Offer free email, Web and social media and do an add on for full data then? I'm not against paying for things.

I'm much more happy to pay Vodafone £3 a day and be able to use my 10GB a month at full speed to be honest.

My brother found feel at home alright for pure text emails and google maps, though his phone is pretty old so he's probably used to waiting a massive amount of time for things to happen.

It's clear that Feel At Home is throttled. I was roaming on Three ITA, they had really great speedtest results yet I couldn't buffer a single YouTube video or even stream music on Spotify. Skype didn't seem to be throttled, or at least not as bad, so I was able to Skype video call around the streets.

It also seemed as if anything HTTPS was throttled. It did the job of getting me around using Google Maps but using data like at home wasn't the case.

It's very deceptive of Three to lie and claim they don't throttle abroad, it's extremely obvious they do.

Three has now responded.

http://jmcomms.com/2015/11/02/sort-i...-like-at-home/

Well, in September I was in Spain for a week, and the speeds were not very good at all. For example, listening to Radio Four on my smartphone and iPad (both of which have Three sims) wasn't possible using either the iPlayer app or Tunein Radio. Surfing the next, looking up emails etc, was OK, though not fine.

I don't know which Spanish mobile company I was connected to because the connection to carrier was set on automatic. And I can well believe some are better than others. I was also in a pretty remote area, so perhaps that had something to do with it. But bearing all that in mind I wasn't impressed. In fact, I went on DS here to ask advice and there were suggestions that Three 'turned down the speed' of the net connection (if you get my drift, I don't know technically what might have gone on) to give access, but to ensure everyone could connect rather than a few clogging up the system streaming films etc.

Three should say it doesn't want people watching movies abroad and impose a tougher limit on data, or create a daily add on for unhindered access.

Then everyone would be happy.

Believe me, Spanish networks are actually better than UK ones in terms of speed (at least on 3G.. I moved back to the UK before LTE was even available).
It is a blatant manipulation when Three blames slow speeds on the network.

To test this is quite easy: run a speed test, if you get more than 3mbps that's perfectly fine to watch any youtube video, stream radio, or download apps. If next you can't do any of those things, THREE is blocking your conection.

I've just come back from two weeks in Florida. I was expecting to be on here after a few days begging for the VPN, but I was pleasantly surprised. I was able to browse, use all the usual social networks, watch videos on YouTube, use FaceTime, stream songs from Apple Music in the car, update apps etc. It all worked very well.

My iPhone 6 used T-Mobile and AT&T. On a side note, my mum's iPhone 5 never got a data signal when connected to T-Mobile. Eventually, I changed her phone to manual network selection and chose AT&T, after which it worked fine. Since my phone worked absolutely fine when connected to T-Mobile, I wonder if they've started using a frequency that isn't supported by the iPhone 5. Although, would that be the case with 3G? Anyway, it was a minor mystery.

Yes and Yes with T-Mobile USA. A 5s would be a bit better, but a 6 is really needed to get T-Mobile USA 4G support in many places.

Also what they call 4G is what we call HSPA+ and what they call LTE we call 4G. (arrghh).

I'm almost in favour is a two tier system.

-Keep the current system free/low cost.
-Offer unrestricted at a higher rate.

Jon is spot on, again, some of us don't mind paying. We just want great service when we need it.

I'm probably going to leave Three, even though I'm actually very happy (in most respects) with their service. But when I travel I don't really want to carry an extra MiFi just to be able to remote access servers from my phone.

Choice and transparency is all I'm looking for. I'm not even after streaming video.

I seem to recall that T Mobile USA and maybe Sprint had done this. Edge speed roaming free in many countries around the world. Pay for high speed data.

Starting to become common for Wi-Fi access, so no reason why Three can't do something like it.

It's only Three that has the problem because it offers unlimited data (albeit not unlimited abroad and whereas it was once a FUP of 25GB a month, and no more than 6 months of usage, it appears that's been cut to 12GB - did anyone else know this?). All the others make you pay to use your own allowance OR buy a specific (usually very limited) allowance.

Three's scheme sounds fantastic and for most people it is, but there's a clear need to restrict and the responses from Three make it clear they're slowing things down to give everyone a better experience. The thing is, if they weren't routing all the traffic through their own servers then it wouldn't be a problem for Three anyway - but rather the foreign networks.

I suspect Three gets a VERY favourable rate from the operators by basically putting all of us on its own VPN and controlling usage. It can then guarantee it won't have a heavy impact on the foreign network, which will in turn allow the 'unlimited' data.

Three is trying to be seen as transparent and single me out as an exceptional user, but the most recent response is the clearest admission yet that, yes, it is slow and it's to stop abuse.

Some of the recent marketing suggest that they now call LTE, 4G LTE. Haven't heard 4G being HSPA+ for a few years now.

Yes I think the competitive market in the US means that both AT&T and T-Mobile now don't bother talking about their UMTS network and the crazy branding of 3G being UMTS and HSPA, and 4G being HSPA+ and DC-HSPA :-/ The term has moved to 4G LTE which is the same term used by all 4 big networks.

They did need to separate out the UMTS/HSPA 3G versus the CDMA 3G since the UMTS platform was vastly faster and more capable (average speeds similar to UK) where CDMA was average speeds less than 1meg in busy areas.

LTE changed the game, Verizon now claims national population coverage, AT&T is close, and T-mobile is investing hard.

I'm of a slightly differently opinion.

I think that the roaming deals between providers are all based on usage. So Three buy x number of minutes and y number of MB each month. I think that Three are still paying for each MB of roaming data used. Which means it's a balancing game. Heavy users probably cost more than they pay for which is balanced against those that use less. Offering unlimited is very useful for enticing new customers, so it has a value that makes it worth this hassle.

I wouldn't be surprised if they were paying
~£5 per GB for us to use Data on a partner network.

Therefore this is all to ensure that they don't make a heavy loss.

It certainly seems to work. I use far less data abroad than in the UK workout modifying my behaviour (because their network is adjusting what is happening and how quickly. I just wish that the main thing I want to use it for worked. It is especially annoying that it isn't particularly high bandwidth!

They actually seem to do a pretty good job of reducing data usage without appearing to for general web browsing and social media.

So here's my follow up story. Three has at least had the guts to admit it slows traffic, which is good.

Of course, it's quite likely nothing is going to happen - but at least people might stop being told by Three customer service that everything is unrestricted and any bad experience likely down to the foreign network and just 'bad luck' and a one-off issue affecting just you...

http://jmcomms.com/2015/11/05/three-...-go-from-here/

The question is, what do people do now if they want to use data unhindered on Three? Changing network would appear the only option, which means Three does need to pause for thought here.

Interesting. I would just note though that I don't think streaming is completely barred. As I mentioned, I was in the USA recently and was able to stream songs from Apple Music without any issues. I used it in the car and really wasn't expecting it to work, but I was impressed that it didn't drop out even when I was driving around.

I'm in Spain at the weekend so I'll report back on how I get on there.

I like how O2 say they don't block anything or control how you access certain things, but then go on to clarify that if you use more than a paltry 50MB on streaming, you'll be slowed down.

Well I don't know about you, but I don't go on holiday to sit and watch iPlayer or Youtube. I'd be perfectly happy with web browsing, maps etc when I'm abroad, but at least people know now, they have ALWAYS said it might not be as fast as at home, but now they have repeated it for you Jon.

I can't help thinking that nothing new has been discovered here. Nothing has changed in the last year or two and Three have always been upfront about the speed of the service not necessarily being the same as at home.

WHen you route all traffic across countries it does cause issues with latency and streaming often.

You do keep saying the 'not as fast as home' bit, despite the fact it's actually blocked. It's not that video streams slower, or at a lower bitrate, it actually doesn't work at all. Saying it's just slower is in fact a lie.

So the discovery is that Three can no longer say it doesn't throttle, as it has admitted it does. Thus, it's not like at home and if you pay for unlimited data, it's restricted and potentially generates an issue with regards to net neutrality.

But as you don't want to watch video abroad, you don't need to worry. And those that do want to watch video know to go on another network.

It may well just be the latency that causes streams to struggle, it also may be partner networks throttling. In this thread there are people saying it worked for them, so I think it depends which location etc

My main use of data abroad like any other holiday maker (the audience in the ads, as Three aren't really a business network) is posting holiday tweets or uploading a few pictures, not sitting on holiday watching Youtube or Netflix like you could at home. Hotels have wifi, for mobile data abroad I think it suits most people, but obviously doesn't suit everyone, especially people that are really into phones, speed tests and spend all day writing about them etc. That isn't a typical user.

Just a couple of years ago 1GB would have cost hundreds or thousands of pounds to use abroad. Three are offering the ability to use your allowance at home for data abroad, they say things like streaming might be slower etc. It seems to work for some but not for others, it probably depends on whether people are trying to tether (not permitted), or what quality of stream people are using too.

The irony is that if you use certain VPNs, you can bypass the throttling and stream fine. Indeed you could even start file sharing - and Three has said to me that it's okay to use a VPN.

So the people who might want to abuse things currently can anyway!

I don't regard playing a few episodes of Peppa Pig to keep a 3 year old occupied at an airport or whatever is excessive, or abuse. Wi-Fi is always an option, but often very slow and works poorly if you move around. And at airports, it's often not free.

I never said it was abuse, just that there's a chance that streaming won't work so well. It is good that you're highlighting it, you never know it may just get Three to crank the speed up slightly if they are throttling.

My point is that on an unlimited international data plan you can probably expect throttling, or speed reductions, in fact I'm sure they even said the speeds might not be as good abroad and really sold it in the ads as people posting holiday pics, facebook posts etc. I think that's what the majority would use it for.

I that case, they shouldn't be calling it "Feel like Home"....

Bingo!

Depends how you interpret it. You can 'feel at home' by continuing to use your mobile without worrying about additional costs, keeping in touch with family and friends etc. You're not having to pay anything extra and what you do use comes out of your normal allowance, just like you're at home.

I think people have unrealistic expectations. As I say, my experience in Florida was pretty much flawless. I wasn't streaming films over the mobile data network and I never tried it, but I don't think I'd expect to be able to do that anyway. I was able to do pretty much everything else. (On a side note, the wifi was so poor that I actually had to switch it off to use FaceTime.) I used nearly 10GB of roaming data for absolutely no additional cost.