[Informationwar]

I just hope the upcoming Asus Transformer book V still counts as hanset data when in laptop mode. It should do.

[Chris1973]

i'm going to hang fire and see what happens over the coming weeks. Three's unlimited tethering deal was a hugely competitive factor in the industry and was never bettered probably because it wasn't possible to beat an unlimited. deal.

Now Three has removed the unlimited tethering option for both new and existing customers, and pulled it right back to 2GB / 4GB, the market on tethering allowances is open again and this gives the potential for another network (possibly EE) to offer better allowances or lower their prices on their existing handset tariffs which include tethering. Perhaps EE will introduce a tariff of around 20gb - 25gb, maybe they'll lower their prices on the existing 10gb tariff, its possible.

On the flip side, the other networks could, of course, also do nothing and just revel in the reduced competition, but I think its worth the Gamble to wait it out a little. Xmas is coming, and even a Xmas cash back increase above the current £70 on EE's tariffs could reduce the current 10GB deal closer to £20.

I think that this is the end of an era for Unlimited Tethering, I seriously doubt that any other network will introduce it, and Three won't be bringing it back, although its possible they may eventually get around to offering more generous Mobile Data deals at a higher price.

So its a case of now examining the remaining options and settling on the best deal which suits you.

[jonmorris]

I certainly think data allowances will grow year on year, as they have since the very early days of mobile data.

It's a case of when, but once EE is regularly giving users speeds of 100Mbps and up to 300Mbps in some areas, the days of the 512MB and 1GB bundles should be at an end. This will hopefully shift all the other allowances down the chain and allow for higher ones at the same price.

[cooler]

For Three's mobile broadband, if your an existing customer what sort of discount do you typically get?

Three's online support told me I might be eligible for a discount for mobile broadband being a privileged ex-customer. However, EE's 15GB mobile broadband plan is the same price as Three's at £20/month but it's a 30-day rolling contract unlike Three's 24 months contract. So the discount would have to be good to even consider being committed for 24 months.

[Gigabit]

wavejock is gone (forever?)

[Chris1973]

Quote:

However, EE's 15GB mobile broadband plan is the same price as Three's at £20/month

That is also one option that i'm looking at, along with EE'S 10GB Normal Handset Tariff. Is there a current cashback offer running for any of EE's Mobile Broadband Plans?

Currently I don't fit into any of Three's new neatly packaged tariffs, so when the one plan ends at the start of the year, i'll be moving on. Most of my monthly usage is Tethering, although not excessively so, but just enough to make Three no longer viable.

In October I used almost 6GB of Data, around 5.1GB of that was tethering, with just under 1GB being handset use. I also used 2 minutes of calls and 0 texts - some months I don't make any calls at all.

In the past i've used 8GB and very occasionally 10GB tethered - usually during the winter months, so ideally i'd like a package with 10GB of tethering just in case, 15GB would be nice if it was at the right price and didn't come with a long contract.

Given my usage I could probably live without a handset, just using a PAYG sim for emergencies, car breakdowns etc, and using a Mi-Fi for mobile internet.

Even if Three offered me the same price for the new tariff, 4GB tethering is not enough so I won't be taking up their offer, regardless. Hence i'm now torn between a 15GB Mobile Broadband Sim from EE or their 10GB Handset Tariff which includes tethering and means I won't have to rely on a PAYG sim for the small amount of phone use.

[mogzyboy]

Does anybody have that 0800 number to hand? If so, could you PM it to me? I saw it posted on this thread yesterday, but can't find it now, so I can only assume the forum mods are being as unhelpful as possible by removing it. Idiots.

Ta!

[hongkongandy]

When Three stop/limit tethering does that mean for people who use mobile internet on a mobile phone and not a substitute for ADSL/Broadband, will mobile internet speed increase?
Just asking.

[jabbamk1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hongkongandy

When Three stop/limit tethering does that mean for people who use mobile internet on a mobile phone and not a substitute for ADSL/Broadband, will mobile internet speed increase?
Just asking.

Depends.

In reality you probably won't notice any difference.

[jabbamk1]

Here are my thoughts for those of you who are interested.

There are two main reasons why Three are doing this.

- Data usage is growing YOY and selling an unlimited tethering plan means that a minority of people are going to use this in a way that may adversely affect the network. After all, Three don't want a repeat of June 2013 where their data centre's were 110-140% over capacity. Whilst Three are expanding capacity it makes sense to make a decision like this where unlimited tethering is being removed so that data growth slows a bit. Data usage will be still be higher than other networks on Three but it won't get to a point where Three can't handle it.

-Financial reasons. Three haven't been growing at the rate they want and their margin is a bit low. They want ARPU to increase and what better way than to move customers on to a plan without unlimited tethering and make them pay more for less. If Three can't increase revenue from lots of new customers then they're extracting it from old customers as demonstrated here.

-Three has made a business decision to remove unlimited tethering and it's not coming back. Do I think it was a wrong decision? Well that depends. Removing unlimited tethering isn't too bad from a realistic consumer point of view as it's something that was having an adverse affect on the network and something that Three were offering at a low cost that was affecting profits. After all, Three is a business. But what I do think is wrong is the way that Three are handling this situation.

-Customers are not being given a fair choice, they are being kicked off their old plan and are going to be forced onto a new price plan with less minutes/texts for the same price or the same kind of deal but at a higher price. It's stupid of Three to do this and very anti consumer that Three are forcing all their old out of contract customers to pay the same as new customers with no loyalty discounts or anything after the 60 day notice period ends.

-Three's communications to both their staff and their customers is a joke. No one knows anything and there is no where to go for clarification apart from this forum maybe. But as this thread isn't an official source the info could be wrong.

-Three aren't exactly offering tethering competitively anymore. 2GB/4GB is not enough for a number of customers, especially when other networks can offer more tetherable data and at a similar price if not less.

All in all, Three made this decision for a reason and there is nothing consumers can do to stop losing unlimited tethering. The way Three have handled this decision however is terrible and it's almost like they're trying to drive their customers away. Forced price increases, removal of loyalty discounts and poor communications are the main reason that this is completely anti consumer.

Three has always championed itself as a network that shakes up the industry and makes mobile better for consumers. In this case they're forcing customers to make mobile better for the business and not for consumers. We've seen Three move away from being a "price" network to a "premium" network and it seems this is one of their moves to complete that transition.

[Chris1973]

Quote:

When Three stop/limit tethering does that mean for people who use mobile internet on a mobile phone and not a substitute for ADSL/Broadband, will mobile internet speed increase?
Just asking.

Maybe in some instances, but I suspect that the complaints regarding slow speeds will still be appearing on various forums and social networking with just the same frequency in the future, and Three staff will no doubt still be blaming it on some kind of local mast congestion when they are contacted. I don't see limiting tethering will make any difference really, and those who have suffered ongoing slow speeds for several months probably shouldn't be expecting it to be some magic cure all to their own local network issues, and rejoicing at the news just yet

That is just an opinion, no more - no less. However I do base it on what I read on the forums of other networks and consumer sites, in relation to networks having the same speed related problems as Three, and in some cases worse, as these threads can go on for months!. One of these networks didn't allow any form of tethering whatsoever, at a time when it seemed hundreds or even thousands of its subscribers were all having speed issues, and it resulted in quite a long running thread on their own forums at the latter end of the summer.

So draw your own conclusions really, but we'll see for ourselves, eventually.

[Everything Goes]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gigabit

wavejock is gone (forever?)

He's like the proverbial bad penny so Im sure he will be back!

[Faust]

Quote:

Originally Posted by plymouthbloke1974

Well, as soon as I get the text, I'm off to T-Mobile.

Please god let him get the text then all the genuinely happy 3 customers can share in the extra bandwidth when he's gone. Why should those of us who use the resource fairly have to put with the the few who constantly suck the life out of the system.

[plymouthbloke1974]

Who says I'm abusing the system? Far from it. I've used approx 500MB tethering since July!

I'm more interested in dropping from 2000 mins to 600 for the same money..... Wow... Judgemental much??

Just noticed for the small-talkers out there - it's better to go to PAYG 3-2-1 and get a £15 add-on than go 1 month sim only...

300 mins, 3000 txt and AYCE data for £15 PAYG
200 mins, unltd txt and AYCE data for £18 1 month sim only!

Also, people reporting that tethering works on PAYG.... Loophole?

[eforce]

Those attacking hardcore users are showing signs of angry slave syndrome.

[cooler]

Quote:

Originally Posted by eforce

Those attacking hardcore users are showing signs of angry slave syndrome.

Someone recently said on DS that when the One Plan first launched their was an 80GB soft cap on tethering, but Three kept increasing it. Why did they increase it if tethering wasn't supposed to be a landline broadband equivalent, as critics of high usage tetherers keep saying.

[eforce]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cooler

Someone recently said on DS that when the One Plan first launched their was an 80GB soft cap on tethering, but Three kept increasing it. Why did they increase it if tethering wasn't supposed to be a landline broadband equivalent, as critics of high usage tetherers keep saying.

People that tend to use it as broadband replacement (such as myself) tend to live in sparsely populated areas where bandwidth isn't a problem.

The situation can only get better for mobile providers as BT complete their FTTC roll-out and recently Virgin is looking at expanding their cable network again.

I think it's another case of Three saying one thing and meaning/doing the other, if it was really just a bandwidth issue I think they wouldn't have done this so abruptly, but gradually reduced soft cap.

With the death of T-Mobile, there is no longer a competitive need to maintain an unlimited tether plan.

[hongkongandy]

How do folk use 80-100 GB per month tethering? I have infinity at home and down load music, films etc. are rarely exceed 40GB.

[Thine Wonk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by eforce

People that tend to use it as broadband replacement (such as myself) tend to live in sparsely populated areas where bandwidth isn't a problem.

The situation can only get better for mobile providers as BT complete their FTTC roll-out and recently Virgin is looking at expanding their cable network again.

I think it's another case of Three saying one thing and meaning/doing the other, if it was really just a bandwidth issue I think they wouldn't have done this so abruptly, but gradually reduced soft cap.

With the death of T-Mobile, there is no longer a competitive need to maintain an unlimited tether plan.

Can you link us to the information regarding the claim that people who use it as broadband live in sparsely populated areas. Also those sites may not have fibre and may be using microwave, in which case the site capacity may be lower.

They never suggested you should use the portable hotspot on your mobile phone as full home broadband at any point.

[Mancunian01]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hongkongandy

How do folk use 80-100 GB per month tethering? I have infinity at home and down load music, films etc. are rarely exceed 40GB.

I use 100GB+ per month on my FTTC connection, it's pretty easy to do when a download to my Sky box can be 4GB+ per download.

That's without Netflix, work related file transfers and all the other devices that are connected whilst at home - smartphones, tablets etc.

I'm not a big user of the tethering facility on my One Plan, but it did come in very handy when I moved house at the beginning of the year and had a couple of weeks wait for my broadband to be set up. I used about 50GB that month on my Three account. That's very much a one off, but it's nice to know it's there as a backup if needed. On that level it will be missed as a 4GB cap will be no good if my broadband goes down for any length of time.

[jonmorris]

Surely Three can reduce the ill feeling by either offering an increased tethering allowance (for a fee) or dropping the cost of add on data, so instead of £5 per GB it's £1 or less. Then it's not so bad for the occasional usage needs as described here.

[slattery69]

For me while its a disappointment I'm going to lose my one plan (£15 a month) but looking at the market place theres not much that even comes close in terms of data for the price

For my usage I'm ok with going to the 200mins, Unlimited texts ,AYCE data and 4gb tethering limit (i don't tether much anyway just nice to have the option if i need to) for £15

Im more disappointed in the poor 4G, the coverage maps are pure fiction IMO. theres one mast in my town and 1 mast in the next town over that are 4G . But according to the coverage map the whole area is 4G. They must have some faith in these 2 masts to cover a 15 mile square area.
I've driven the full length (sad i know ) with the phone in 4G only mode and got 4G in few areas but no where near 3 s claims.

[Gigabit]

But all the coverage maps are wrong anyway.

[slattery69]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gigabit

But all the coverage maps are wrong anyway.

There s been wrong and then theres just making things up. At the min (and i can only speak about my area) you'd think you could travel all the way round town and to the next town and never be off 4G in reality thats nowhere near the case.

Whilst i agree to a certain extent that if you go on any providers website they always air on the optimistic side with coverage. I think three are really taking it to far.

[moox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by slattery69

Im more disappointed in the poor 4G, the coverage maps are pure fiction IMO. theres one mast in my town and 1 mast in the next town over that are 4G . But according to the coverage map the whole area is 4G. They must have some faith in these 2 masts to cover a 15 mile square area.
I've driven the full length (sad i know ) with the phone in 4G only mode and got 4G in few areas but no where near 3 s claims.

EE have a better 4G network but that comes at a significant cost. Hopefully if 3 increases their income they'll be able to do a far better job of 4G than they currently are doing.

It's how they can still claim the 4G is "free" when it's really not.