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Three's fall from grace - Broken promises and broken dreams |
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#26 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: the wild world web
Posts: 28,132
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I pay double elsewhere so obviously everything elsewhere has to be the best cos only the stupid pay half of what I pay.
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#27 |
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Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: London, UK
Posts: 8,759
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The fact that you said "I'm not an employee of 3" will tell everybody that you are an employee, you do realise that right?
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#28 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: London, UK
Posts: 8,759
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Quote:
This is just me wondering so I don't want anyone to assume that I know anything.
Wasn't the original list published when Three were planning nationwide 1800? Now they are planning to roll out nationally on 800 from next year. If so, is it not possible that this list is just going to be places covered by 1800. Perhaps Three have decided that for the towns removed from the list that 800 would be enough to offer coverage which would also roll out next year and so have just done a quick edit job of their list! Not making any excuses for Three here- just putting out the possibility that (not for the first time) Three may be guilty of poor miscommunication! So either that list is incomplete or Three aren't planning to roll out much 4G in 2015. I know that 800 is due to launch soon and be rolled out nationwide. 1800 will get to 80%. And other network related stuff like VoLTE will launch. |
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#29 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 1,319
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Quote:
A premium network usually comes with a premium price tag.
With EE you get 2G fallback good indoor coverage wider availability of 4G an ultra fast 4G network good 3G This time next year all networks should be on par with eachother with regards to 4G, while Three and EE will have identical 3G coverage, only difference is i'll still be able to use unlimited data on my handset where as people on EE wont. |
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#30 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Bristol (BBC1 West)
Posts: 15,143
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Unfortunately I doubt enough people will do so to make Three see the error of their ways.
Three's 4G coverage in Bristol is better than Vodafone and O2 combined. I'm paying less than I have ever done to get the services I need I'm getting 0800 calls for free and I didn't 6 months ago I saved over £100 when I visited the USA in May through Feel at Home The new price structure from Three doesn't leave everyone at a disadvantage. Personally I think it's brilliant that Three has taken the bold move of getting rid of the bonkers concept of "Grandfathering" - if you can't offer something to new customers, you shouldn't be offering it to old customers just to keep them happy. |
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#31 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 3,993
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Quote:
What errors are those?
Three's 4G coverage in Bristol is better than Vodafone and O2 combined. I'm paying less than I have ever done to get the services I need I'm getting 0800 calls for free and I didn't 6 months ago I saved over £100 when I visited the USA in May through Feel at Home The new price structure from Three doesn't leave everyone at a disadvantage. Personally I think it's brilliant that Three has taken the bold move of getting rid of the bonkers concept of "Grandfathering" - if you can't offer something to new customers, you shouldn't be offering it to old customers just to keep them happy. I haven't seen many people showing happiness and gratitude towards Three for the way they've just chopped 150 places off the 4G roll out (and completely missed their 2014 targets. Many would describe that as being errors... |
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#32 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: S6 1SW WTID UTO FTB
Posts: 6,327
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Quote:
Having spent many years improving its initial low ratings, mostly due to customer service and coverage issues. This year Three have had an amazing fall from grace. Constantly shooting themselves in the foot and pissing off customers.
It all started at the end of 2013 with their 4G rollout. The rollout turned out to be an extended closed test which didn't start properly until 2014. Then came the famous 4G Wish List. As the year progressed became apparent it had become a pipe dream as Three changed their strategy. The rollout has been piecemeal at best even when there was coverage. Then Three decided to cap speeds at 50Mbps. By the end of 2014 Three issued a revised 4G rollout for 2015. Amazingly they removed 193 of the towns / cities they didn't bother with in 2014 (or 194 if you include Hull). They did add 59 new sites including Airports! Lets see how 2015 goes...... Comparison List here: https://www.diffchecker.com/opybv7j7 Now the Tariffs. Three had started increasing the promotional price of the One Plan. Then they removed The One Plan completely and plans now have a maximum 4GB Tethering limit. Price plans change we all know it. Three were clearly feeling the pinch over excessive data usage and wanted to change it. The next bit has never happened on any UK network. Three decided to terminate all Grandfather plans. This really is unheard of. People who were outwith their commitment have been and will be moved to another plan. One with a maximum 4GB Tethering limit. Obviously this hasn't gone down well. People may find themselves paying more for less or have to cut back and go on a lower tariff or simply leave! What's more Three have decided to play hardball and offer pretty much no discounts other than perhaps £1 if your lucky. Three appear to be under some pressure from their parent company Hutchison to improve revenue and cut costs. While these changes my not impact on everyone Three seem to be on a path to place themselves as a premium network. The thing is if you want a premium network then EE is the place to go. 2015 Will be an interesting year with possible takeovers of EE and O2. So it will likely be an interesting year. |
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#33 |
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Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: London, UK
Posts: 8,759
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Be careful, i started a thread about my SIM only plan going from £12.90 to £18 and the fanboys went at me like rats on a doughnut.
So why you were even expecting to price from an old tariff just doesnt make sense. You don't see my complaining about not being able to sign to tow Vodafone tariff from 2004. |
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#34 |
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Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: London, UK
Posts: 8,759
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What people need to realise is that DS is a very small proportion of mobile users. The members on here are usually tech savy and do research + care s bit more about the services they sign up for.
The average consumer will stay with what they have or switch to a network that is better for their needs based on a very small amount of research. The average consumer isn't going to start leaving Three in droves based on the past year and Three know it. So whilst a number of changes have occurred that can be viewed negatively from a PR point of view its not going to affect customer numbers heavily and its only going to increase ARPU. Three are targeting a profit of £360m this year and even with cost reductions of £80m plus it seems like Three will.miss it. Now that Three have over 10m registered customers their plan is to focus on profit and value added services over being "that budget network" that is just after customer numbers. For the average consumer though, there are a number of good reasons to join Three and so customer numbers will continue to grow. Just much slower than before. Three may even lose some customers as well as we saw in Q1 2014. |
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#35 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 598
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Explain why!
There's no point in a large rant post if you don't actually give any reasoning behind your points. EE is more expensive than Three in virtually every scenario. I don't see that ever changing. |
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#36 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 11,177
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Agree - Paying 34 pounds per month on the one plan. Between gaming and podcasts I use circa 8gb per month, The closest plan with EE costs me 38 pounds, Theres the premium. Still I have no option but to leave three because they don t have high end Lumias in their range. So EE it is, from January
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#37 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 14,645
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Blooming heck they basically chucked away a big chunk of the south and just about all of Hampshire/Wiltshire with a bit of Berkshire thrown in for good measure
Frome Salisbury Winchester Eastleigh Devizes Andover Newbury I'm surprised Newbury went, EE has been there for ages and I can't imagine backhaul and whatnot being a huge issue there. Depending on how quickly EE expand their 4G down here I may be inclined to switch. I don't mind 3's service too much but if I can pay a bit more and get actual 4G coverage I might go for it. Couldn't care less about gimmicks like free 0800 calls or free roaming (don't travel much) - UK performance is what I care about. I'm more annoyed about the total lack of communication, broken promises and simultaneous price increase than the fact that I don't have 4G yet. It'd cost them next to nothing to have someone write up a nice explanation of why the list has substantially changed, why each town/county has been removed from the list, the challenges involved in the 4G upgrade etc. But simply revising the list and pretending that they didn't make a promise before is not on. |
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#38 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 100
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To be honest, whilst annoying for many, I don't see why 3's 'behaviour' is any different to any other new player in a competitive market. Undercut everyone else with a USP to build customer base, then when you control a big enough proportion of the market, switch to a classic profit driving model. Given that they started at such a huge disadvantage (having no 2G, building their own network from scratch, etc), I think they have actually done a pretty damn good job. Not a suitable network for me, but I'd consider them again if my circumstances change.
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#39 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 621
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I spent about a hour on the phone this morning to 3s Glasgow office. They are looking at releasing me from my contract. As at the point of sale my home getting 4G this year was a major factor. My town is no longer on the list to get 4G. So I have been mis sold. I pointed them to this thread to show that there are a lot of unhappy 3 customers about.
They seemed stocked that they had upset customers with the change of coverage. |
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#40 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 9,746
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I spent about a hour on the phone this morning to 3s Glasgow office. They are looking at releasing me from my contract. As at the point of sale my home getting 4G this year was a major factor. My town is no longer on the list to get 4G. So I have been mis sold. I pointed them to this thread to show that there are a lot of unhappy 3 customers about.
They seemed stocked that they had upset customers with the change of coverage. |
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#41 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 598
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Quote:
If you want a high end Lumia, why not buy one SIM free then use a three SIM only plan?
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#42 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: London, UK
Posts: 8,759
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Quote:
To be honest, whilst annoying for many, I don't see why 3's 'behaviour' is any different to any other new player in a competitive market. Undercut everyone else with a USP to build customer base, then when you control a big enough proportion of the market, switch to a classic profit driving model. Given that they started at such a huge disadvantage (having no 2G, building their own network from scratch, etc), I think they have actually done a pretty damn good job. Not a suitable network for me, but I'd consider them again if my circumstances change.
Now Three have good coverage, excellent customer service and loads of value adds. Now that's all well and good but those were none of the compelling reasons that customers bought into the Three brand originally. Those reasons were price, data and leading edge technology. Whilst average joe probably won't care. Those that do will now be in a dilemma to stay with the "new" Three or move to a different network. In the grand scheme of things it's not a big issue but I honestly don't know what Three were thinking when they announced the things they were doing this year. |
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#43 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Destination: Hard Brexit
Posts: 6,368
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Snap I've left and joined EE purely on signal issues
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#44 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: London, UK
Posts: 8,759
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Quote:
Moved to Vodafone 3 weeks ago. Not giving them the satisfaction....
Or will that mess with the discount scheme? |
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#45 |
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Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 100
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Moved to Vodafone 3 weeks ago. Not giving them the satisfaction....
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#46 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 289
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Quote:
Hopefully EE release a reasonable 20gb sim only plan.
Their £27.99 for 10GB SIM only plan will go back to 5GB. Compare that with the new Vodafone offer giving 20GB for £30 a month or £27.20 for 10GB if you want to save a few £ (but surely best to get an extra 10GB for just £2.80?) Add to that 3 months unlimited internet, entertainment pack for music/sports/movies and better roaming rates Plus the price will not go up within your contract period, something EE LOVE to get around whilst also removing existing services for customers Only thing EE are ahead on is 4G coverage but even that wont last a huge amount of time with Vodafone 4G rolling out quickly now and with the 800mhz band so better indoor coverage. I was in London a few weeks ago and hit 149.74Mbps using an Alpha on Vodafone! |
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#47 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: London, UK
Posts: 8,759
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As did I - 3G data coverage isnt a patch on Three but being able to send and receive texts/calls anywhere on 2G/3G900 is a godsend when you live in a solid wall house like I do! Couldn't wait to get rid of InTouch.
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#48 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 466
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Quote:
Agreed, I have.
Unfortunately I doubt enough people will do so to make Three see the error of their ways. I wasn't a heavy data user or 'tetherer', but the constant failure to deliver 4G and the way they are not grandfathering in existing One Plan customers made me switch the second I tried that EE 100 gig SIM. I got my PAC code and 2 days later I was an EE customer. I now get 4G everywhere I go, no voice call drops and no data drops. Really impressed with EE's network. |
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#49 |
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Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: London, UK
Posts: 8,759
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I was in London a few weeks ago and hit 149.74Mbps using an Alpha on Vodafone!
Probably the latter
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#50 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Destination: Hard Brexit
Posts: 6,368
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Quote:
Have you seen the new pricing? See if you can move to a higher tariff with the new prices as you said you were going to do before.
Or will that mess with the discount scheme? |
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