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Three phases out "The One Plan" and Unlimited tethering


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Old 06-11-2014, 07:59
jaffboy151
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I can't really say that I didn't see this or worse coming with three, a collision course was set after the results of the 4G auction were announced and three didn't really end up with that much, they are getting more from EE but ment they couldn't move into the new 4g age as the data king they were.. Also three have effectively been subsidising the fixed broadband market thanks to the criminally slow and disappointing roll out of fibre and the speeds and limits placed on them by bt and virgin such and strict restrictions and continued slow upload speeds.... add this to the average rural adsl speed vs mobile data speeds and the upcoming 4g factor, you can see data use was about to explode out of control...
Trouble is if three judge this only slightly wrong, then they can end up leaving customers with no reason to be with them over anyone else..
- Indoors and out and about here in staffordshire, I often have no signal over my partners EE(t mobile) which is useable albeit on 2g
- Traffic sense has often made tethering unusable for me, even though I only use about 100mb every so often
- mobiles & plan costs now seem high
- no 4g or any sign of any in many areas
Apart from three at home there is not a lot of reasons for the average user to choose three..
We all know O2 is a lost cause but if Vodafone actually got there act together with there roll out/upgrades, with the amount of spectrum they have and pressured ofcom to reuse some of the 3G spectrum they barely use, with the right business strategy they could now crush the Three network like a bug by tempting away all it's users..
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Old 06-11-2014, 08:10
Jack_Wilson2
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Adding free 0800 numbers doesn't matter as all mobile providers will be forced to make 0800 numbers free via the end of June 2015 by Ofcom.

Also David Dyson's email is read via the Head offices you get a generic emails saying 'I've asked our executive office to handle this'.

There's going to be a LOT of unhappy customers.
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Old 06-11-2014, 08:21
Thine Wonk
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There will, the 10% of Three customers that account for 30% of the UK's mobile internet traffic across all networks. They won't have anywhere to go as nobody else in the UK market offers unlimited tethering.

Traffic sense was not the "magic wand" as I explained to you as it still clogs up active data channels with throttled users and just causes more lengthy use of available resource, the only way to handle this was to put a cap on tethering.

This is the 'netflix' effect (suddenly accounted for such a large percentage of traffic) together with users trying to replace home broadband which it was never marketed as.

Key facts
- unlimited data remains. there's no plans to stop it, it remains a core offering
- Three will remain the only network to offer unlimited data on the device you bought, not on everything else in your house from your phone
- this is being done for the good of the vast majority of Three customers who aren't trying to use their mobile phone plan as fixed broadband, they will see speeds and performance increase
- CEO emails will be responded to with a template, the decision is made, and it's a tough decision but it is for the better for 90% of Three's customers who aren't using 100GB of tethering a month, although some customers may be unhappy they are out of contract and free to change to the other networks that offer unlimited tethering "oh wait.."
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Old 06-11-2014, 08:34
maverickjesus
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I'm pretty sure I posted on here about a year ago saying Three would end up doing this when the One Plan contract window end was nearing, and got shouted down for it :P

Pretty much seals it for me as I was looking to leave anyway, but its a shame for those that didn't abuse the system who are now having to pay for it. As is life.
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Old 06-11-2014, 08:43
binary
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...
But Three have really started to become another EE or another O2 when it comes to price and tariffs. The average data use on the network is 2.6GB yet their fixed allowances only go up to either 2GB on 24m or 4GB on SIM. You need to purchase an All You Can Eat data plan to truly use data and it's now priced sky high and for some who just want to use 5GB they can get a better deal on another network.
...
(My italics.)

I don't think that's quite right. Ignoring the tethering limit, and just looking at SIM only tariffs, Three's AYCE data offerings are still quite competitive with the rest of the market, including when comparing with other operator's tariffs that offer 5GB rather than unlimited.

Three's AYCE data plan (SIM only) is £15 for a 12 month contract, £18 for a one month (each with 200 minutes).

On EE, for a 12 month contract it's £15.99 for 2GB or £21.99 for 5GB - for a one month contract it's £18.99 for 2GB or £24.99 for 5GB.

On O2, for a 12 month contract it's £20 for 2GB, £24 for 5GB or £30 for 8GB - for a one month contract the prices are £21 for 1GB, £22 for 2GB and £27 for 5GB.

On Vodafone, all SIM only contracts are for a 12 month commitment, and those with 1GB or more (Red plans) are shown with 'special offer' pricing so I'll give that with the 'normal price' in brackets - 1GB is £16.50 (£22), 4GB is £21.60 (£27), 7GB is £25.60 (£32), 10GB is £33.60 (£42). Perhaps the 'special offer' price is really just the new lower permanent price, and this is a marketing whizz.

On Virgin, the contracts are for one month - the VIP tariff is £15 for 2GB data, and the VIP Plus tariff (only available to VM home customers) is £18 for "unlimited data" (though possibly 3.5GB then throttled).

Three's offering still looks good - one significant difference is that all of the above plans from other operators include unlimited minutes, whereas the ones I mentioned at the top from Three are 200 minutes which might be too few (or at least a bit tight) for some.

However for the same prices for the AYCE data plans (£15 / £18) you can instead get 600 minutes with a 4GB data limit, or you can get AYCE data with 600 minutes for £20 / £23. The highest price of £25 / £28 is for AYCE data with unlimited minutes.
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Old 06-11-2014, 09:22
tghe-retford
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This is the 'netflix' effect (suddenly accounted for such a large percentage of traffic) together with users trying to replace home broadband which it was never marketed as.
And what's to stop people transferring their viewing habits to 'phablets'? We're back to square one. I have this awful feeling, considering they've already partially withdrawn AYCE for PAYG users that AYCE is living on borrowed time and as trust is eroded with Three, who's to say that AYCE won't go in a year or two?
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Old 06-11-2014, 09:31
binary
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I have this awful feeling, considering they've already partially withdrawn AYCE for PAYG users...
But they haven't.
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Old 06-11-2014, 09:47
Prof-x
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I'm glad i bought an iPhone 6+. Watching netflix on a 4s was a bit of a pain so unlimited tethering was a useful addition to tether to my iPad.

Last week i travelled away and for the first time i didn't take my tablet and used my 6+ for my netflix viewing.

So moving me over to a new tariff want change my usage habits now. I will still use exactly the same data.

In this day and age when the gov is pushing for 4G and near enough 100% coverage why should we be restricted on the data we can use. Online TV streaming and cloud videos are only going to get more popular.

I use 3.5GB p/m on average because most of the time i'm conscious of my data usage (i prefer to download albums on wifi before leaving the house etc), some months i do go over this, especially when i'm away a lot. But i'm a respectful user and i don't use it for p2p, constant streaming or my home broadband connection.
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Old 06-11-2014, 10:34
simon69c
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I never really cared about unlimited tethering; what I did care about was knowing my bill would very rarely be much (if anything) above £15 / month regardless of how much I used (the minute and text allowances were also effectively unlimited from my point of view). The only times it went over was the odd 0845 call that I couldn't find a landline or 0800 equivalent of (0800 numbers I would just use my otherwise redundant landline).

My sim only 12 month plan will reach its minimum term in January, so presumably I will be asked to move to another plan around that time. Looking at what is currently available, if I wanted to keep a £15 / month tariff I would either need to switch to 200 minutes per month (no good as my typical usage is between 250 and 300) to keep AYCE data, or move to a 4GB data limit with 600 minutes. While my current usage typically falls within that (normally less than 3GB a month), there is no guarantee my usage may stay at that level if I decide I want to use more streaming services on my mobile (for example).

I definitely get the feeling that this decision is being driven by the unlimited tethering rather than the other aspects of the One Plan. I think it would have been much better if Three were to offer existing One Plan customers to continue with their existing tariff (but with a 4GB tethering cap) so as to keep honouring the same allowances and monthly cost.

As things stand I will likely either have to start monitoring my data usage to ensure I don't use more than 4GB, or swallow a £5/month price hike and go for the AYCE / 600 minute 12 month sim only deal at £20/month.

I will certainly be shopping around to see what else is available come January!
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Old 06-11-2014, 10:46
Ben_Fisher
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I'd look at EEs offer of 10GB date inclusive of tethering with unlimited calls and texts for 27.99. There are some deals which give 156£ cash back thus making the effective price £15ish a month.
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Old 06-11-2014, 11:04
Charlie_Hobbs
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Don't EE give you an automatic allowance of 10GB if you sign up to their home broadband as well? not sure if that applies to sim only?
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Old 06-11-2014, 11:11
hybridtheory
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Hi

This is sad news but I guess, we all knew that it was coming sooner or later. Im on the 12 month One Plan and Im out of contact in 16 days time. While the tethering limit of 4GB doesn't bother me as I very rarely tether. I don't send a huge amount of txts, the majority of my txts r iMessages. I only use between 1GB and 2GB of data and probably use less than 200 mins a month on voice calls. It will be interesting to see what Im offered in 16 days time.

Baz
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Old 06-11-2014, 12:52
Chris1973
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The changes will only happen when you come out of an existing contract period, so if you are unhappy with what is offered in its place, then you can exercise one of the greatest freedom's of all, the freedom of choice and show your displeasure at the changes by leaving, if enough people did that then they will have to work harder at offering something better to retain their customer base or face a huge exodus, that's common business sense.

However I suspect that what will happen in reality, is that people will just whinge and moan on forums and social networking for a while, but when the time comes they'll just grudgingly accept the changes, change their usage to suit and sign up to the new offer(s) so three will effectively be on a win-win, and its another kick in the teeth for the consumer.

But you get what you settle for

Personally, i'm just going to get one of the Unlimited 6 / 12 month web sims from T-mobile, stick it in a mi-fi and cancel both my '3' contracts. Ok, I only get 500mb of streaming from these, but I do get completely unlimited web surfing - which is about 90% of my web usage via tethering.
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Old 06-11-2014, 12:56
moox
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The changes will only happen when you come out of an existing contract period, so if you are unhappy with what is offered in its place, then you can exercise one of the greatest freedom's of all, the freedom of choice and show your displeasure at the changes by leaving, if enough people did that then they will have to work harder at offering something better to retain their customer base or face a huge exodus, that's common business sense.

However I suspect that what will happen in reality, is that people will just whinge and moan on forums and social networking for a while, but when the time comes they'll just grudgingly accept the changes, change their usage to suit and sign up to the new offer(s) so three will effectively be on a win-win, and its another kick in the teeth for the consumer.

But you get what you settle for
The problem there is that the competition are much more expensive for limited value - and for some people, no unlimited tethering.

Personally it must be EE, 3 or one of their MVNOs as there's no way I'd want to go to the 2G cesspits that are Vodafone or O2.
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Old 06-11-2014, 13:04
cooler
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The changes will only happen when you come out of an existing contract period, so if you are unhappy with what is offered in its place, then you can exercise one of the greatest freedom's of all, the freedom of choice and show your displeasure at the changes by leaving, if enough people did that then they will have to work harder at offering something better to retain their customer base or face a huge exodus, that's common business sense.
Some people are stating 5th January is when the changes will happen. My One Plan minimum term ends on 27/01/2015. So does this mean I can use unlimited tethering until 27/01/2015 or only up until 5th January?
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Old 06-11-2014, 13:07
Chris1973
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Depends on your intended use I suppose. My landline broadband (rural area) rarely went above 512k, on a good day it would hit 1mbps, mix in frequent disconnections caused by what BT stated was "overhead rural power line interference" and even surfing Ebay became something of an effort.

'3' tethering transformed that, not only for me, but for many other people in the area, its also rarely congested and I get 10mbps speeds, despite most of the area using it as a substitute for Home Broadband.

That said, I only average about 5 - 10gb a month, and most of my usage is web surfing and participating in forums like this one, Ebay, Emails and occasional social networking, but its amazing how the GB add up, if you don't have ADSL and are 15 miles from a wifi point.

I could probably live with a 4GB tethering limit, but its the principle. I may as well buy a sim like this one, stick it in a mi-fi and enjoy unlimited web surfing. Even if it only produces 2mbps - 4mbps speeds, its still far more than what landline would produce

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291021543176

I'm currently paying £18 a month for a three contract on a phone which I only use for data. Using the above 6 month Sim would reduce that to about £4.50 a month, provided I didn't want to stream more than 500mb of content per month.
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Old 06-11-2014, 13:09
plymouthbloke1974
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Some people are stating 5th January is when the changes will happen. My One Plan minimum term ends on 27/01/2015. So does this mean I can use unlimited tethering until 27/01/2015 or only up until 5th January?
As has been said about 100 times already....

You are NOT affected if you are still in your minimum term!
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Old 06-11-2014, 13:16
cooler
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http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291021543176

I'm currently paying £18 a month for a three contract on a phone which I only use for data. Using the above 6 month Sim would reduce that to about £4.50 a month, provided I didn't want to stream more than 500mb of content per month.
That sounds too good to be true. So you pay £27.99 for the SIM and you get unlimited internet for 6 months?
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Old 06-11-2014, 13:18
oilman
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What about people who signed up for the 1 month rolling One Plan?

I don't t commot to a 12 month (or + plas)I am not overly bothered about the 4GB tethering limit so long as teh AYCE data remains. More importantly, I want to keep the 2000 mins free calls which I use a lot as I am way from home a lot. I do not see a really equivalent tariff on the 3 site now.
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Old 06-11-2014, 13:20
Chris1973
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That sounds too good to be true. So you pay £27.99 for the SIM and you get unlimited internet for 6 months?
They have been around for ages, the older ones used to give you completely unlimited usage between midnight and 4pm, but they knocked that on the head a few years ago. Now you only get a 500mb allowance per month for streaming, but unlimited web surfing - eg Ebay, Forums, Amazon etc anything internet use which doesn't involve FTP or streaming media content.

They work, i've used them before and provided you don't wan to stream Netflix or youtube its fine for general internet use. No minutes or texts though, hence why i'm using it in a mi-fi for what is effectively unlimited web surfing and a total of 3GB worth of media streaming for 6 months.

Don't expect blazing speeds, I found that it hovered between 2mbps and 4mbps, but then again you are only surfing from it and pages still loaded for faster than my ADSL used to.
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Old 06-11-2014, 13:21
Martin Blank
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Well, yes as long as people know it is executive customer complaints that will reply to the email, and probably with a pre-defined already written template.

The notion of going to the CEO over your £15 phone plan and expecting him to decide to treat you differently than the company's position on the topic is... well.. you know.
Funnily enough I went straight to the CEO of Lloyds when I started my PPI claim. His PA called me back within the hour, sorted everything out for me and even chased people when I asked.

Worked for me!
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Old 06-11-2014, 13:25
Artmuzz
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I'm glad i bought an iPhone 6+. Watching netflix on a 4s was a bit of a pain so unlimited tethering was a useful addition to tether to my iPad.

Last week i travelled away and for the first time i didn't take my tablet and used my 6+ for my netflix viewing.

So moving me over to a new tariff want change my usage habits now. I will still use exactly the same data.

In this day and age when the gov is pushing for 4G and near enough 100% coverage why should we be restricted on the data we can use. Online TV streaming and cloud videos are only going to get more popular.

I use 3.5GB p/m on average because most of the time i'm conscious of my data usage (i prefer to download albums on wifi before leaving the house etc), some months i do go over this, especially when i'm away a lot. But i'm a respectful user and i don't use it for p2p, constant streaming or my home broadband connection.

Yeah, i'm glad I bought an iPhone 6 Plus as well. The only reason I went with Three was because of the unlimited AYCE data allowance and the unlimited tethering. I rarely use my phone for calls and if I do its only for making arrangements. I only go through between 20 to 50 minutes talk time month in phone calls where as I go through between 15 to 20GB a month on data and tethering.

I am angry with Three but if they phase out the AYCE data completely then I will be saying my goodbyes to them.
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Old 06-11-2014, 13:25
cooler
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They have been around for ages, the older ones used to give you unlimited usage between midnight and 4pm, but they knocked that on the head a few years ago. Now you get a 500mb allowance per month for streaming, but unlimited web surfing - eg Ebay, Forums, Amazon anything without media content.

They work, i've used them before and provided you don't wan to stream Netflix or youtube its fine for general internet use.
It seems a good deal.

Do photo's display okay when browsing websites or are they classed as media content?

Can you use it for downloading files?
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Old 06-11-2014, 13:28
Chris1973
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Do photo's display okay when browsing websites or are they classed as media content?
Photos and web graphics loaded fine, embedded video obviously didn't stream once the 500mb / month allocation had been used. Apart from that, surfing websites, bidding on ebay, posting here etc, looked no different than from any other internet connection.

I Never downloaded files when on the old one, but I suspect it won't be permitted.

But for what is effectively about £4.50 a month its worth a punt - I've paid far more than that just to access a hotel wi-fi for 24 hours!

I am angry with Three but if they phase out the AYCE data completely then I will be saying my goodbyes to them.
Its only my opinion but I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't get to that point eventually. They have been slowly chipping away at the allowances for some time now and I suspect they are gauging customer reaction at each point, before chipping away a little bit more in order to see what they can get away with reducing and ultimately what is the bare minimum that their general customer base will settle for.
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Old 06-11-2014, 13:54
david16
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Don't EE give you an automatic allowance of 10GB if you sign up to their home broadband as well? not sure if that applies to sim only?
I've seen EE sims sold in Poundland and you don't get anywhere near 10GB data each month by just inserting the sim in your phone and activating it. 2GB at most I've seen.

You would have to pop into EE and see what packages they offer in terms of getting largeish amounts of mobile data. I suspect you're right.
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