Three 'Feel at Home' Data Speeds

digiwigi · 23-11-2015, 09:38

Been using the roaming in HK over the past week, OK 3G speed, forget media but fine for everything else.

Went to Macau though and Three was limited to 2G. My phone did switch to a network called 45505 over there on the second day which gave (slow) 3G so maybe worth remembering for anyone considering a trip there.

Yossi · 23-11-2015, 13:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by culabula

While waiting, I'll just use Three Like Home from Three Ireland 🇮🇪 where I can, which is not crippled in any way, shape or form.

I've always found it funny how different local Three companies are.

An Austrian friend of mine lived in England for 9 months and used his Austrian "Drei" service here, it worked as good as my Three UK. Plus he had visual voicemail.

Three UK does throttle its Feel at home service, no voicemail, no Wifi calling, poor customer service.

Amazingly bad in comparison. I don't get it, really.

jonmorris · 23-11-2015, 15:16

Three in the UK was always a rather small network. Arguably most money was put into building the network and sustaining demand, which it has done very well, but it has never been able to make the big league.

Hence issues with retailers, presumably because of a lack of margin. Hence issues with basically not getting many business customers (do Three even do business sales anymore?). Hence the lack of handset choice.. etc

Three also undersold itself, perhaps out of desperation, to get subscribers. When it discounted the One Plan to £15 a month on SIM only, it was ridiculously cheap. I, and loads of others, took advantage of it (well, why not?) but let's just pause to think how mad it was.

Besides people going over their minutes (unlikely; people make less calls these days) or SMS allowances (probably unlikely too thanks to IM), you had no way to make extra money from customers as you offered AYCE data and tethering. And of course some people took advantage of it (and can't be blamed IMO) by using tethering to the full.

I can see why Feel at Home needs to be restricted, but I don't agree with it. Especially when it's being sold in a way as to suggest it's just like being at home. I'd have fully supported something like 1GB per day (or whatever) at full speed, then capped, or perhaps limited to Email, social media and you pay extra for full access - with fixed allowances purchased on a daily/weekly basis, with no restriction (and with tethering, as you've paid for a fixed allowance).

This year Three has done lots of things that totally go against its 'make it right' campaign. Introducing RPI increases, reducing the Feel at Home allowance from 25GB to 12GB (I only found out when they contacted me over my story, and it was said as if it was ALWAYS 12GB) and other little price hikes, PAYG add-ons being tweaked (not in favour of the customer) and so on.

I think Three needs the O2 purchase to go through. It's a fantastic network, but once it kicks everyone off the One Plan, keeps increasing tariffs to the point where they're not really that competitive and Vodafone and O2 have caught up in terms of coverage and capacity (likely from end of 2017 onwards we will see a massive transformation), will it be a network that people feel they need to go on?

You'll have EE at the top, for sure, and Three may well find itself falling beneath O2 and Vodafone and becoming almost irrelevant.

What's odd is that the parent company wants Three to become a big league player, but the marketing is still trying to give the general public this idyllic vision that Three is the small guy 'sticking it to the man'.

radamfi · 23-11-2015, 20:35

I went for a road trip through the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Switzerland last month. I took my usual Orange Spain SIM card with the "Go Europe" option selected but that doesn't work in Switzerland so I also took a 3 mobile broadband SIM. I could listen to streaming radio perfectly whenever there was 3G reception using the Orange Spain SIM card. However, 3 was too slow for streaming radio in Switzerland and was much worse than the Orange Spain SIM card in France (where both SIM cards work).

Gigabit · 23-11-2015, 23:58

I'm just not convinced Three really cares about 4G at all.

Pedro_C · 24-11-2015, 00:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gigabit

I'm just not convinced Three really cares about 4G at all.

They're called three, not four!

mjpalin · 04-01-2016, 21:17

Hubby & I have just returned from France - I'm on a one month sim only, he's on PAYG and had bought the relevant add on for feel at home.

I could connect to Bouygues, Free & Orange and when not in the middle of nowhere could get good speeds.

Hubby on the other hand, was barred from even accessing Orange and had terrible data speeds on Bouygues and pretty much nothing on Free.....

The only other real difference is i have an ios device whereas he has an android
(my 12gb / 12m data sim in my ipad also worked fine)!!

robbie82 · 04-01-2016, 22:07

can someone please pm the "VPN" I'm away in a few weeks to Italy and would like to try it out.

Thanks,

Rob

rasseru16 · 04-01-2016, 22:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by robbie82

can someone please pm the "VPN" I'm away in a few weeks to Italy and would like to try it out.

Thanks,

Rob

The VPN isnt free though but does STILL work, not gonna be blocked with ease.

cuna84 · 12-01-2016, 12:25

Hi all,

Long time lurker here, could someone pm me the VPN please as I am off on holiday soon, also does this VPN work with iphones or just Android?

Kind Regards
Andrew

rasseru16 · 12-01-2016, 14:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by cuna84

Hi all,

Long time lurker here, could someone pm me the VPN please as I am off on holiday soon, also does this VPN work with iphones or just Android?

Kind Regards
Andrew

Hi it only works on android devices.

cuna84 · 13-01-2016, 11:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by rasseru16

Hi it only works on android devices.

Ah ok, many thanks for the information

jonmorris · 13-01-2016, 11:09

I had a comment from someone on iD Mobile who claimed not to have had any trouble streaming video when roaming.

Has anyone else used iD Mobile? It uses Three's network but data might be managed differently, and actually in a better way for users roaming.

tarzion · 13-01-2016, 13:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjpalin

Hubby & I have just returned from France - I'm on a one month sim only, he's on PAYG and had bought the relevant add on for feel at home.

I could connect to Bouygues, Free & Orange and when not in the middle of nowhere could get good speeds.

Hubby on the other hand, was barred from even accessing Orange and had terrible data speeds on Bouygues and pretty much nothing on Free.....

The only other real difference is i have an ios device whereas he has an android
(my 12gb / 12m data sim in my ipad also worked fine)!!

We went to France at the end of December last year and our Feel at Home experience has been really bad.

Even though there was full signal at most of the places, we could rarely use the data even for browsing.

My wife's S5 was constantly latched onto Orange and my Z5 was latched onto the Bouygues network.

When I tried to make a call I kept getting network busy messages.

We were so happy when we landed back into the UK...

culabula · 13-01-2016, 14:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonmorris

I had a comment from someone on iD Mobile who claimed not to have had any trouble streaming video when roaming.

Has anyone else used iD Mobile? It uses Three's network but data might be managed differently, and actually in a better way for users roaming.

On foot of this info, I'm going to go get one now and use it in Ireland and France, come Friday.

Gigabit · 13-01-2016, 14:19

How does the UK's rural coverage compare to that of other European countries?

jonmorris · 13-01-2016, 14:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by culabula

On foot of this info, I'm going to go get one now and use it in Ireland and France, come Friday.

Please do report back, and try the usual things like YouTube, Netflix and even Sky Go if you have a sub (that works in Ireland I believe, but not France).

culabula · 13-01-2016, 14:47

b

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonmorris

Please do report back, and try the usual things like YouTube, Netflix and even Sky Go if you have a sub (that works in Ireland I believe, but not France).

Wilco. Do ALL their SIMs roam gratis or only certain ones ? Seems incredible that they piggyback on Three yet offer 29 countries.

jchamier · 13-01-2016, 16:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gigabit

How does the UK's rural coverage compare to that of other European countries?

I think P3 research had an article that said the UK was behind in rural coverage even voice.

culabula · 13-01-2016, 16:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonmorris

Please do report back, and try the usual things like YouTube, Netflix and even Sky Go if you have a sub (that works in Ireland I believe, but not France).

Not going to happen. No PAYG and not all their SIMs roam abroad.

InfamousTeal · 13-01-2016, 16:35

I live in Northern Ireland, near the Irish border, if you need things tested, I get Irish signal from my window and can test roaming from my bedroom

Not sure where I'd get an iD sim? And I don't really want to have to pay for one just to find out if tethering isn't throttled..

culabula · 13-01-2016, 16:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by InfamousTeal

I live in Northern Ireland, near the Irish border, if you need things tested, I get Irish signal from my window and can test roaming from my bedroom

Not sure where I'd get an iD sim? And I don't really want to have to pay for one just to find out if tethering isn't throttled..

Both Irish ID and British ID are available in CrapPhone Whorehouse shops in the respective jurisdictions. But see my message above because getting one is hereby pointless...

InfamousTeal · 13-01-2016, 16:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by culabula

Both Irish ID and British ID are available in CrapPhone Whorehouse shops in the respective jurisdictions. But see my message above because getting one is hereby pointless...

No PAYG so you have to take out a contract? Yeah, we'd need someone with a contract then

rasseru16 · 13-01-2016, 17:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by InfamousTeal

I live in Northern Ireland, near the Irish border, if you need things tested, I get Irish signal from my window and can test roaming from my bedroom

Not sure where I'd get an iD sim? And I don't really want to have to pay for one just to find out if tethering isn't throttled..

Can you pick up all the Irish networks ?

InfamousTeal · 13-01-2016, 19:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by rasseru16

Can you pick up all the Irish networks ?

Just ran a scan, this is what my phone sees from my window:

(every type of technology from every UK network)
and..

3 IRL - 3G
IRL METEOR - 2G
vodafone IE - 2G
vodafone IE - 3G
vodafone IE - 4G
3 - 2G (this is old O2-IRL, recently bought by Three Ireland, and just shows "3", not 3 IRL, annoyingly!)

04-01-2016, 21:17	#382
mjpalin Forum Member Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 114	anyone got any ideas? Hubby & I have just returned from France - I'm on a one month sim only, he's on PAYG and had bought the relevant add on for feel at home. I could connect to Bouygues, Free & Orange and when not in the middle of nowhere could get good speeds. Hubby on the other hand, was barred from even accessing Orange and had terrible data speeds on Bouygues and pretty much nothing on Free..... The only other real difference is i have an ios device whereas he has an android (my 12gb / 12m data sim in my ipad also worked fine)!!

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23-11-2015, 09:38	#376
digiwigi Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: London Posts: 1,150	Been using the roaming in HK over the past week, OK 3G speed, forget media but fine for everything else. Went to Macau though and Three was limited to 2G. My phone did switch to a network called 45505 over there on the second day which gave (slow) 3G so maybe worth remembering for anyone considering a trip there.

23-11-2015, 13:03	#377
Yossi Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2014 Posts: 164	Quote: Originally Posted by culabula While waiting, I'll just use Three Like Home from Three Ireland 🇮🇪 where I can, which is not crippled in any way, shape or form. I've always found it funny how different local Three companies are. An Austrian friend of mine lived in England for 9 months and used his Austrian "Drei" service here, it worked as good as my Three UK. Plus he had visual voicemail. Three UK does throttle its Feel at home service, no voicemail, no Wifi calling, poor customer service. Amazingly bad in comparison. I don't get it, really.

23-11-2015, 15:16	#378
jonmorris Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: a land filled with trolls Posts: 12,018	Three in the UK was always a rather small network. Arguably most money was put into building the network and sustaining demand, which it has done very well, but it has never been able to make the big league. Hence issues with retailers, presumably because of a lack of margin. Hence issues with basically not getting many business customers (do Three even do business sales anymore?). Hence the lack of handset choice.. etc Three also undersold itself, perhaps out of desperation, to get subscribers. When it discounted the One Plan to £15 a month on SIM only, it was ridiculously cheap. I, and loads of others, took advantage of it (well, why not?) but let's just pause to think how mad it was. Besides people going over their minutes (unlikely; people make less calls these days) or SMS allowances (probably unlikely too thanks to IM), you had no way to make extra money from customers as you offered AYCE data and tethering. And of course some people took advantage of it (and can't be blamed IMO) by using tethering to the full. I can see why Feel at Home needs to be restricted, but I don't agree with it. Especially when it's being sold in a way as to suggest it's just like being at home. I'd have fully supported something like 1GB per day (or whatever) at full speed, then capped, or perhaps limited to Email, social media and you pay extra for full access - with fixed allowances purchased on a daily/weekly basis, with no restriction (and with tethering, as you've paid for a fixed allowance). This year Three has done lots of things that totally go against its 'make it right' campaign. Introducing RPI increases, reducing the Feel at Home allowance from 25GB to 12GB (I only found out when they contacted me over my story, and it was said as if it was ALWAYS 12GB) and other little price hikes, PAYG add-ons being tweaked (not in favour of the customer) and so on. I think Three needs the O2 purchase to go through. It's a fantastic network, but once it kicks everyone off the One Plan, keeps increasing tariffs to the point where they're not really that competitive and Vodafone and O2 have caught up in terms of coverage and capacity (likely from end of 2017 onwards we will see a massive transformation), will it be a network that people feel they need to go on? You'll have EE at the top, for sure, and Three may well find itself falling beneath O2 and Vodafone and becoming almost irrelevant. What's odd is that the parent company wants Three to become a big league player, but the marketing is still trying to give the general public this idyllic vision that Three is the small guy 'sticking it to the man'.

23-11-2015, 20:35	#379
radamfi Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Crawley, West Sussex Posts: 10,617	I went for a road trip through the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Switzerland last month. I took my usual Orange Spain SIM card with the "Go Europe" option selected but that doesn't work in Switzerland so I also took a 3 mobile broadband SIM. I could listen to streaming radio perfectly whenever there was 3G reception using the Orange Spain SIM card. However, 3 was too slow for streaming radio in Switzerland and was much worse than the Orange Spain SIM card in France (where both SIM cards work).

23-11-2015, 23:58	#380
Gigabit Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 2,887	I'm just not convinced Three really cares about 4G at all.

24-11-2015, 00:05	#381
Pedro_C Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2015 Location: Surrey, UK Posts: 660	Quote: Originally Posted by Gigabit I'm just not convinced Three really cares about 4G at all. They're called three, not four!

04-01-2016, 22:07	#383
robbie82 Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2015 Posts: 1	can someone please pm the "VPN" I'm away in a few weeks to Italy and would like to try it out. Thanks, Rob

04-01-2016, 22:25	#384
rasseru16 Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Suffolk, East Anglia Posts: 666	Quote: Originally Posted by robbie82 can someone please pm the "VPN" I'm away in a few weeks to Italy and would like to try it out. Thanks, Rob The VPN isnt free though but does STILL work, not gonna be blocked with ease.

12-01-2016, 12:25	#385
cuna84 Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 2	Hi all, Long time lurker here, could someone pm me the VPN please as I am off on holiday soon, also does this VPN work with iphones or just Android? Kind Regards Andrew

12-01-2016, 14:03	#386
rasseru16 Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Suffolk, East Anglia Posts: 666	Quote: Originally Posted by cuna84 Hi all, Long time lurker here, could someone pm me the VPN please as I am off on holiday soon, also does this VPN work with iphones or just Android? Kind Regards Andrew Hi it only works on android devices.

13-01-2016, 11:07	#387
cuna84 Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 2	Quote: Originally Posted by rasseru16 Hi it only works on android devices. Ah ok, many thanks for the information

13-01-2016, 11:09	#388
jonmorris Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: a land filled with trolls Posts: 12,018	I had a comment from someone on iD Mobile who claimed not to have had any trouble streaming video when roaming. Has anyone else used iD Mobile? It uses Three's network but data might be managed differently, and actually in a better way for users roaming.

13-01-2016, 13:26	#389
tarzion Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 622	Quote: Originally Posted by mjpalin Hubby & I have just returned from France - I'm on a one month sim only, he's on PAYG and had bought the relevant add on for feel at home. I could connect to Bouygues, Free & Orange and when not in the middle of nowhere could get good speeds. Hubby on the other hand, was barred from even accessing Orange and had terrible data speeds on Bouygues and pretty much nothing on Free..... The only other real difference is i have an ios device whereas he has an android (my 12gb / 12m data sim in my ipad also worked fine)!! We went to France at the end of December last year and our Feel at Home experience has been really bad. Even though there was full signal at most of the places, we could rarely use the data even for browsing. My wife's S5 was constantly latched onto Orange and my Z5 was latched onto the Bouygues network. When I tried to make a call I kept getting network busy messages. We were so happy when we landed back into the UK...

13-01-2016, 14:09	#390
culabula Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Belfast, Ireland Posts: 736	Quote: Originally Posted by jonmorris I had a comment from someone on iD Mobile who claimed not to have had any trouble streaming video when roaming. Has anyone else used iD Mobile? It uses Three's network but data might be managed differently, and actually in a better way for users roaming. On foot of this info, I'm going to go get one now and use it in Ireland and France, come Friday.

13-01-2016, 14:19	#391
Gigabit Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 2,887	How does the UK's rural coverage compare to that of other European countries?

13-01-2016, 14:22	#392
jonmorris Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: a land filled with trolls Posts: 12,018	Quote: Originally Posted by culabula On foot of this info, I'm going to go get one now and use it in Ireland and France, come Friday. Please do report back, and try the usual things like YouTube, Netflix and even Sky Go if you have a sub (that works in Ireland I believe, but not France).

13-01-2016, 14:47	#393
culabula Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Belfast, Ireland Posts: 736	b Quote: Originally Posted by jonmorris Please do report back, and try the usual things like YouTube, Netflix and even Sky Go if you have a sub (that works in Ireland I believe, but not France). Wilco. Do ALL their SIMs roam gratis or only certain ones ? Seems incredible that they piggyback on Three yet offer 29 countries.

13-01-2016, 16:25	#394
jchamier Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2000 Location: This forum Posts: 3,392	Quote: Originally Posted by Gigabit How does the UK's rural coverage compare to that of other European countries? I think P3 research had an article that said the UK was behind in rural coverage even voice.

13-01-2016, 16:27	#395
culabula Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Belfast, Ireland Posts: 736	Quote: Originally Posted by jonmorris Please do report back, and try the usual things like YouTube, Netflix and even Sky Go if you have a sub (that works in Ireland I believe, but not France). Not going to happen. No PAYG and not all their SIMs roam abroad.

13-01-2016, 16:35	#396
InfamousTeal Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Northern Ireland Posts: 303	I live in Northern Ireland, near the Irish border, if you need things tested, I get Irish signal from my window and can test roaming from my bedroom Not sure where I'd get an iD sim? And I don't really want to have to pay for one just to find out if tethering isn't throttled..

DS Forums

Three 'Feel at Home' Data Speeds

13-01-2016, 16:39	#397
culabula Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Belfast, Ireland Posts: 736	Quote: Originally Posted by InfamousTeal I live in Northern Ireland, near the Irish border, if you need things tested, I get Irish signal from my window and can test roaming from my bedroom Not sure where I'd get an iD sim? And I don't really want to have to pay for one just to find out if tethering isn't throttled.. Both Irish ID and British ID are available in CrapPhone Whorehouse shops in the respective jurisdictions. But see my message above because getting one is hereby pointless...

13-01-2016, 16:46	#398
InfamousTeal Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Northern Ireland Posts: 303	Quote: Originally Posted by culabula Both Irish ID and British ID are available in CrapPhone Whorehouse shops in the respective jurisdictions. But see my message above because getting one is hereby pointless... No PAYG so you have to take out a contract? Yeah, we'd need someone with a contract then

13-01-2016, 17:45	#399
rasseru16 Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Suffolk, East Anglia Posts: 666	Quote: Originally Posted by InfamousTeal I live in Northern Ireland, near the Irish border, if you need things tested, I get Irish signal from my window and can test roaming from my bedroom Not sure where I'd get an iD sim? And I don't really want to have to pay for one just to find out if tethering isn't throttled.. Can you pick up all the Irish networks ?

13-01-2016, 19:37	#400
InfamousTeal Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Northern Ireland Posts: 303	Quote: Originally Posted by rasseru16 Can you pick up all the Irish networks ? Just ran a scan, this is what my phone sees from my window: (every type of technology from every UK network) and.. 3 IRL - 3G IRL METEOR - 2G vodafone IE - 2G vodafone IE - 3G vodafone IE - 4G 3 - 2G (this is old O2-IRL, recently bought by Three Ireland, and just shows "3", not 3 IRL, annoyingly!)