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Three's Deteriorating Service and Empty Promises.(rant)
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toofast
31-10-2014
For the past fortnight I have been experience a gradual deterioation of my Three Data and Network signal.
It started with a network outage which lasted 24 hours in the centre of Brighton. When the service resumed my data speed would not go past .02mbps!!! (Normally 3mbps)....Yes, that's point zero two!
I have been on the phone to Three's CS dozens of times(with lots of empty promises) and after much battling with them I eventually got tthrough to the 2nd line support team in Glasgow. What I was told was that one of the masts near me had degraded - I asked when it was going to be repaired - was told that because it was scheduled to be upgraded in Decemeber, that it is highly unlikely that it would be repaired before then, and that normal service will likley resume NEXT| FRIGGIN YEAR!
To make matters worse, now my indoor signal has gone!
Anyone else had similar experiences with Three?
Why the hell can't they just send someone out to repair the mast, it must be affecting hundreds of their customers. I have been with Three in the same area for years now and have never experiened such an outage and poor service as I am experiencing now.
InfamousTeal
31-10-2014
Had the same experience in London, and I was also in Brighton, but the 3G didn't work, as you've said, so I just forced 4G and used that where I could, obviously meaning I would miss phone calls...

The masts cannot handle the capacity in London and other cities, for example I live in a small town in Northern Ireland, and I get about 20Mbps consistently on the 3G here, simply because there's probably 10 users of the mast, as opposed to 100s in London
Grayburn
31-10-2014
I've had the same experience, loads of broken promises over a 2 year contract in which nothing was done to the masts that i was complaining about near where i work in The City.

Now back on O2 and much happier.
toofast
31-10-2014
Originally Posted by InfamousTeal:
“Had the same experience in London, and I was also in Brighton, but the 3G didn't work, as you've said, so I just forced 4G and used that where I could, obviously meaning I would miss phone calls...

The masts cannot handle the capacity in London and other cities, for example I live in a small town in Northern Ireland, and I get about 20Mbps consistently on the 3G here, simply because there's probably 10 users of the mast, as opposed to 100s in London”

I think Three are way too over subscribed and the infrastructure is simply not in place to cope.
I had 2 years of good (ish) speed here in Brighton with a fairly reliable service, but since 4G was activated in pockets around town the network here has gone to pot.
I am now on barely a bar now with signal and a download speed of .03mbps!
Ps. To the person who sent me a PM, I already have dealt with the Glasgow office - they told me it is not going may not be worth the effort to repair the mast because an upgrade was scheduled in December, whereas conversations prior with 2nd line support told me it would be fixed in 7 days!
My phone is now virtually unusable at home!
darren221980
31-10-2014
I've had issues at my work address since June last year when there was a national data outage. It has got alot worse since then to the point where i can't even use data at work unless i can connect to WiFi.

Before the data outage i used to get 5 bars of signal and 3G on my iPhone 5 without any issues and the internet speeds used to be perfect for general browsing, emails and streaming radio.

However once the national data outage was fixed the signal has deteriorated to 3 bars at best and very slow internet speeds which cause constant buffering or no internet service at all.

I have also experienced several dropped calls since then. On the numerous occasions of calling three technical support i have been told that no problems with the mast, but engineers will take a look at it and had discounts applied to my account for the inconvenience. On other occasions i've been told there is a fault with the mast, weeks later they claim the fault is fixed but the service still remains the same - crap.

However i called again a few weeks back as it has gotten even worse for data browsing and was told that there is congestion in the area, in other words masts over subscribed.

When i last spoke to Three (about 2 weeks ago), they advised that engineers are due to put a new mast in the area in next three months so i should see a improvement at the start of next year.

If i don't see an improvement by Jan then i think i'll be switching back to GiffGaff.
toofast
31-10-2014
Originally Posted by darren221980:
“I've had issues at my work address since June last year when there was a national data outage. It has got alot worse since then to the point where i can't even use data at work unless i can connect to WiFi.

Before the data outage i used to get 5 bars of signal and 3G on my iPhone 5 without any issues and the internet speeds used to be perfect for general browsing, emails and streaming radio.

However once the national data outage was fixed the signal has deteriorated to 3 bars at best and very slow internet speeds which cause constant buffering or no internet service at all.

I have also experienced several dropped calls since then. On the numerous occasions of calling three technical support i have been told that no problems with the mast, but engineers will take a look at it and had discounts applied to my account for the inconvenience. On other occasions i've been told there is a fault with the mast, weeks later they claim the fault is fixed but the service still remains the same - crap.

However i called again a few weeks back as it has gotten even worse for data browsing and was told that there is congestion in the area, in other words masts over subscribed.

When i last spoke to Three (about 2 weeks ago), they advised that engineers are due to put a new mast in the area in next three months so i should see a improvement at the start of next year.

If i don't see an improvement by Jan then i think i'll be switching back to GiffGaff.”

You experience is almost identical to mine and so is the response - in the same order!! Uncanny!!!...I experienced the same outage and received the same responses from Three....and they also told me the system was congested, then the mast had degraded and finally that an upgrade was due but not till the new year.
I wonder if they are just spinning lines to persistent customers who are experiencing major issues with their service??!
I too was on Giffgaff, but went to Three's One Plan because it allowed tethering. I am stuck between a rock and a hard place now - Do I leave and give up my old One Plan contract and switch or wait.
pepstar
31-10-2014
Oh wow, so this is happening all over then... We have a mast in Ketley, Telford this is on the top of a tower block and has a large catchment area, it's the only mast in the Telford area which is 3G only and has no HSDPA, etc. It has been congested for at least 18 months, speeds around 0.02mbps which was bad, so I investigated and they said it would take around 3 months to resolve, which would take us to around Jan 2013.

It was still bad all through 2013, but I had given up asking... Then a nearby mast in Hadley was upgraded to 4G and things went much much worse, this mast was no longer allowing calls, texts or data, but was still putting out a signal so once you were on this mast your phone was turned into a brick!

I was once again fobbed off by three, so I contacted the director of communications at three and soon enough I was contacted by the Glasgow office. They were very helpful and offered me discounts, etc... but that wasn't what I wanted (but i accepted of course )

I then had feedback that the Ketley site was a 'legacy' mast and was running over capacity, and for some reason (and I don't understand why) the 4G activation on the nearby mast had put extra stress on this transmitter. They told me the Ketley site was due an upgrade but not until late Nov as they were waiting on BT, they managed to resolve the call and text issues, but we still have a mast in central Telford which can't provide data.

Do three still use the slogan 'Built for the internet'? ... Seriously though, if they're having that many issues they need to start aggressive capping of high use users, because not dealing with this issue is providing a poor service to many more users.
toofast
31-10-2014
Originally Posted by pepstar:
“Oh wow, so this is happening all over then... We have a mast in Ketley, Telford this is on the top of a tower block and has a large catchment area, it's the only mast in the Telford area which is 3G only and has no HSDPA, etc. It has been congested for at least 18 months, speeds around 0.02mbps which was bad, so I investigated and they said it would take around 3 months to resolve, which would take us to around Jan 2013.

It was still bad all through 2013, but I had given up asking... Then a nearby mast in Hadley was upgraded to 4G and things went much much worse, this mast was no longer allowing calls, texts or data, but was still putting out a signal so once you were on this mast your phone was turned into a brick!

I was once again fobbed off by three, so I contacted the director of communications at three and soon enough I was contacted by the Glasgow office. They were very helpful and offered me discounts, etc... but that wasn't what I wanted (but i accepted of course )

I then had feedback that the Ketley site was a 'legacy' mast and was running over capacity, and for some reason (and I don't understand why) the 4G activation on the nearby mast had put extra stress on this transmitter. They told me the Ketley site was due an upgrade but not until late Nov as they were waiting on BT, they managed to resolve the call and text issues, but we still have a mast in central Telford which can't provide data.

Do three still use the slogan 'Built for the internet'? ... Seriously though, if they're having that many issues they need to start aggressive capping of high use users, because not dealing with this issue is providing a poor service to many more users.”

This is now sounding all too familiar with Three. I too am now receiving a data speed of 0.02mbps....who thought that speed was even possible on a 3G mast!

Like you, Three have recently activated 4G in Brighton, which is working 300-400 yards either direction from my address, but not at mine.
Three's Glasgow office seems at their wits end as to what they can do. It is very likely that since 4G came online the masts are simply over congested. What dumbfounds me is why they can't send a engineer out, give me a site repair date instead of all this BS.
Until a few weeks ago I have a perfectly usable Three 3G data and calls service but now my phone is stuck to the window to pick up a bar of signal and a whopping speed of 0.02mbps - akin to dial-up speeds!
It sounds like Three are spinning customers a line here.
omnidirectional
31-10-2014
I switched to EE after having similar problems on Three, mainly very slow speeds blamed on congestion. The new masts they kept promising never appeared but are now due early in 2015. I like Three and would probably switch back to them if/when the congestion is sorted but EE seems good so far, with the added bonuses of 2G fallback and lots of 4G coverage.
toofast
31-10-2014
Originally Posted by omnidirectional:
“I switched to EE after having similar problems on Three, mainly very slow speeds blamed on congestion. The new masts they kept promising never appeared but are now due early in 2015. I like Three and would probably switch back to them if/when the congestion is sorted but EE seems good so far, with the added bonuses of 2G fallback and lots of 4G coverage.”

This is all rather depressing reading for me. I guess not even their December 'upgrade' won't come to realisation now!
I am on the old One Plan with unlimited tethering, so if I leave I won't be able to return to the same package.
Poor show Three!
To show such BS that come's from their CS I called them yesterday regarding the same problem and they told me it would be fixed in 48 hours!...The day before it was 7 days, the day before that 24 hours etc etc.
toofast
31-10-2014
I've got 0.40mbps in the centre of Brighton tonight!....whoohoo!....I can now surf the net again! #effingthree
Ps. This is with lots and lots of data outages!
darren221980
31-10-2014
Originally Posted by pepstar:
“Oh wow, so this is happening all over then... We have a mast in Ketley, Telford this is on the top of a tower block and has a large catchment area, it's the only mast in the Telford area which is 3G only and has no HSDPA, etc. It has been congested for at least 18 months, speeds around 0.02mbps which was bad, so I investigated and they said it would take around 3 months to resolve, which would take us to around Jan 2013.

It was still bad all through 2013, but I had given up asking... Then a nearby mast in Hadley was upgraded to 4G and things went much much worse, this mast was no longer allowing calls, texts or data, but was still putting out a signal so once you were on this mast your phone was turned into a brick!

I was once again fobbed off by three, so I contacted the director of communications at three and soon enough I was contacted by the Glasgow office. They were very helpful and offered me discounts, etc... but that wasn't what I wanted (but i accepted of course )

I then had feedback that the Ketley site was a 'legacy' mast and was running over capacity, and for some reason (and I don't understand why) the 4G activation on the nearby mast had put extra stress on this transmitter. They told me the Ketley site was due an upgrade but not until late Nov as they were waiting on BT, they managed to resolve the call and text issues, but we still have a mast in central Telford which can't provide data.

Do three still use the slogan 'Built for the internet'? ... Seriously though, if they're having that many issues they need to start aggressive capping of high use users, because not dealing with this issue is providing a poor service to many more users.”

Same kind of speeds i'm getting at work, also have noticed in last few weeks get similar problem when going to Wellington or wellington retail park.

Conveniently it works fine at my home address where i don't need it as have WiFi.
pepstar
01-11-2014
Originally Posted by darren221980:
“Same kind of speeds i'm getting at work, also have noticed in last few weeks get similar problem when going to Wellington or wellington retail park.

Conveniently it works fine at my home address where i don't need it as have WiFi.”

Yes wellington retail park is covered by the Ketley mast so that is why you're experiencing these issues, although the 4G mast is near on Manor Heights in Hadley, so sometimes you can get 4G in that area, but it can be a bit hit and miss.

Three have assured me the Ketley mast will be passing data after the BT upgrade in late November, lets hope they keep to their word!
finbaar
01-11-2014
If these posts show one thing it is that you should never sign up to a long term contract. Keep it as payg or 1 month rolling. That way you can just take your business elsewhere.
scooby1970
01-11-2014
To keep things on an even bias, I have to say quite the opposite. 3G speeds are fantastic, 4g speeds are minds blowing, calls quality is second-to-none and I've never had a call drop. I've travelled a lot and at home and away everything has been brilliant.

I'm using streaming sites, video calling and torrent sites with no problems, using around 20gb a month with no slowdown at all from the network.

Been on all the other networks, and really not interested in going back to them.

Mark
Thine Wonk
01-11-2014
Im the same, but the difference is we're using the phone, not using it as mobile broadband replacement for full internet use every day. I suspect Three has applied Trafficsense for the user that is complaining like they did with the other guy on here with really high usage.

My phone 3G speed is 7Mb/s and we've just got 4G in our town and I got 18Mb/s down when testing yesterday.
omnidirectional
01-11-2014
In my case, I wasn't using it for tethering but got speeds like this

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=15r1...8#.U8WMxPldUYc

The upload would constantly fail which meant even simple web browsing would grind to a halt. After blaming it on poor coverage, Three later accepted that the coverage was fine but the mast was suffering from congestion.
nafanny29
01-11-2014
Overall I am pleased with my 3 service, and it will actually stream a radio program without buffering. (Unlike T-Mobile/EE lol)

But when trying to stream iplayer or any video app (In normal def) it buffers constantly and is unwatchable.

I guess there is just too much demand for data for any network to handle.
Ben_Fisher
01-11-2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kaf2...LecP8ZuDqhavPA

This is what I get around my home.
toofast
01-11-2014
Originally Posted by Thine Wonk:
“Im the same, but the difference is we're using the phone, not using it as mobile broadband replacement for full internet use every day. I suspect Three has applied Trafficsense for the user that is complaining like they did with the other guy on here with really high usage.

My phone 3G speed is 7Mb/s and we've just got 4G in our town and I got 18Mb/s down when testing yesterday.”

Just to inform you I have not had my speed restricted. I can pick up 14 Mbps 4G just 300 yards away!
This thread is about Three's inability to fix mast issues.
My speed today at home is .3mbps. Got a lousy text from Three yet again informing me they are working to fix the problem. Yeah right! Three weeks now with a lousy signal.
digiwigi
01-11-2014
No problems here. Reasonably good 4g across most of London even if the speeds aren't great
jabbamk1
01-11-2014
All networks have issues.

/thread
casio
01-11-2014
I have been with three for 4 years and i have always found them to be very helpful and considerate of anything I ask them about.

A month ago my signal went down for about 3 days so I contacted them and they informed me that the mast was being updated and wouldn't be fixed until the weekend.
and as a gesture of goodwill they told me I would have £12.00 off my next bill.
and that they were very sorry for the inconvience .

I think they are a very good provider and I will definitely be staying with them.
Another thing, always be pleasant and not nasty as my mother always said treat people like you would like to be treated and I have always done that.
pepstar
01-11-2014
Originally Posted by jabbamk1:
“All networks have issues.

/thread”

True, but if you read the forum posts these issues appeared to got significantly worse in the past 3 months.

I have a friend in Shrewsbury and he used to get around 5mbps until around 2/3 months ago now in the Harlescott area he is lucky to get 0.02 mbps, he has been told there is a mast fault (a familiar scenario of events in this thread) but they don't know when it will be fixed.

At this point i'd like to say I like the Three network, and in contrast I can goto another transmitter and get 20mbps+, so great! Its just the consistency of network availability in areas appears to have deteriorated over the last quarter, I just hope they have a plan to address these issues, as a fear just installing a 4G mast and hope all phones switch to it may not be enough, to avoid this deterioration in customer satisfaction.
jabbamk1
01-11-2014
Originally Posted by pepstar:
“True, but if you read the forum posts these issues appeared to got significantly worse in the past 3 months.

I have a friend in Shrewsbury and he used to get around 5mbps until around 2/3 months ago now in the Harlescott area he is lucky to get 0.02 mbps, he has been told there is a mast fault (a familiar scenario of events in this thread) but they don't know when it will be fixed.

At this point i'd like to say I like the Three network, and in contrast I can goto another transmitter and get 20mbps+, so great! Its just the consistency of network availability in areas appears to have deteriorated over the last quarter, I just hope they have a plan to address these issues, as a fear just installing a 4G mast and hope all phones switch to it may not be enough, to avoid this deterioration in customer satisfaction.”

Read the Vodafone community forum, read the EE community forum, read the O2 community forum.

It happens on all networks. Just saying that people in this thread aren't the only ones.

Shouldn't happen though, networks are just lazy.
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