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Three phases out "The One Plan" and Unlimited tethering


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Old 10-11-2014, 14:35
plymouthbloke1974
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Oh good God not ANOTHER One Plan thread??? Did you really have to start a new one?

Also, if you don't ring them - they will eventually ring you and then write to you if they cannot speak to you on the phone.
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Old 10-11-2014, 14:36
moox
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The number 1 rule of any successful business is to acknowledge that the customers do not like paying more for less and will not do so

And the number 2 rule of any successful business is to hold on to your current/loyal customers because for each one you loss you have to find 2 to make profit!

They have a lot of discount to offer to a lot of customers or will loss business.
They are presumably wanting to dump the One Plan because it either isn't profitable or it isn't profitable enough to do the things they want to do (e.g. 4G). If they're losing money they will have little problem saying goodbye to you - especially if you are one of those of the permanent tetherers who are proud of their high usage.

That’s the loss of £15 x 12 = £180 from only one customer and multiply it by so many other unhappy customers, I can only wish 3 good luck with that as their balance book won’t look that good when they upset so many customers.
Same thing.

I understand mobile broadband should never be seen or used instead of home broadband but again who can blame customers who used it for that purpose when it is 3 who advertised itself 1000gb free usage!
3 never sold it as a permanent home connection. They sold it on the basis that you didn't have to count every kilobyte or worry about the bill. All you can eat buffets tend not to like it if you're doing something outside the norm, too.

And the number 3 and the final rule of any successful business is that don’t offer something you can’t honour!
Which is why they are honouring it - they're letting people stay until their contracts are up, and then changing your plan (and since the minimum term is up, you're free to leave). At no point did they say that they will let you stay on the plan forever.

Come 5th January if they take more than £15 (actually £12 from my bank account as I am on special offer) I will just contact my bank and claim it back under Direct Debit Indemnity claim, as the amount would be differ than advance notice.
And by doing that you're opening yourself up to debt collectors and trashed credit reports. 3 aren't stupid - they'll give the minimum possible notice required to those who are too stubborn to sort something out. But instead of getting a better deal today, you'll probably get offered any of the current plans with no discount. Expect a letter or something on the 5th of December, as that's a month.

Either way, ignoring them is not going to result in you keeping your plan if they want rid of them. If you're getting a discount on what is already an unsustainably cheap plan, you're even more likely to get told to go away. The One Plan is going away whether you act petulant or not.

This is ultimately about making things more difficult for yourself - this isn't political revolution, this is a mobile phone service. Some perspective is needed.

Finally, please note that there are several threads on this topic, we don't need another.
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Old 10-11-2014, 14:57
corf
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Personally i think this is the best thing Three could have done - This is expected to free up a significant chunk of their limited cellular spectrum.

Op, How much tethering did you use?
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Old 10-11-2014, 15:04
chamsters
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Looks like I'm going to be off to T-Mobiles 2000 minute unlimited text/data sim only soon.... A little bit more than what I'm paying now but cheaper than Three's AYCE mins plan. Don't see why I should pay more than I have to - and it's a free market after all. I don't need AYCE mins but may need more than 600 in the coming months.

Ah well....
Note if you're a heavy data user, that's not ideal - tmobile have some horrible traffic shaping policies and bandwith throttling systems in place on their 'unlimited' plans.
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Old 10-11-2014, 15:05
chamsters
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I've called the 0800 number twice, each time they say the best they can offer is 30 day rolling at £21 instead of the £18 I pay now.
boo In my case first tiem I called they were trying to sell it to me for £20+. The next tiem I called I was just super nice and told him that I had seen this offer on hotukdeals and digitalspy - pointing to the exact thread / post number in question - and he in fact checked it out, and then offered me the same deal.
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Old 10-11-2014, 15:06
moox
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Note if you're a heavy data user, that's not ideal - tmobile have some horrible traffic shaping policies and bandwith throttling systems in place on their 'unlimited' plans.
They also seem to enjoy changing data plans with no notice or warning. Last time I was with them, my "xMB of data and then unlimited data w/ throttling" became "xMB of data and then another 100MB throttled and then you will pay"
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Old 10-11-2014, 15:11
cooler
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Personally i think this is the best thing Three could have done - This is expected to free up a significant chunk of their limited cellular spectrum.

Op, How much tethering did you use?
Ending unlimited tethering is understandable, but why go from offering unlimited tethering to just 4GB per month? This is considering that Three still offer AYCE data on handsets and many people have large HD phone screens and lots of apps which can stream video.

I would have preferred from the outset if there was a 30GB/month tethering allowance on the One Plan instead of it being unlimited then the plan would never have attracted the people who want to tether 150GB+/month and download all day.
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Old 10-11-2014, 15:16
tarzion
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Ending unlimited tethering is understandable, but why go from offering unlimited tethering to just 4GB per month? This is considering that Three still offer AYCE data on handsets and many people have large HD phone screens and lots of apps which can stream video.
If it's classified as a phone then it's a phone.. The amount of data transfered will be still far less compared to the data transfered via tethering.

I would have preferred from the outset if there was a 30GB/month tethering allowance on the One Plan instead of it being unlimited then the plan would never have attracted the people who want to tether 150GB+/month and download all day.
If only Three could have predicted the future or had the ability to time travel into the past.

One learns from mistakes and this is one of them.
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Old 10-11-2014, 15:19
Old Endeavour
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I'm on Three PAYG and buy the £15 All You Can Eat add on when I need it.
Plus I don't tether.

So all good for me!
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Old 10-11-2014, 15:23
WelshBluebird
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The amount of data transfered will be still far less compared to the data transfered via tethering.
Not quite sure what you mean there.
Data is data regardless of where it is used.
20GB used on a phone is more than 10GB used by tethering.
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Old 10-11-2014, 15:32
cooler
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If only Three could have predicted the future or had the ability to time travel into the past.

One learns from mistakes and this is one of them.
What Three really needed to predict the future to know that people would much prefer paying about £15/20 per month for unlimited data compared to paying the same amount for just 15GB data on a mobile broadband plan?

Or that mobile data consumption was on the increase with more and more streaming services coming on the scene.
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Old 10-11-2014, 15:36
corf
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While handset use wont stop bittorrent or other such downloads, it'll put a stop to the users who use it for connecting to PC's or gaming consoles and these are data heavy.

So overall a significant chunk of current downloads will not be possible when tethering becomes limited.
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Old 10-11-2014, 15:39
corf
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What Three really needed to predict the future to know that people would much prefer paying about £15/20 per month for unlimited data compared to paying the same amount for just 15GB data on a mobile broadband plan?

Or that mobile data consumption was on the increase with more and more streaming services coming on the scene.
So they decided we can offer this now with our available spectrum and when we can no longer sustain the data use, we will stop offering it. Seems logical.

Its was a customer grab and a succesful one, many happy customers will have had excellent service and plans from 3.

Lets not forget its not as if three are breaking contract here, they have honoured their commitments
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Old 10-11-2014, 15:40
tarzion
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Not quite sure what you mean there.
Data is data regardless of where it is used.
20GB used on a phone is more than 10GB used by tethering.
I guess you have missed the point here.

Do you think it's easier to sit in front of the phone and watch HD videos continuously or tether data in the background possibly running 24 x 7 (p2p, usenet) ?
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Old 10-11-2014, 15:46
tarzion
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Note if you're a heavy data user, that's not ideal - tmobile have some horrible traffic shaping policies and bandwith throttling systems in place on their 'unlimited' plans.
From what I know T-Mobile throttle speeds to 4mb on the their full monty packages. I don't know if the unlimited package is the same as the Full Monty package.
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Old 10-11-2014, 15:48
Chris1973
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I remember people saying something similar when the One Plan was scrapped for New Customers several months ago, yet here we are.

The problem is, that in this country people will complain about something indirectly on forums and Social networking for a few weeks, then just renew with whatever is available / offered and carry on as before, and move onto complaining about something else. Talk of mass exodus and thousands of people showing their unhappiness with a company or service by leaving never actually happens, at least not in large enough numbers to affect revenue. I think the same will happen here, in fact i'm 99% sure it will.

If enough people did show some solidarity and leave en masse, and the number did reduce, then something would be done, they would have to offer something better, if they were to retain customers and continue making money. However that will never happen, and is just wishful thinking, no matter how many threads are started. Three have probably investigated this, and know they can chip away a little more at their offerings without adversely affect their revenue or cause huge numbers of customers to leave.

As a personal viewpoint, I do think that removing the one plan will do absolutely nothing to ease congestion in some areas, or at least not do enough to make a difference. I would believe that whole "People using Tethered Mobile Phones are killing our speeds" argument if

(A) I didn't live in an area where most of the residents already use Mobile Data for a replacement to ADSL (Because our local ADSL is unreliable and under 1mbps), so our local mast must be fairly congested as far as data is concerned, and should be one of the worst for speeds - yet in over 12 months i've never seen less than 10mbps or any sign of traffic sense intervention, even at peak times. We don't have 3G from Vodafone or O2 in the area either, so all locals must either be using '3' or 'EE' for Data as that is all that is available.

(B) There wasn't previously an 80+ page thread containing complaints about speeds on another networks' user forums which didn't, at the time, allow any kind of tethered data use!. If tethering is the cause of all congestion and network ills, then these other networks shouldn't be having any widespread data speed issues, certainly not 80+ pages worth, running for weeks from people all over the Country, as was the case with this network during the summer.

So if it doesn't solve the problems, what will be their next move?, removing AYCE data from phone use?, cranking up traffic sense to be more invasive?. My crystal ball has gone back to Argos, so I'm guessing. However i've never seen so much goalpost shifting in one year, since I was with Virgin Mobile!.
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Old 10-11-2014, 16:14
carnivalist
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You guys don't know you're born. Do you know what happened with Virgin?

Well in the autumn of 2012 they introduced a promotion called "Unlimitacular" - 2500 minutes, unlimited Virgin-Virgin minutes, unlimited texts, truly unlimited data and truly unlimited tethering. It can't be stressed how much they pushed this - billboards in stores, mailshots to Virgin Media customers, voluminous promotional literature, website features, embedded ads and so on.

The obvious conclusion to draw was that they wanted a piece of Three's action - however unlike Three, after they had enticed what I imagine was a decent number of customers away from their networks, they scrapped the deal only a few months after this heavy promotion. What's more it was immediate and affected existing customers, including mugs like me who had left their previous operator and rejected good retention deals.

Overnight, tethering was completely removed - not just capped - and a FUP of 3.5Gb imposed. Initially tethering was allowed for customers who signed up before a certain date. However that has now gone and the FUP was always imposed even for existing customers.

They did offer the option of leaving, but unlike Three the notification was sent by post, in an envelope which looked just like a normal Virgin circular - no text message or email or anything like that was sent. I was away and missed the letter, but [probably would have ignored it for a time anyway. Even if I had left the retention deal I had with Orange had still been spunked, all for a few months of truly unlimited internet and tethering - the very things which had enticed me to leave Orange in the first place.

Of course they made the old "strain on the 3G network" excuse (they don't have 4G). With Three's example to learn from, It scarcely seems credible that VIrgin were so naive that the demand caught them by surprise only a few months in. I'm afraid the phrase "bait and switch" sprngs immediately to mind.

By contrast Three have behaved perfectly properly IMO. Their offer ran for a long time and seemed a genuine one, rather than being the transparently cynical policy that Virgin's so closely resembles; they did not summarily scrap the benfits mid-contract for existing customers like Virgin; their limits are still relatively generous and adequate warning was given.

It also seems clear that there has been a genuine problem of flagrant abuse by a minority of Three customers who are actually costing them money - an unsustainable state of affairs for any capitalist organisation in a free-market economy. By contrast there is no evidence that VIrgin's similar excuse holds any water whatsoever.

I understand the disappointment of those who enjoyed the benefits of the One Plan, but unfortunately things change with changing circumstances. A Mars bar has gradually decreased in weight while increasing in price in order to maintain profitability - Primark use thinner cotton in their clothing for the same reason.

The only way to ensure that essentials and quasi-essentials are price-protected is to abandon free-market economics. However we are told that is a fate worse than death. As most of us seem to take that assertion as gospel I'm afraid we must accept that sometimes the capitalist system results in a fate slightly better than death.
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Old 10-11-2014, 16:57
Young Turks
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Oh good God not ANOTHER One Plan thread??? Did you really have to start a new one?
.
Sorry Sir I didn't know I needed your permission before starting a new thread. This thread has nothing to do with others, as intention is to see who will be cancelling not to see who has received the text!

They are presumably wanting to dump the One Plan because it either isn't profitable or it isn't profitable enough to do the things they want to do (e.g. 4G)..
You're right they want more money from their existing customers as they want more profit but good luck to them with that many customers would not be prepared to pay more for less.

Also many Three customers can't even get 4G! so not only is good plan scrapped but also some of those can't get 4G while losing The One Plan. Good bye to Three I would say.



3 never sold it as a permanent home connection. They sold it on the basis that you didn't have to count every kilobyte or worry about the bill. All you can eat buffets tend not to like it if you're doing something outside the norm, too.
Well they should have never advertised as 1000gb unlimited should they? They can't question how that data is used the way they sold & advertised The One Plan.

They want to have their cake and eat it too!

And by doing that you're opening yourself up to debt collectors and trashed credit reports. 3 aren't stupid - they'll give the minimum possible notice required to those who are too stubborn to sort something out. But instead of getting a better deal today, you'll probably get offered any of the current plans with no discount. Expect a letter or something on the 5th of December, as that's a month.

Either way, ignoring them is not going to result in you keeping your plan if they want rid of them. If you're getting a discount on what is already an unsustainably cheap plan, you're even more likely to get told to go away. The One Plan is going away whether you act petulant or not.

This is ultimately about making things more difficult for yourself - this isn't political revolution, this is a mobile phone service. Some perspective is needed.
You have no idea what you are talking about. That’s sort of scare mongering wont scare me at all.

I work in financial services my friend and Direct Debit Indemnity Claim is in force just to stop companies like 3 or any other company who try to take more payment or amount not agreed in the first place.

So no one would be open to debt collectors or trashed credit if 3 or any other company break their part of Direct Debit contract. I have only mentioned one reason but there are 8 reasons why legally the customer or their bank can claim any DD payment under Direct Debit Indemnity Claim.

I challenge 3 to charge my account more or move me to other plan without my consent and to see if they get their payment. The Bank has to refund any DD payment as soon as it is requested by the account holder.

In regards the One Plan you are right it may be going away so is three’s profit. I can’t see how One Plan Customer would be happy to pay more for less. They may remove this plan but that will cost them.


Personally i think this is the best thing Three could have done - This is expected to free up a significant chunk of their limited cellular spectrum.

Op, How much tethering did you use?
I used probably between 4GB to 8GB tethering since July 2013! Most of which was when I was in Cornwall in the middle of nowhere trying to watch football on Sky Go on my tablet instead of phone, as at the time, it was Samsung S3 smaller screen.

These days I have Note 3 so don't even tether, as it is more or less big and easy enough to take as main & only device.
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Old 10-11-2014, 17:06
Alex_1
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Two quick points:

1. Those saying that the person on phone has told them that their plan will continue as is - it won't after Jan 5th. This is a training issue at three, and a lot of their agents (typically offshore) don't know what's happening.

2. The unlimited £15 rolling plan - you'll get this by calling the 0800 number, not retentions or anyone else.
Thanks very much chamsters that was exactly what I was looking for in terms of info.

So a recap of my story:
Called 3 today as I'm on holiday and plenty of time to shop around if I'm not happy with what I hear. On the £15 sim only one plan which ran out 12/10/14 said friends had been contacted and they had to move plans or leave. I asked how that would affect me as I'm out of contract.
She said the plan was no longer being offered to new customers but I could continue on the plan and would not be asked to leave or anything.

Just been in shop at White Rose and they said £15 one plan was a great old plan..... they can't offer me any special deals to change and basically just hang on to plan as long as possible.

Went home and read 'chamsters' comments and rang the 0800 number and spoke to a very nice man
Said what I had heard about the text and one plan being phased out and I was very concerned.
He said I would have eventually got a text as they were contacting people in phases and everyone out of contract would eventually get a text.
He first looked at my plan and saw I had £10 discount then without any haggling offered me unlimited minutes text & data + the 08 numbers + 4gb tethering etc for the same £15 I'm currently paying and on a rolling basis.
I'm well pleased...I hope that helps others.

Just got a text whilst typing this to say
'Your new plan and allowances will start on your next bill date. To check when this is, go to your My3 account and click on Check Allowances'.
It now says
Sim All-you-can-eat Data, All-you-can-eat Minutes - 12 Months
Texts All-you-can-eat
Minutes All-you-can-eat
Data All-you-can-eat

Don't know whether that means 12 month contract?

Either way I'm very happy as I never wanted to leave 3, love my unlimited data, never much tether & kept my payment the same...well done 3....relief....sorted
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Old 10-11-2014, 17:11
chamsters
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Thanks very much chamsters that was exactly what I was looking for in terms of info.

So a recap of my story:
Called 3 today as I'm on holiday and plenty of time to shop around if I'm not happy with what I hear. On the £15 sim only one plan which ran out 12/10/14 said friends had been contacted and they had to move plans or leave. I asked how that would affect me as I'm out of contract.
She said the plan was no longer being offered to new customers but I could continue on the plan and would not be asked to leave or anything.

Just been in shop at White Rose and they said £15 one plan was a great old plan..... they can't offer me any special deals to change and basically just hang on to plan as long as possible.

Went home and read 'chamsters' comments and rang the 0800 number and spoke to a very nice man
Said what I had heard about the text and one plan being phased out and I was very concerned.
He said I would have eventually got a text as they were contacting people in phases and everyone out of contract would eventually get a text.
He first looked at my plan and saw I had £10 discount then without any haggling offered me unlimited minutes text & data + the 08 numbers + 4gb tethering etc for the same £15 I'm currently paying and on a rolling basis.
I'm well pleased...I hope that helps others.

Just got a text whilst typing this to say
'Your new plan and allowances will start on your next bill date. To check when this is, go to your My3 account and click on Check Allowances'.
It now says
Sim All-you-can-eat Data, All-you-can-eat Minutes - 12 Months
Texts All-you-can-eat
Minutes All-you-can-eat
Data All-you-can-eat

Don't know whether that means 12 month contract?

Either way I'm very happy as I never wanted to leave 3, love my unlimited data, never much tether & kept my payment the same...well done 3....relief....sorted
sounds like a 12 month - you can probably clarify. I suggest you do, in case they do bring out something better (double tethering? wouldnt' be surprised).
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Old 10-11-2014, 17:30
Alex_1
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Contract end date still says 12/10/14 so it's possibly good

No details appeared regarding price i.e. £15 I was quoted

He did say it would all appear correct after my billing date which is the 19th so i'll wait until then and then give them a bell if needed

Thanks once again for the info it was bang on the money
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Old 10-11-2014, 17:36
MTUK1
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I'm currently on the 30 day sim only one plan which I pay £18/month for.

I haven't recieved the text yet but I've called three on several occasions using 333 and the 0800 number to discuss the changes.

Each time I was offered the unlimited plan (calls, texts, data) for £21, which is keeping a £7 discount I currently have. I did mention that other people I know have been offered a better deal,and even suggested that they switch me to the 12 month sim only, but the guy said that would cost me £25/month as I would lose my loyalty discount (change of plan).

I have now requested my MAC in hope that someone may call to offer me a deal in the next 30 days. If they are going to charge me £3/month more I will hang onto my one plan as long as possible. I would be happy to switch to the new plan today if they could do it for £18 though...
MAC codes are for switching of broadband. Do you mean PAC?
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Old 10-11-2014, 17:41
d123
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Well they should have never advertised as 1000gb unlimited should they? They can't question how that data is used the way they sold & advertised The One Plan.
Actually, they didn't.


I work in financial services my friend and Direct Debit Indemnity Claim is in force just to stop companies like 3 or any other company who try to take more payment or amount not agreed in the first place.

So no one would be open to debt collectors or trashed credit if 3 or any other company break their part of Direct Debit contract. I have only mentioned one reason but there are 8 reasons why legally the customer or their bank can claim any DD payment under Direct Debit Indemnity Claim.

I challenge 3 to charge my account more or move me to other plan without my consent and to see if they get their payment. The Bank has to refund any DD payment as soon as it is requested by the account holder.
Then you should know, you reverse the DD whilst having your little tantrum and Three then give you a lovely red dot on your credit file which becomes a default shortly thereafter and they simply set the debt collectors on you.

You can act with all the bravado you want, ultimately you have 2 choices, accept the options Three give you or you give them 30 days notice and cancel your contract.

Anything else is really just hyperbole on your part...
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Old 10-11-2014, 17:42
plymouthbloke1974
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Note if you're a heavy data user, that's not ideal - tmobile have some horrible traffic shaping policies and bandwith throttling systems in place on their 'unlimited' plans.
When I was on their "Full Monty" plan I had no issues with handset Internet. Yes, the speed was capped at 4mbit per second but as long as it streams Sky Go (which it did) I couldn't care less.
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Old 10-11-2014, 17:54
Richard_T
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Quick question on tethering, If i tether my phone to a windows/apple laptop then I understand that will/could be picked up on quite rapidly.

But what if you have an android phone tethered to an android or IOS tablet or phone via bluetooth, or wifi?
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