[B_W2]

Well, Three are the only provider to offer handset AYCE data and lots of people (including me) are big fans of that.

I think if the situation (company wise) is to grow income and try and become more of a premium network (which people seem to have suggested) then I feel a price rise of £5 on PAYG would be more. Make it the All-In-One 20, 3000 Txt's, 300 Mins, and AYCE data.

Which ever way you look at it £20 a month (PAYG) is still competitively priced and you are just paying £5 more then on contract SIM only for AYCE data which covers the risk of you not renewing it and Three not earning income as opposed to a guaranteed £15 on contract where they can offer it.

Contract should always offer a little more, as they have guaranteed income.
PAYG should always offer a little less, as you may only buy one 'add on'

[jchamier]

Quote:

Originally Posted by B_W2

Well, Three are the only provider to offer handset AYCE data and lots of people (including me) are big fans of that.'

As phones get bigger (e.g. 6" Huawei models) then more and more people will use AYCE data on handset to watch video. Even at home where WiFi is available. This is insane, and why Three need to come up with a limit, maybe 20GB or 50GB, but a limit - as all radio networks have less capacity than copper in the street.

AYCE is a nice idea, but video (and large high def screens) mean a TON of data gets used very quickly - and this suddenly becomes unsustainable.

[Gigabit]

If Three ditches unlimited handset data I see no reason to go with them over EE at all.

EE's prices seem to be going down, whilst Three's are going up. You're getting more on EE and less on Three. Who at Three thought this was a good idea?

[B_W2]

I must agree with Gigabit, if AYCE data went, there is no compelling reason to stay with Three.

Granted EE's allowances are not the most generous, but, I believe the feeling is that they will increase shortly. Adding to that a much better network in every respect (capacity, spectrum and speed) then I believe Three would loose loads of customers.

Like I say I am committed contract wise until the end of this year. Let's hope a reasonable 4G rollout continues and AYCE data sticks, even if it requires £20 add on on PAYG or goes entirely.

Does anybody else agree that AYCE data on Three is their MAJOR USP?

[wb9999]

Quote:

Originally Posted by B_W2

Does anybody else agree that AYCE data on Three is their MAJOR USP?

I think Three's USP is giving more for less than the other networks. They could impose a data limit of 20 or 50GB for £15 or £20 per month and still have their USP - you won't be able to get the same data for anywhere near that price elsewhere. Even if EE increased their allowances they won't get anywhere close to 20GB for £20 pm.

[Thine Wonk]

PAYG is a declining market. Three won't end unlimited data on sim only and contract plans for the foreseeable future, whether they'll keep it on PAYG and at that £15 price point is the main question.

Customers like unlimited handset data, if means they don't have to worry about the data they use on the phone. It is less of a worry for PAYG customers though as they are used to checking their allowance and topping up, plus they can't spend more than they've already pre-paid.

In post-billing contracts, it always comes up as a big want in research I expect it to stay on SIMO and contract.

[david16]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jchamier

As phones get bigger (e.g. 6" Huawei models) then more and more people will use AYCE data on handset to watch video. Even at home where WiFi is available. This is insane, and why Three need to come up with a limit, maybe 20GB or 50GB, but a limit - as all radio networks have less capacity than copper in the street.

AYCE is a nice idea, but video (and large high def screens) mean a TON of data gets used very quickly - and this suddenly becomes unsustainable.

Hang on a minute. I thought the conclusion on these forums was it was tetherers with three consuming several tens of GB even 100+GB month after month after month on a permanent basis using the AYCE data on sim only instead of wifi that was unsustainable, not those who had the AYCE data but only because it ensured it covering them and not necessarily consuming anywhere near as much 50GB per month let alone well in excess every single month.

Three would be totally ridiculous to suddenly cut the data limit of the All in one 15 to a bite size 1GB.

Indeed not everybody has access to their home WiFi the whole time. I had no access to my home WiFi for 6 weeks last year. A 1GB data limit would get me nowhere in the same situation if such were to replace the AYCE data.

[david16]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thine Wonk

PAYG is a declining market. Three won't end unlimited data on sim only and contract plans for the foreseeable future, whether they'll keep it on PAYG and at that £15 price point is the main question.

Customers like unlimited handset data, if means they don't have to worry about the data they use on the phone. It is less of a worry for PAYG customers though as they are used to checking their allowance and topping up, plus they can't spend more than they've already pre-paid.

In post-billing contracts, it always comes up as a big want in research I expect it to stay on SIMO and contract.

As I've mentioned several times the AYCE data on PAYG doesn't have to be £15. £20 or £25 would be acceptable price to pay if AYCE data on PAYG remains.

It was the AYCE data on PAYG that attracted me to three. And I can pay cash for it, whereas with a sim only (even the one month rolling) requires you to pay by credit card and you are signing a contract. And has been said you can't get AYCE data anywhere else.

I would seriously have to look around if three ditch their AYCE data from PAYG for a data limit I can be sure will cover me. 1GB or 2GB data limit are pathetically low and it would certainly not cut the mustard to keep me buying an add on with three if either became the new data limit on PAYG.

I may consume 2GB to 3GB in a general month. But there may be occasional months where I consume considerably more.

[Gigabit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wb9999

I think Three's USP is giving more for less than the other networks. They could impose a data limit of 20 or 50GB for £15 or £20 per month and still have their USP - you won't be able to get the same data for anywhere near that price elsewhere. Even if EE increased their allowances they won't get anywhere close to 20GB for £20 pm.

I'm afraid I think it is unlimited too.

The reason people I know went with Three is just so they didn't need to worry about using too much data.

[david16]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gigabit

I'm afraid I think it is unlimited too.

The reason people I know went with Three is just so they didn't need to worry about using too much data.

Indeed. The £15 is irrelevant in terms of a price to pay for AYCE data

You just can't put a figure re: how much data is unlimited data.

What do you think is an acceptable data limit for £15 or £20 per month on PAYG? And how much data do you think Three would set the data limit at for £15 or £20 on PAYG if they suddenly do decide to ditch the AYCE data?

But I'm not staying with three if their maximum PAYG data limit suddenly becomes a pitiful 1GB.

[wb9999]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gigabit

I'm afraid I think it is unlimited too.

The reason people I know went with Three is just so they didn't need to worry about using too much data.

So if Three, for example, changed the unlimited mobile phone data to 20GB, where else would you go to get 20GB of data for £15?

[david16]

FAO Thine Wonk

I would certainly not want mobile sims to become 12 or 24 month minimum contract on credit as the only possible option no matter who you go with.

PAYG needs to be an option because if the mobile telecoms market becomes contract only it would see a lot of people ineligible for credit suddenly disappear from the mobile telecoms market, as well as already been ineligible to take out fixed line telecoms.

With PAYG mobile sims, there's no tie up to a specific mobile telecoms company for several months.

Credit doesn't have to be the way for all telecommunications.

[Thine Wonk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by david16

FAO Thine Wonk

I would certainly not want mobile sims to become 12 or 24 month minimum contract on credit as the only possible option no matter who you go with.

PAYG needs to be an option because if the mobile telecoms market becomes contract only it would see a lot of people ineligible for credit suddenly disappear from the mobile telecoms market, as well as already been ineligible to take out fixed line telecoms.

With PAYG mobile sims, there's no tie up to a specific mobile telecoms company for several months.

Credit doesn't have to be the way for all telecommunications.

There's plenty of 30 day sim only deals that almost anyone can get approved for, PAYG has it's place, but you may find Three removes unlimited data from the PAYG £15 price point plan that's all I'm saying.

It is core to their contract offering in the foreseeable future though. The whole point of unlimited has always been that people don't want to meter or understand their use and be forced to forecast how much they might want to use in the future. People are generally busy and just want to use it when they want and not have to worry about running out or ending up with a big bill.

PAYG as it is pre-pay where people have to top up and check balances anyway doesn't have the same consumer sentiment and at the same time the current offer hasn't been altered for a long time. Generally contracts are cheaper than PAYG on things like unlimited because the networks want to encourage you into a fixed term for their security and so that they can offer add-on purchases via postpay, ARPU is higher on contract.

You are thinking about it far too much from a point of view of what you want and your situation, but the networks don't look at it like that, they are purely looking at it from a business and market point of view. Expect the unlimited £15 PAYG plan to go this year or to be re-priced.

[david16]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thine Wonk

There's plenty of 30 day sim only deals that almost anyone can get approved for, PAYG has it's place, but you may find Three removes unlimited data from the PAYG £15 price point plan that's all I'm saying.

It is core to their contract offering in the foreseeable future though. The whole point of unlimited has always been that people don't want to meter or understand their use and be forced to forecast how much they might want to use in the future. People are generally busy and just want to use it when they want and not have to worry about running out or ending up with a big bill.

PAYG as it is pre-pay where people have to top up and check balances anyway doesn't have the same consumer sentiment and at the same time the current offer hasn't been altered for a long time. Generally contracts are cheaper than PAYG on things like unlimited because the networks want to encourage you into a fixed term for their security and so that they can offer add-on purchases via postpay, ARPU is higher on contract.

You are thinking about it far too much from a point of view of what you want and your situation, but the networks don't look at it like that, they are purely looking at it from a business and market point of view. Expect the unlimited £15 PAYG plan to go this year or to be re-priced.

Sure. But as I've said many enough times a re-price for AYCE data I would be happy enough to pay for because it would still be AYCE data on offer after all.

Also I've said that rolling 30 day sim only does not allow you to pay cash. I even asked in my local store if I could do that and they said no. What if they say you can't even take out a 30 day rolling sim with AYCE data because of a poor credit rating (that's the situation at vodafone anyway for pay monthly there) and the only option is PAYG and by then they only offer a dismal 1GB of data at most?

Just hope AYCE data remains on PAYG at three even if they put it up to £20 to £25. It would be far better than a max of 1GB of data for £15.

[carcass]

http://www.nowpayg.co.uk/bundles/
£20 unlimited data.

[jabbamk1]

Pay as you go isn't going anywhere. But it's not as big a market as it once was.

In fact pay as you go used to account for more than 65% of total connections around a decade ago and It's only in the past few years that we've seen this number drop to around ~40%. Pay as you go deals are getting less and less attractive and especially in the smartphone era we're seeing more and more consumers sign up to contract or SIM Only deals to take advantage of bundled plans with inclusive data as data can still be very expensive on pay as you go. So there are a number of consumer benefits that are responsible for contract and SIM Only take up.

There are also network benefits such as higher ARPU on contract and a longer staying customer due to contract lengths. Pay Monthly customers are considered higher priority as well by networks and targets are set to increase pay monthly customers whilst pay as you go isn't seen as important anymore.

In the past year we saw more than 2,460,000* prepay customers leave the market in favour of postpay and the number of cumulative postpay customers has now exceeded 50 million subscribers. There are over 50 million people in the UK aged 18 or over so the figures show that penetration has reached 100% when it comes to postpay market. Bear in mind that unique subscribers are not included in the 50 million number and users may have more than 1 line which skews the figures.

All in all the prepay market has been decreasing by around 3 million subscribers a year since 2009 and it's estimated that there will be a total of 27,500,000 prepay users by the end of 2018.

Ok, that's my analysis done for the day

*Cumulative number from EE, Three, Vodafone and O2.

[david16]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jabbamk1

Pay as you go isn't going anywhere. But it's not as big a market as it once was.

In fact pay as you go used to account for more than 65% of total connections around a decade ago and It's only in the past few years that we've seen this number drop to around ~40%. Pay as you go deals are getting less and less attractive and especially in the smartphone era we're seeing more and more consumers sign up to contract or SIM Only deals to take advantage of bundled plans with inclusive data as data can still be very expensive on pay as you go. So there are a number of consumer benefits that are responsible for contract and SIM Only take up.

There are also network benefits such as higher ARPU on contract and a longer staying customer due to contract lengths. Pay Monthly customers are considered higher priority as well by networks and targets are set to increase pay monthly customers whilst pay as you go isn't seen as important anymore.

In the past year we saw more than 2,460,000* prepay customers leave the market in favour of postpay and the number of cumulative postpay customers has now exceeded 50 million subscribers. There are over 50 million people in the UK aged 18 or over so the figures show that penetration has reached 100% when it comes to postpay market. Bear in mind that unique subscribers are not included in the 50 million number and users may have more than 1 line which skews the figures.

All in all the prepay market has been decreasing by around 3 million subscribers a year since 2009 and it's estimated that there will be a total of 27,500,000 prepay users by the end of 2018.

Ok, that's my analysis done for the day

*Cumulative number from EE, Three, Vodafone and O2.

Loads of PAYG sims for various operators sold in Poundland for £1 and at Amazon for 1p.

[d123]

Quote:

Originally Posted by david16

Loads of PAYG sims for various operators sold in Poundland for £1 and at Amazon for 1p.

A lot of independent unlocker type phone shops give them away free now as they get a small commission on activation from distributors.