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Three 4G Discussion Thread (Part 2) |
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#4101 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Central Scotland, UK
Posts: 871
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The article from the FT (if you don't subscribe): Hutchison pledges to price freeze to win Three-O2 approval Li Ka-shing-owned group makes offer in bid to convince sceptical regulators to back UK mobile deal https://next.ft.com/content/508f3a12...b-b7ece4e953a0 Quote:
Mobile phone prices for tens of millions of UK customers would be frozen for five years as part of a £5bn investment drive by Li Ka-shing’s CK Hutchison to win over competition watchdogs to its £10.5bn acquisition of O2.
The merger of Hutchison’s Three and O2 would create the country’s largest mobile group, with control over about 40 per cent of the market. That has raised concerns among regulatory authorities in the UK and Brussels, who worry that reducing the number of mobile operators from four to three could lead to skyrocketing prices and falling investment. In response, the Hong Kong-based group has promised to hold prices for five years for British customers of O2 and Three, while also opening its network to rivals. The company said that the £5bn investment over five years would be used to improve coverage, reliability and data speeds, and represents about a fifth more than would have been invested by the two standalone companies combined. In a letter to the Financial Times, Canning Fok, co-managing director of CK Hutchison, promises that “every cost efficiency that combining the businesses achieves will be shared with our customers. Like for like, customers’ bills will go down.” Hutchison will use those arguments in its negotiations with the commission, as it seeks to win approval for a deal that has already drawn objections from Ofcom, the UK telecoms regulator. On Monday, Sharon White, Ofcom’s chief executive, urged Brussels’ antitrust regulator to block the deal, pointing to prices rising by as much as a fifth in countries with just three competitors. Her concerns are expected to be reflected in a detailed document of objections to the acquisition to be published by the commission on Thursday. The commission is worried about a broad range of areas concerning retail and wholesale competition, as well as damage to network-sharing arrangements and the impact on retailers that sell mobile contracts. Price pledges may not carry weight with the commission, which prefers structural remedies rather than artificially seeking to dictate costs. Hutchison’s pledge is also based on unit price, while the commission and Ofcom may prefer to use overall costs of mobile packages at a time when consumers are increasingly buying more expensive bundles of data. The key promise is likely to be around how far Hutchison will go on opening or selling parts of the combined network to encourage competition. The company has promised to offer “fractional shared ownership interests in our network capacity” — in effect, allowing rivals that do not own mobile networks such as TalkTalk, Sky and Virgin Media to buy slices of capacity on its network. “This is unprecedented in the UK telecom wholesale market. It eliminates the tricks some wholesalers use to disadvantage their wholesale customers,” Mr Fok wrote in his letter. However, this falls short of the solution proposed by Ms White of creating a fourth, standalone rival to replace Three or O2 by selling spectrum and infrastructure. Hutchison is unlikely to agree to go to such lengths, according to analysts. Mr Fok wrote that Hutchison has already spent billions to create Three, the smallest of the four mobile groups in the UK. He added that the combination of Three with O2 “makes us able to stand up to the new leviathan BT. Not to mention to the old top-of-the-heap predator Vodafone and is the only way we can guarantee that five years from now customers will still be getting more and paying less for mobile services.” |
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#4102 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: a land filled with trolls
Posts: 12,014
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People on the One Plan are recommended the £30 plan as the equivalent, not a plan that's perhaps more suitable based on actual usage.
If you call, they recommend a more suitable plan based on usage but then won't offer any discount. That is unless you push for it, if course. You know it's over 1.2 million people on the One Plan and others. Hardly an insignificant number. |
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#4103 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 14,546
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Quote:
People on the One Plan are recommended the £30 plan as the equivalent, not a plan that's perhaps more suitable based on actual usage.
If you call, they recommend a more suitable plan based on usage but then won't offer any discount. That is unless you push for it, if course. You know it's over 1.2 million people on the One Plan and others. Hardly an insignificant number. |
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#4104 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 834
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Quote:
Interesting that Three will freeze prices according to the FT tomorrow. Is that before or after bumping everyone up to paying more per month?!
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#4105 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Leicester
Posts: 201
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Quote:
So what will happen is it'll force them to exit and then your real private equity asset strippers will come in and milk it for all it's worth or it'll go to a telecoms company like Virgin Media who'll just sell it as yet another thing and their project roadmap will have to be split between their fibre network, their business customers, their ISP, their phone service, their gov contracts and oh year, the mobile business too. Where's the new fibre rollout they promised to new areas? Nowhere, hasn't happened.
BT has been criticised for ignoring areas, the pair of them have been acting against the interests of consumers eg: BT rolling out areas where Virgin had fibre already first, yet BT is allowed to swallow up EE and add to their already huge dominance. Virgin Media have been rolling out fibre... here's a few places http://www.uswitch.com/broadband/new...to_manchester/ http://www.engadget.com/2015/07/30/v...oadband-leeds/ and more recently near to me: http://www.uswitch.com/broadband/new...fast_villages/ Also isn't it only logical for BT to cable Virgin Media areas first? It's definitely in my interest when they start rolling out G.Fast
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#4106 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: London, UK
Posts: 8,759
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Quote:
The article from the FT (if you don't subscribe):
Hutchison pledges to price freeze to win Three-O2 approval Li Ka-shing-owned group makes offer in bid to convince sceptical regulators to back UK mobile deal https://next.ft.com/content/508f3a12...b-b7ece4e953a0 Thanks squawkBOX. |
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#4107 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 652
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News story; Tom Mockridge, chief executive of Virgin Media, calls on Brussels to allow O2 merger with Three. Makes sense.
Despite Sharon White, Ofcom, biased objections, you know, the ones posted behind a Tory controlled media paywall and without even consulting with Three or O2 first, looks like support is strong for the deal.
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#4108 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 869
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Three's coverage checker says there'll be "network improvements" tomorrow. Makes you wonder...
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#4109 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: the wild world web
Posts: 28,132
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I think they already cover 65% with 4 G.
And in their smaller 3G areas, if contention is low then there is little need for 4G. Back in tye days whee they reined supreme on 3G, EE users never seemed to need data. And even now, with a paltry EE allowance much the norm, I am not sure if users are that bothered. |
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#4110 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Leicester
Posts: 201
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Quote:
Three's coverage checker says there'll be "network improvements" tomorrow. Makes you wonder...
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#4111 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 1,376
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Quote:
I think they already cover 65% with 4 G.
And in their smaller 3G areas, if contention is low then there is little need for 4G. Back in tye days whee they reined supreme on 3G, EE users never seemed to need data. And even now, with a paltry EE allowance much the norm, I am not sure if users are that bothered. |
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#4112 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Somewhere in Scotland
Posts: 52
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Some activity down at a local MBNL mast. New Alifabs cabinet has appeared (https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resi...nt=photo%2cjpg)
It's quite a big one as well. EE already have this site 4G'd could this be 3 adding some 4G? |
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#4113 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Surrey, UK
Posts: 660
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Quote:
Some activity down at a local MBNL mast. New Alifabs cabinet has appeared (https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resi...nt=photo%2cjpg)
It's quite a big one as well. EE already have this site 4G'd could this be 3 adding some 4G? |
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#4114 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Somewhere in Scotland
Posts: 52
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That was my thinking, but wasn't sure. It's been there a week or so but no obvious new services coming from it.
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#4115 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 43
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Quote:
Some activity down at a local MBNL mast. New Alifabs cabinet has appeared (https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resi...nt=photo%2cjpg)
It's quite a big one as well. EE already have this site 4G'd could this be 3 adding some 4G? jayteedc |
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#4116 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 14,641
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Unsurprisingly the 3 site says, once again, that there are "network improvements" in my area on the 13th. I've yet to actually see an improvement from the last million times there has been "improvements"
(still no 1800MHz 4G for example) |
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#4117 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Totnes, Devon
Posts: 6,693
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Quote:
Unsurprisingly the 3 site says, once again, that there are "network improvements" in my area on the 13th. I've yet to actually see an improvement from the last million times there has been "improvements"
(still no 1800MHz 4G for example) ![]() Can't believe neither of them have done the Eden project mast though. let me rephrase that.... I can't believe EE haven't done that mast. Three's Cornwall coverage looks complete crap. Dunno why but I thought it was better than that. (I'm talking 1800 that you can actually use of course). |
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#4118 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Posts: 8,175
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Three's coverage checker is now saying that you can use the inTouch app to access SuperVoice network (inc 800Mhz coverage as ticking the box in the checker adds much wider 4G coverage), on devices such as my S4 Mini.
I haven't been able to test this out on my phone to see if it is true, but it sounds like the TinT coverage may be coming to all devices soon (as the S4 Mini is pretty old). Without TinT: ftp://public:public@princegaz.no-ip....ts4mdh23hg.png With TinT ticked: ftp://public:public@princegaz.no-ip....dh23hgtint.png |
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#4119 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Surrey, UK
Posts: 660
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Quote:
Three's coverage checker is now saying that you can use the inTouch app to access SuperVoice network (inc 800Mhz coverage as ticking the box in the checker adds much wider 4G coverage), on devices such as my S4 Mini.
I haven't been able to test this out on my phone to see if it is true, but it sounds like the TinT coverage may be coming to all devices soon (as the S4 Mini is pretty old). Without TinT: ftp://public:public@princegaz.no-ip....ts4mdh23hg.png With TinT ticked: ftp://public:public@princegaz.no-ip....dh23hgtint.png |
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#4120 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Surrey, UK
Posts: 660
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It works. It actually works. 3 in touch allows access to 800MHz for devices not 3 ROM'd ETC
My Moto G 1st gen: http://pedroc.co.uk/3intsuper.png Cell ID 7 is 800MHZ! |
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#4121 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Posts: 8,175
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Quote:
It works. It actually works. 3 in touch allows access to 800MHz for devices not 3 ROM'd ETC
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#4122 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Surrey, UK
Posts: 660
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Quote:
Seriously? The coverage area I included was not where I live now so I couldn't check. If that is true, that would be awesome. I knew Jackson would make it right!
![]() Calls don't seem to be going over the app, but data's working. It's quite hard to test here though because I have to put the phone in the microwave (which is off) and then move a baking tray in front in the right place so it blocks of 1800Mhz but still lets enough 800Mhz in. |
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#4123 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Totnes, Devon
Posts: 6,693
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Quote:
because I have to put the phone in the microwave 9which is off) and then move a baking tray in front in the right place so it blocks of 1800Mhz but still lets enoguh 800Mhz in.
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#4124 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: a land filled with trolls
Posts: 12,014
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Did you get an update for inTouch? The version I can see on the Play store is still from December and no mention of 4G as yet.
I've got my Three SIM in a dual SIM phone right now (Honor 7) and it seems inTouch doesn't like that at all. It just exits immediately! |
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#4125 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Surrey, UK
Posts: 660
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Quote:
Did you get an update for inTouch? The version I can see on the Play store is still from December and no mention of 4G as yet.
I've got my Three SIM in a dual SIM phone right now (Honor 7) and it seems inTouch doesn't like that at all. It just exits immediately! |
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