Three now doing annual price increase

thebennyboy · 31-05-2015, 20:56

I was helping my mother choose a new phone as her contract is up for renewal and was staggered to see this when clicking on "View full plan details":

http://i.gyazo.com/487d4394a69708721ebfc02b877ecacd.png

Quote:

Price include £5 monthly discount for paying by a recurring method, such as direct debit. Each May, your Monthly Charge will increase by an amount up to the January RPI rate (published each February), unless you're on a SIM plan.

http://www.three.co.uk/iPhone/iPhone...&colour=Yellow

So where did that promise not to raise prices go?

wilt · 31-05-2015, 21:04

They have finally been fully assimilated in to the old boys club.

How long until voda abandon their promise?

jabbamk1 · 31-05-2015, 21:25

But whats this....

http://blog.three.co.uk/2014/01/24/g...t-price-rises/

Ah well.

Someone needs to expose this asap.

jabbamk1 · 31-05-2015, 21:31

My contact recently left Three to pursue a better role.

Now I see why.

Company has gone to shit recently.

jabbamk1 · 31-05-2015, 21:33

Actually the whole mobile industry has gone down the drain in the past couple of years. What the hell happened.

Everything Goes · 31-05-2015, 21:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by jabbamk1

But whats this....

http://blog.three.co.uk/2014/01/24/g...t-price-rises/

Ah well.

Someone needs to expose this asap.

Definitely a contradiction. Guess the Ofcom's chocolate fire guard has well and truly melted

thebennyboy · 31-05-2015, 22:19

Quite glad i went to BT Mobile. Can actually use my data allowance with the speed difference! Guess another reason for me to have left now.

Denco1 · 31-05-2015, 22:29

I am well and truly getting sick of Three now. They are constantly breaking promises after claiming to be the innovative player, and the lack of investment is a joke.
I can't see this happening but I want the CMA to put a stop to the merger. Competition in the UK has dropped by quite a margin, prices on the increase and innovation on the slide.
Why Ofcom let the terms for the 4G obligation slot be so low I will never understand, 2mbps really? Mind you without a merger with Three they probably couldn't do that before the end of 2017 anyway, showing how bad the situation is.
I don't think Hutchison Whampoa or Telefonica should be the parent company of Three or O2, the profits over product is really beginning to show.

Zee_Bukhari · 01-06-2015, 01:19

Orange has always been crap as has Vodafone, expensive and poor quality, T-Mobile was decent until the merger with EE when prices went through the roof and what you get is pretty poor. O2's price plans were not so bad back in the days, but their 3G coverage was so poor, Three were the only one left doing things right and now they are just screwing up their reputation after years of building it up from past experiences.

aurichie · 01-06-2015, 04:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by thebennyboy

Quite glad i went to BT Mobile. Can actually use my data allowance with the speed difference! Guess another reason for me to have left now.

If you think moving to BT will insulate you from price rises, clearly you must be new to them. Their line rental pricing has been soaring for years massively above inflation. Call costs increase almost every year. And they're constantly moving free extras into new paid add-ons. They're definitely not going into mobile to compete on price.

Market consolidation is only going to have one effect on consumers: prices are going way higher across the board in the next few years.

Zee_Bukhari · 01-06-2015, 10:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by aurichie

If you think moving to BT will insulate you from price rises, clearly you must be new to them. Their line rental pricing has been soaring for years massively above inflation. Call costs increase almost every year. And they're constantly moving free extras into new paid add-ons. They're definitely not going into mobile to compete on price.

Market consolidation is only going to have one effect on consumers: prices are going way higher across the board in the next few years.

Well they are good value at the moment. If not, switch over elsewhere.

thebennyboy · 01-06-2015, 10:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by aurichie

If you think moving to BT will insulate you from price rises, clearly you must be new to them. Their line rental pricing has been soaring for years massively above inflation. Call costs increase almost every year. And they're constantly moving free extras into new paid add-ons. They're definitely not going into mobile to compete on price.

Market consolidation is only going to have one effect on consumers: prices are going way higher across the board in the next few years.

I'm not expecting to be immune from price rises. I thought you would have gathered why i left. Poor 4G rollout and generally terrible network congestion where i live. I'm much happier on BT Mobile than i was on Three. Even if they do raise the price it won't be by much 2-3% AFAIK.

I signed up to BT Mobile knowing that i may receive price rises, with Three however i did not. They backed out of their promise of no price increases, along with other promises. Three have lost their way imo.

Everything Goes · 01-06-2015, 12:37

I got a reply from Three:

Hi, if you take out a new contract or upgrade on or after 29 May 2015, you’ll see the monthly cost of your contract increase annually in line with the RPI. If you're taking out a new contract or upgrading, these new Ts&Cs will be made clear to you when you enter into your new contract. While the new Ts&Cs are being introduced this year, the first RPI increase will be in May 2016 and you’ll see it from your May bill onwards. Let me know if you have any other queries.

Chrysalis · 01-06-2015, 12:39

To be fair compared to the fixed line providers mobile providers are saints.

The annual line rental increases on fixed line is well above inflation, plus on top of that is increases on call rates, caller display etc.

Everything Goes · 01-06-2015, 14:00

Its been picked up by ISPReview:

Quote:

Last year saw mobile operator Three UK make a clear commitment concerning mid-contract prices rises by telling customers that the “fixed monthly recurring fee from Three will not go up in the minimum term of your contract,” but they now appear to have done a U-turn.

At the time Ofcom did include one caveat to this, which is that providers would still be able to impose increases based on natural movements in the Retail Price Index (inflation). Never the less some operators, such as Three UK, took a very pro-consumer stance even towards RPI linked adjustments.

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php...e-promise.html

interactiv-uk · 01-06-2015, 18:04

Bringing the Three plans in line with O2 in advance perhaps?

moox · 01-06-2015, 19:26

Yet another nail in the coffin. Rubbish and non-existant 4G, reduced value/increased prices, and now this.

EE or BT are looking more tempting

enapace · 01-06-2015, 19:43

I can't honestly see a valid reason on going with Three over EE anymore. But a lot of going with EE over Three.

lightspeed2398 · 01-06-2015, 19:45

People keep talking about how a Three/o2 merger leaving us with only three networks wouldn't be competitive. The amount of competition Three's providing at the moment means we effectively have only three networks. It's now a choice between 3 networks that have developing 4g networks and if you look around especially on Voda and o2 you can get some good deals, and Three whose only benefit now is the free roaming and unlimited data, these are not bad perks but the network quality is so bad at the moment in some places that it's not worth it.

Everything Goes · 01-06-2015, 20:19

There are less and less reasons to stick with Three. The only unique selling points are unlimited handset data and Feels Like Home. 4G rollout is slow. Prices aren't as competitive as they once were.

Quote:

Last year, Ofcom introduced new rules to stop carriers increasing the price of mobile contracts during the agreed term. Anyone stung by rising costs could exit their contract without penalty: a decree that effectively killed mid-term price hikes. One slight loophole to the new regulation was that providers could up the cost of contracts in line with inflation, as long as all relevant paperwork mentioned this explicitly. EE and O2 took advantage of this by adding the appropriate clauses to their contracts, but at the time, Vodafone and Three committed to completely static pricing models.

A few days ago, however, Three quietly changed its terms and conditions to include the inflation clause -- any contract signed on or after May 29th 2015 will be subject to a small yearly price increase in line with inflation, with the first bump occurring this time next year. It's not like this makes Three any different from O2 or EE, of course, but it does make us question the provider's definition of "commitment." Meanwhile, Vodafone's sticking to its guns, at least for now. A couple of months ago, the carrier took to its blog to yet again reaffirm its promise to keep contract pricing completely fixed, thereby "keeping with the spirit of the regulations."

http://www.engadget.com/2015/06/01/t...lation-clause/

binary · 01-06-2015, 20:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by enapace

I can't honestly see a valid reason on going with Three over EE anymore. But a lot of going with EE over Three.

Feel At Home.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zee_Bukhari

Orange has always been crap as has Vodafone, expensive and poor quality, ...

Always? Orange was regarded by many as where it was at in the late 90's and early noughties.

gavo360 · 01-06-2015, 20:44

I'm in the process of shopping around for a new contract but really three is my only choice. I'm happy with coverage I get from three and I need unlimited data, just the price of flagship phones with unlimited data on contract has risen so much over the last year or so, they say they don't charge you more for 4G but you will definitely pay for it when you renew. Two years ago I got at the time the top of the range phone available with all you can eat for £33 a month but now if you want a current flagship with all you can eat its close to £50 a month.

moox · 01-06-2015, 21:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by binary

Feel At Home.

Not that compelling if you don't travel much (and especially if you don't travel to other feel at home countries)

I'd rather have better UK network performance and pricing

IslandNiles · 01-06-2015, 21:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by lightspeed2398

People keep talking about how a Three/o2 merger leaving us with only three networks wouldn't be competitive. The amount of competition Three's providing at the moment means we effectively have only three networks. It's now a choice between 3 networks that have developing 4g networks and if you look around especially on Voda and o2 you can get some good deals, and Three whose only benefit now is the free roaming and unlimited data, these are not bad perks but the network quality is so bad at the moment in some places that it's not worth it.

This strikes me as rather silly and over the top. Of course, 4G is nice to have and I'd rather Three were rolling it out quicker than has been the case so far. I'm also quite lucky in that I have 4G at work with consistent 45Mb download speeds. But, before the 4G went live a few months ago, I had 3G with consistently high speeds, too.

I tend not to obsess about whether I see a 3G or 4G symbol on my status bar, but whether I can use data in a meaningful way. Last week I drove 150 miles whilst streaming Spotify and using my car's Bluetooth. It didn't drop out once. I doubt that would have been the case if I'd been on O2 or Vodafone, even with their recent 4G coverage. If I can use Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, stream music from Spotify or video from Netflix or YouTube, use WhatsApp or FaceTime, why does it really matter if I have 4G or not?

Which brings me back to my lovely 4G connection at work. It's good to have, and yes the low latency means everything feels a bit quicker, but ultimately I can only do everything I was doing before.

To say that we only have three networks at the moment is pretty absurd.

lightspeed2398 · 01-06-2015, 21:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by IslandNiles

This strikes me as rather silly and over the top. Of course, 4G is nice to have and I'd rather Three were rolling it out quicker than has been the case so far. I'm also quite lucky in that I have 4G at work with consistent 45Mb download speeds. But, before the 4G went live a few months ago, I had 3G with consistently high speeds, too.

I tend not to obsess about whether I see a 3G or 4G symbol on my status bar, but whether I can use data in a meaningful way. Last week I drove 150 miles whilst streaming Spotify and using my car's Bluetooth. It didn't drop out once. I doubt that would have been the case if I'd been on O2 or Vodafone, even with their recent 4G coverage. If I can use Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, stream music from Spotify or video from Netflix or YouTube, use WhatsApp or FaceTime, why does it really matter if I have 4G or not?

Which brings me back to my lovely 4G connection at work. It's good to have, and yes the low latency means everything feels a bit quicker, but ultimately I can only do everything I was doing before.

To say that we only have three networks at the moment is pretty absurd.

It's a bit hyperbolic but it's not far off the truth in my opinion. I've seen the network become unusable quite a lot recently, admittedly in urban environments but my SIMs from other networks have coped. I accept your argument about 4g, a DC-HSDPA connection from Three is often just as good but in terms of providing competition to the other networks, a 4g network is a selling point though and as Devon is keen on pointing out brings other benefits.

Regarding the Vodafone/o2 thing I just came off a month on a Vodafone SIM, where their network has been upgraded it is excellent, rivalling EE's in some cases, but where it hasn't as your rightly say it is truly shocking. But the fact is that they know this and they're putting in tons of money to fix it, Three isn't and they're at risk of becoming obsolete if they do nothing. We've seen what happens if you don't invest in the network and treat customers well and unfortunately that seems to be what Three are doing, which is a shame as my main SIM is still with them but I'm actively considering other options for these reasons.

31-05-2015, 20:56	#1
thebennyboy Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: North Wales Posts: 325	Three now doing annual price increase I was helping my mother choose a new phone as her contract is up for renewal and was staggered to see this when clicking on "View full plan details": http://i.gyazo.com/487d4394a69708721ebfc02b877ecacd.png Quote: Price include £5 monthly discount for paying by a recurring method, such as direct debit. Each May, your Monthly Charge will increase by an amount up to the January RPI rate (published each February), unless you're on a SIM plan. http://www.three.co.uk/iPhone/iPhone...&colour=Yellow So where did that promise not to raise prices go?

31-05-2015, 21:04	#2
wilt Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Potterspury Posts: 930	They have finally been fully assimilated in to the old boys club. How long until voda abandon their promise?

31-05-2015, 21:25	#3
jabbamk1 Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: London, UK Posts: 8,759	But whats this.... http://blog.three.co.uk/2014/01/24/g...t-price-rises/ Ah well. Someone needs to expose this asap.

31-05-2015, 21:31	#4
jabbamk1 Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: London, UK Posts: 8,759	My contact recently left Three to pursue a better role. Now I see why. Company has gone to shit recently.

31-05-2015, 21:33	#5
jabbamk1 Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: London, UK Posts: 8,759	Actually the whole mobile industry has gone down the drain in the past couple of years. What the hell happened.

31-05-2015, 21:41	#6
Everything Goes Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: In the future.... Posts: 11,259	Quote: Originally Posted by jabbamk1 But whats this.... http://blog.three.co.uk/2014/01/24/g...t-price-rises/ Ah well. Someone needs to expose this asap. Definitely a contradiction. Guess the Ofcom's chocolate fire guard has well and truly melted

31-05-2015, 22:19	#7
thebennyboy Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: North Wales Posts: 325	Quite glad i went to BT Mobile. Can actually use my data allowance with the speed difference! Guess another reason for me to have left now.

31-05-2015, 22:29	#8
Denco1 Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2015 Posts: 983	I am well and truly getting sick of Three now. They are constantly breaking promises after claiming to be the innovative player, and the lack of investment is a joke. I can't see this happening but I want the CMA to put a stop to the merger. Competition in the UK has dropped by quite a margin, prices on the increase and innovation on the slide. Why Ofcom let the terms for the 4G obligation slot be so low I will never understand, 2mbps really? Mind you without a merger with Three they probably couldn't do that before the end of 2017 anyway, showing how bad the situation is. I don't think Hutchison Whampoa or Telefonica should be the parent company of Three or O2, the profits over product is really beginning to show.

01-06-2015, 01:19	#9
Zee_Bukhari Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2013 Posts: 1,319	Orange has always been crap as has Vodafone, expensive and poor quality, T-Mobile was decent until the merger with EE when prices went through the roof and what you get is pretty poor. O2's price plans were not so bad back in the days, but their 3G coverage was so poor, Three were the only one left doing things right and now they are just screwing up their reputation after years of building it up from past experiences.

01-06-2015, 04:55	#10
aurichie Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Posts: 5,100	Quote: Originally Posted by thebennyboy Quite glad i went to BT Mobile. Can actually use my data allowance with the speed difference! Guess another reason for me to have left now. If you think moving to BT will insulate you from price rises, clearly you must be new to them. Their line rental pricing has been soaring for years massively above inflation. Call costs increase almost every year. And they're constantly moving free extras into new paid add-ons. They're definitely not going into mobile to compete on price. Market consolidation is only going to have one effect on consumers: prices are going way higher across the board in the next few years.

01-06-2015, 10:20	#11
Zee_Bukhari Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2013 Posts: 1,319	Quote: Originally Posted by aurichie If you think moving to BT will insulate you from price rises, clearly you must be new to them. Their line rental pricing has been soaring for years massively above inflation. Call costs increase almost every year. And they're constantly moving free extras into new paid add-ons. They're definitely not going into mobile to compete on price. Market consolidation is only going to have one effect on consumers: prices are going way higher across the board in the next few years. Well they are good value at the moment. If not, switch over elsewhere.

01-06-2015, 10:56	#12
thebennyboy Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: North Wales Posts: 325	Quote: Originally Posted by aurichie If you think moving to BT will insulate you from price rises, clearly you must be new to them. Their line rental pricing has been soaring for years massively above inflation. Call costs increase almost every year. And they're constantly moving free extras into new paid add-ons. They're definitely not going into mobile to compete on price. Market consolidation is only going to have one effect on consumers: prices are going way higher across the board in the next few years. I'm not expecting to be immune from price rises. I thought you would have gathered why i left. Poor 4G rollout and generally terrible network congestion where i live. I'm much happier on BT Mobile than i was on Three. Even if they do raise the price it won't be by much 2-3% AFAIK. I signed up to BT Mobile knowing that i may receive price rises, with Three however i did not. They backed out of their promise of no price increases, along with other promises. Three have lost their way imo.

01-06-2015, 12:37	#13
Everything Goes Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: In the future.... Posts: 11,259	I got a reply from Three: Hi, if you take out a new contract or upgrade on or after 29 May 2015, you’ll see the monthly cost of your contract increase annually in line with the RPI. If you're taking out a new contract or upgrading, these new Ts&Cs will be made clear to you when you enter into your new contract. While the new Ts&Cs are being introduced this year, the first RPI increase will be in May 2016 and you’ll see it from your May bill onwards. Let me know if you have any other queries.

01-06-2015, 12:39	#14
Chrysalis Forum Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Leics Posts: 581	To be fair compared to the fixed line providers mobile providers are saints. The annual line rental increases on fixed line is well above inflation, plus on top of that is increases on call rates, caller display etc.

01-06-2015, 14:00	#15
Everything Goes Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: In the future.... Posts: 11,259	Its been picked up by ISPReview: Quote: Last year saw mobile operator Three UK make a clear commitment concerning mid-contract prices rises by telling customers that the “fixed monthly recurring fee from Three will not go up in the minimum term of your contract,” but they now appear to have done a U-turn. At the time Ofcom did include one caveat to this, which is that providers would still be able to impose increases based on natural movements in the Retail Price Index (inflation). Never the less some operators, such as Three UK, took a very pro-consumer stance even towards RPI linked adjustments. http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php...e-promise.html

01-06-2015, 18:04	#16
interactiv-uk Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 587	Bringing the Three plans in line with O2 in advance perhaps?

01-06-2015, 19:26	#17
moox Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 14,645	Yet another nail in the coffin. Rubbish and non-existant 4G, reduced value/increased prices, and now this. EE or BT are looking more tempting

01-06-2015, 19:43	#18
enapace Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2013 Posts: 4,249	I can't honestly see a valid reason on going with Three over EE anymore. But a lot of going with EE over Three.

01-06-2015, 19:45	#19
lightspeed2398 Forum Member Join Date: Feb 2015 Posts: 1,325	People keep talking about how a Three/o2 merger leaving us with only three networks wouldn't be competitive. The amount of competition Three's providing at the moment means we effectively have only three networks. It's now a choice between 3 networks that have developing 4g networks and if you look around especially on Voda and o2 you can get some good deals, and Three whose only benefit now is the free roaming and unlimited data, these are not bad perks but the network quality is so bad at the moment in some places that it's not worth it.

01-06-2015, 20:19	#20
Everything Goes Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: In the future.... Posts: 11,259	There are less and less reasons to stick with Three. The only unique selling points are unlimited handset data and Feels Like Home. 4G rollout is slow. Prices aren't as competitive as they once were. Quote: Last year, Ofcom introduced new rules to stop carriers increasing the price of mobile contracts during the agreed term. Anyone stung by rising costs could exit their contract without penalty: a decree that effectively killed mid-term price hikes. One slight loophole to the new regulation was that providers could up the cost of contracts in line with inflation, as long as all relevant paperwork mentioned this explicitly. EE and O2 took advantage of this by adding the appropriate clauses to their contracts, but at the time, Vodafone and Three committed to completely static pricing models. A few days ago, however, Three quietly changed its terms and conditions to include the inflation clause -- any contract signed on or after May 29th 2015 will be subject to a small yearly price increase in line with inflation, with the first bump occurring this time next year. It's not like this makes Three any different from O2 or EE, of course, but it does make us question the provider's definition of "commitment." Meanwhile, Vodafone's sticking to its guns, at least for now. A couple of months ago, the carrier took to its blog to yet again reaffirm its promise to keep contract pricing completely fixed, thereby "keeping with the spirit of the regulations." http://www.engadget.com/2015/06/01/t...lation-clause/

01-06-2015, 20:39	#21
binary Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 636	Quote: Originally Posted by enapace I can't honestly see a valid reason on going with Three over EE anymore. But a lot of going with EE over Three. Feel At Home. Quote: Originally Posted by Zee_Bukhari Orange has always been crap as has Vodafone, expensive and poor quality, ... Always? Orange was regarded by many as where it was at in the late 90's and early noughties.

DS Forums

Three now doing annual price increase

01-06-2015, 20:44	#22
gavo360 Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Sheffield Posts: 1,568	I'm in the process of shopping around for a new contract but really three is my only choice. I'm happy with coverage I get from three and I need unlimited data, just the price of flagship phones with unlimited data on contract has risen so much over the last year or so, they say they don't charge you more for 4G but you will definitely pay for it when you renew. Two years ago I got at the time the top of the range phone available with all you can eat for £33 a month but now if you want a current flagship with all you can eat its close to £50 a month.

01-06-2015, 21:07	#23
moox Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 14,645	Quote: Originally Posted by binary Feel At Home. Not that compelling if you don't travel much (and especially if you don't travel to other feel at home countries) I'd rather have better UK network performance and pricing

01-06-2015, 21:17	#24
IslandNiles Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 13,091	Quote: Originally Posted by lightspeed2398 People keep talking about how a Three/o2 merger leaving us with only three networks wouldn't be competitive. The amount of competition Three's providing at the moment means we effectively have only three networks. It's now a choice between 3 networks that have developing 4g networks and if you look around especially on Voda and o2 you can get some good deals, and Three whose only benefit now is the free roaming and unlimited data, these are not bad perks but the network quality is so bad at the moment in some places that it's not worth it. This strikes me as rather silly and over the top. Of course, 4G is nice to have and I'd rather Three were rolling it out quicker than has been the case so far. I'm also quite lucky in that I have 4G at work with consistent 45Mb download speeds. But, before the 4G went live a few months ago, I had 3G with consistently high speeds, too. I tend not to obsess about whether I see a 3G or 4G symbol on my status bar, but whether I can use data in a meaningful way. Last week I drove 150 miles whilst streaming Spotify and using my car's Bluetooth. It didn't drop out once. I doubt that would have been the case if I'd been on O2 or Vodafone, even with their recent 4G coverage. If I can use Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, stream music from Spotify or video from Netflix or YouTube, use WhatsApp or FaceTime, why does it really matter if I have 4G or not? Which brings me back to my lovely 4G connection at work. It's good to have, and yes the low latency means everything feels a bit quicker, but ultimately I can only do everything I was doing before. To say that we only have three networks at the moment is pretty absurd.

01-06-2015, 21:39	#25
lightspeed2398 Forum Member Join Date: Feb 2015 Posts: 1,325	Quote: Originally Posted by IslandNiles This strikes me as rather silly and over the top. Of course, 4G is nice to have and I'd rather Three were rolling it out quicker than has been the case so far. I'm also quite lucky in that I have 4G at work with consistent 45Mb download speeds. But, before the 4G went live a few months ago, I had 3G with consistently high speeds, too. I tend not to obsess about whether I see a 3G or 4G symbol on my status bar, but whether I can use data in a meaningful way. Last week I drove 150 miles whilst streaming Spotify and using my car's Bluetooth. It didn't drop out once. I doubt that would have been the case if I'd been on O2 or Vodafone, even with their recent 4G coverage. If I can use Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, stream music from Spotify or video from Netflix or YouTube, use WhatsApp or FaceTime, why does it really matter if I have 4G or not? Which brings me back to my lovely 4G connection at work. It's good to have, and yes the low latency means everything feels a bit quicker, but ultimately I can only do everything I was doing before. To say that we only have three networks at the moment is pretty absurd. It's a bit hyperbolic but it's not far off the truth in my opinion. I've seen the network become unusable quite a lot recently, admittedly in urban environments but my SIMs from other networks have coped. I accept your argument about 4g, a DC-HSDPA connection from Three is often just as good but in terms of providing competition to the other networks, a 4g network is a selling point though and as Devon is keen on pointing out brings other benefits. Regarding the Vodafone/o2 thing I just came off a month on a Vodafone SIM, where their network has been upgraded it is excellent, rivalling EE's in some cases, but where it hasn't as your rightly say it is truly shocking. But the fact is that they know this and they're putting in tons of money to fix it, Three isn't and they're at risk of becoming obsolete if they do nothing. We've seen what happens if you don't invest in the network and treat customers well and unfortunately that seems to be what Three are doing, which is a shame as my main SIM is still with them but I'm actively considering other options for these reasons.