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Three phases out "The One Plan" and Unlimited tethering


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Old 18-05-2016, 15:26
moox
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Well I asked for my PAC today. They certainly barraged me with offers (afaik they weren't much better than what the website offers - certainly the one with unlimited data was £20, though it may have had more minutes than the one on the website), but it "only" took 15 minutes to finally get my PAC issued.

I can't quite work out how the final bill works though. I know it's 30 days notice, but is it 30 days from the port date, or 30 days from today? So if I ported in 28 days time, I wouldn't be charged for another month?
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Old 18-05-2016, 15:42
planetf1
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I'm pretty sure asking for the PAC code counts as notice period, so if you port in a few days time you'll be paying say 27 days for the rest of the month, but if you port in 25 days time, you'll pay very little.

Of course leave it too late and the pac becomes invalid and you'll need to start again.

Personally I'd leave it until the end of the 3rd week!
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Old 18-05-2016, 15:43
moox
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That's what I'm thinking. If I'm going to pay for a month anyway, I might as well keep it active and get some use out of it.

If I've got it all right anyway!
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Old 18-05-2016, 15:44
huwdw
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Well I asked for my PAC today. They certainly barraged me with offers (afaik they weren't much better than what the website offers - certainly the one with unlimited data was £20, though it may have had more minutes than the one on the website), but it "only" took 15 minutes to finally get my PAC issued.

I can't quite work out how the final bill works though. I know it's 30 days notice, but is it 30 days from the port date, or 30 days from today? So if I ported in 28 days time, I wouldn't be charged for another month?
Same - I phoned for my PAC they started trying to offer me a deal. I said there was no point and that I'd already purchased a phone on another network. PAC code issued and arrived by text within a few minutes.

I found the operator somewhat patronising - thanking me for being a 'valued' Three customer several times (I've been with them for 6 years). I certainly didn't feel valued
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Old 20-05-2016, 11:27
rasseru16
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Ok so does anyone here know why 3 are not deducting my Personal Hotspot Allowance over my All-you-can-eat data allowance? It seems they are not detecting my phone tethered to my PC?
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Old 20-05-2016, 11:31
JBX101
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Ok so does anyone here know why 3 are not deducting my Personal Hotspot Allowance over my All-you-can-eat data allowance? It seems they are not detecting my phone tethered to my PC?
Neither has mine. I have used my phone as tether too and on My3, the PH amount hasn't changed.
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Old 20-05-2016, 14:42
rasseru16
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Neither has mine. I have used my phone as tether too and on My3, the PH amount hasn't changed.
I have most definitely tethered well over 30GB but it hasn't been deducted, oh well (not going to complain )
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Old 20-05-2016, 15:22
cooler
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A question about the AYCE plan which includes 30GB tethering allowance.

If you use more than the 30GB tethering allowance, how much does it cost? Can you buy a data addon or do you have to pay per MB?
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Old 20-05-2016, 18:56
rasseru16
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A question about the AYCE plan which includes 30GB tethering allowance.

If you use more than the 30GB tethering allowance, how much does it cost? Can you buy a data addon or do you have to pay per MB?
I've know for a fact ive used over 30GB but haven't been told to buy an add-on so couldn't tell you
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Old 04-07-2016, 01:16
Steve™
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Still on the One plan and still using about 100-120gb of data a month tethering. Is anyone else still on it?
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Old 04-07-2016, 13:51
Thine Wonk
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Still on the One plan and still using about 100-120gb of data a month tethering. Is anyone else still on it?
That's a LOT of data, no I was moved off. When you do get moved off you'll have to buy 4 contracts to get that much, you'll be looking at around £100 a month.
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Old 04-07-2016, 17:42
Richard_T
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Still on the One plan and still using about 100-120gb of data a month tethering. Is anyone else still on it?
If i was you, i would be looking at weaning yourself off that amount of mobile data, and investigating other methods.
one solution would be fixed line broadband from BT with BT wifi, and a high power wifi antenna set up if you need internet access elsewhere
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Old 04-07-2016, 21:56
Chris1973
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one solution would be fixed line broadband from BT with BT wifi
Assuming of course his BT Line offers more than 512k - 1mbps!. Two million ADSL subscribers still fail to get 2mbps with some areas not even getting that, been there, done that etc.

I've recently moved back to a Town after fifteen years of living in a rural area which never really moved on from delivering 512k ADSL, having had access to fibre now for around a month I can see why its hard for some on here to grasp that even 360p youtube streaming is still a challenge on some ADSL connections without constant buffering, and so 3G / 4G is sometimes the only option for anybody wanting to connect to 2016.

That said, 100gb - 120gb is a lot of data, and yes you will miss it when its gone. I used around 12GB per month on my MBB ADSL substitute, although I did limit streaming to the bare minimum. However with no copious coffee shops and free wifi points in the Countryside, and such a limited ADSL provision locally, 4G really does make you appreciate every GB of that 12GB used.

I got a £15 / 25GB MBB sim from EE when it was on offer, which was effectively £2 / month less than it would cost me in line rental from BT just for the ability to get their pathetic ADSL, so I was actually saving money and getting a respectable 4G speed into the bargain. Not much help to anybody using 100GB + but just highlighting the very limited options in relation to the internet in some locations, and that using mobile data as opposed to ADSL / Fibre isn't always done through choice or to save a few quid.
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Old 10-07-2016, 09:26
Ad13
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...any wonder why Three have kicked everyone off that plan when it's being 'used/abused' like this...
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Old 10-07-2016, 11:50
Thine Wonk
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Quite
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Old 10-07-2016, 13:28
sdduk
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Same - I phoned for my PAC they started trying to offer me a deal. I said there was no point and that I'd already purchased a phone on another network. PAC code issued and arrived by text within a few minutes.

I found the operator somewhat patronising - thanking me for being a 'valued' Three customer several times (I've been with them for 6 years). I certainly didn't feel valued
Agree with you i was the same and asked them if they would match ID mobile offer which runs of Three anyway it was cheaper then them they said no so got my Pac of them and now with ID which i have been with since jan this year and so far been really good....I know they get a lot of bad press but until they do something wrong to me i will stick with them also got £20 topcashback.
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Old 10-07-2016, 17:24
Richard_T
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...any wonder why Three have kicked everyone off that plan when it's being 'used/abused' like this...
However where was the abuse if people did use a large amount of tethering data?
The one plan was sold as unlimited tethering.
If three were serious about management, and tethering was getting out of control, the the easiest way to manage things would have been to restrict the mount of tethering allowed, or introduced a fair use policy weaning high users off.

Those who did use a lot were no worse than people like myself who didn't use a huge amount of data, just using the service as it was.
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Old 10-07-2016, 19:23
Thine Wonk
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Whilst you can't abuse something that is unlimited, using it for purposes it wasn't intended for (home broadband replacement) and very high usage brought about the changes we saw.

As mentioned the poster will now have to spend over £100 a month to get what they were managing to use on a £15 plan previously if they choose to stay with Three. If they choose to go to EE then likely hundreds more.

As a friend always says "this is why we can't have nice things".
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Old 10-07-2016, 20:58
jonmorris
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Funny how staff at the Maidenhead HQ also used tethering as a home broadband replacement. Funny how shop staff told customers they could do just that.

What isn't funny is why Three ever thought it was a good idea to offer unlimited tethering just to bump up subscriber numbers. Didn't someone realise what could happen? Didn't engineers say 'what are you thinking?'*

Three has only itself to blame, and given the way it is moving people off (which has caused so much anger and a number of people leaving) it is still finding itself with users who are using high levels of data on the plan, while others who may not even have used tethering at all, moved off - or having simply got their PAC code and gone.

Plus, let me remind everyone for the umpteenth time that Three is kicking people off plans that didn't have tethering. And it has even upped the personal hotspot allowance to 30GB in recent months.

So it STILL thinks offering high amounts of data is a way to get customers. Plus, if you look abroad to other Three networks, it offers home broadband over 3G/4G with allowances probably in excess of what some people consider 'abuse' here.

* remember when One2One did the evening calls for free, when some marketing bods did it without consulting with the technical people on what impact it might have on a fledgling network.
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Old 10-07-2016, 21:25
Thine Wonk
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We saw the Powerpoint that were posted online Jon, a small minority using the majority of data, then on the following slides saying how they were going to control data use though pricing and other measures. Not once was it ever marketed as a home broadband replacement, at the very start there was a push to demonstrate it really was unlimited because it was common for other networks to call 2GB unlimited and Three wanted to differentiate. There was a couple of blogs / register articles and that's it, mostly to demonstrate it wasn't like the 'fake' unlimited plans.

Anyway, we need to get over the past and deal with the current and future. What plans would that poster who was using 120GB a month be able to get for £15 on EE, O2 or Vodafone? What is the cost of £120GB of data on those networks?

I notice the EE 100GB trial sims which were really just to get people hooked have gone now it's BT. He is looking at 100s of pounds a month.
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Old 10-07-2016, 22:19
hammy_y
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We saw the Powerpoint that were posted online Jon, a small minority using the majority of data, then on the following slides saying how they were going to control data use though pricing and other measures. Not once was it ever marketed as a home broadband replacement, at the very start there was a push to demonstrate it really was unlimited because it was common for other networks to call 2GB unlimited and Three wanted to differentiate. There was a couple of blogs / register articles and that's it, mostly to demonstrate it wasn't like the 'fake' unlimited plans.

Anyway, we need to get over the past and deal with the current and future. What plans would that poster who was using 120GB a month be able to get for £15 on EE, O2 or Vodafone? What is the cost of £120GB of data on those networks?

I notice the EE 100GB trial sims which were really just to get people hooked have gone now it's BT. He is looking at 100s of pounds a month.
Could get 3 of these for £90/month http://shop.ee.co.uk/dongles/pay-mon...e-wifi/details

Also it's kind of obvious IMO that people would use the unlimited tethering as a home broadband replacement and 'abuse' the network. So IMO it still sucks that Three have moved people off of those plans and doubled their prices.

It's also a real shame that Three aren't #makingitright, I thought that their roaming thing was really cool at first and would shape how they operated the rest of the network, but sadly not; they've made it more wrong than any other network.
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Old 10-07-2016, 22:27
Thine Wonk
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They took a chance that only a small number would use it heavily, in 2013 and 2014 it wasn't so much of a problem but as more and more started using it that way (was never advertised or intended that way) it meant that 4 years after it was launched it was ended and replaced with 30GB tethering at a higher price.

I think that is the cheapest now for the poster, £90 a month, wonder what that amount of data comes to on Vodafone and O2? £200? £300? Certainly never should have been £15 and be sustainable given the impact it had to other customers. A mistake which Three corrected in 2015 & 2016, yet even with all the complaining on this forum I note that they didn't see any large reduction in customer numbers or any large increase in complaints, with Vodafone having a 6 times higher complaint level per 1000 customers, despite not moving customers off legacy plans.
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Old 10-07-2016, 22:41
bikerlad
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You do wonder why Three don't focus on the people using over 100GB a month first instead of the random approach they seem to be taking.
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Old 10-07-2016, 22:49
Thine Wonk
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You do wonder why Three don't focus on the people using over 100GB a month first instead of the random approach they seem to be taking.
They are 90% done now I think, can't be many left to go. I'm now getting 3G speeds of 16Mb/s whereas I used to get 7Mb/s a year ago. I know they have rolled out 4G, but I don't yet get 4G at home (don't need it with 16Mb/s speeds and 49ms ping). I strongly believe that 90% of customers are seeing some benefit in terms of less cell breathing, better ping, better speeds as a result of removing the small amount of heavy users.
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Old 10-07-2016, 22:51
jonmorris
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Not once was it ever marketed as a home broadband replacement
Three told customers they could. Staff said it to get sales. Marketing people said you could to get customers.

Three even did the £10 discount to sign up more people, surely knowing that totally unrestricted data that could be tethered to anything (PC, Sky box, console) was a massive risk, yet having an ARPU of £15 a month. Such a plan was worth more than the standard £25, but I hope nobody is going to blame people who signed up.

That was the 'old' Three, and once orders came down that Three now had to start making money, we saw all the changes - price hikes, U-turns on things like increasing charges during contract, and of course the decision to take people off ALL legacy plans and try and charge some people double.

You can't keep saying Three never intended for its service to be used that way. Once it was known it could be, it was going to be. And Mr or Mrs minimum wage in a store wasn't going to say otherwise to lose a sale.
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