe that is the only option in January for AYE data?
canvey is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-12-2014, 19:15
B_W2
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 62
As people have said, AYCE data is still valid for the £15 add-on.

I really hope it stays too. 3 are a damn good network, not as fast as EE, but with AYCE data on PAYG plus a reasonable amount of minutes and txt's that nobody use any more, it is the best deal for people!

A little annoyed at 3's slow 4G rollout- I guess it will not be as fast as EE's, even if they share sites...

I was tempted to go with EE PAYG but it is £25 for 4GB, and after that if you go over that data what does EE charge then? I know they have very good 4G coverage, and 3g and 2g as backup but it seems so much more expensive then AYCE for £15 on 3 and whilst the speeds are not as good, the coverage is no better is it not?
B_W2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-12-2014, 20:40
jabbamk1
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: London, UK
Posts: 8,759
I'll give it to February.
jabbamk1 is offline   Reply With Quote
 
Reply




 
Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 13:09.