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Old 09-09-2016, 08:15
jonmorris
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They won't be, but I expect they will comply with regulations when the EU bucks up its ideas.

Most people still think FaH is great (for a lot of usage scenarios, it is) and are oblivious to the problems. They don't blame Three but the network they're roaming on.
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Old 09-09-2016, 08:25
Thine Wonk
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Once you add a lot of latency in by piping the traffic back home, that has an impact.

I'll enjoy using my data allowance for free in 2 weeks anyway, you guys can carry on moaning even though some of you aren't even on Three.
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Old 09-09-2016, 09:02
Gigabit
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They won't be though because Jackson is in charge.
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Old 09-09-2016, 09:09
jonmorris
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Once you add a lot of latency in by piping the traffic back home, that has an impact.

I'll enjoy using my data allowance for free in 2 weeks anyway, you guys can carry on moaning even though some of you aren't even on Three.
You make it sound like Three has no choice in the way it routes its traffic!

It has set up a system to cope with the fact that it initially offered 'unlimited' data, with a hefty 25GB limit. It had to show other networks that it would limit usage so people never got to take advantage.

It has since reduced the limit to 12GB, but one must wonder why they offered such a huge amount of data and then couldn't let you use it. Blocking streaming obviously worked, and it also limits file downloading (both good ways to consume large amounts of data) but why not just do what other networks do now, and offer a EU roaming bundle of 1-4GB or something.

Oh and step up and get 4G roaming agreements in place. 4G isn't new tech now, so being limited to 3G is ridiculous. It won't be that long until many operators switch off 3G, so does that mean Three users will roam on 2G?!

Let's remember that other networks are now offering inclusive roaming in the EU, so FaH isn't quite the deal it once was. Fine for US, Australia, Hong Kong etc.
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Old 09-09-2016, 10:48
Icaraa
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Ok maybe they should offer a premium version of Feel at Home for a fee.

But for free in the non-EU countries for me it's a fantastic deal, even though it's 3G only. I'm not on Three anymore but I'll get a Pay & Go SIM a when I go to Australia in May.
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Old 09-09-2016, 11:16
plymouthbloke1974
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By the time I go to Tenerife next August the rules will all be changed anyway and I'll be able to take my 50GB EE Extra plan and use the data as I see fit anyway
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Old 10-09-2016, 10:04
natbike
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Ok maybe they should offer a premium version of Feel at Home for a fee.

But for free in the non-EU countries for me it's a fantastic deal, even though it's 3G only. I'm not on Three anymore but I'll get a Pay & Go SIM a when I go to Australia in May.
Having some knowledge of mobile use in Australia, you would be better off picking up a local SIM as for the money you'll get much better performance for the same price. Various packages include calls to the UK inclusively.

You would also be on Optus which has superior coverage to Three/Vodafone.
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Old 10-09-2016, 11:58
Pencil
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I've just come back from Lanzarote having purchased Three's £25 add-on with all-you-can-eat data and Feel At Home. At no point was I told that my data was limited, although I had read on forums that all-you-can-eat becomes 12GB when abroad. My Three page just showed 'unlimited' the entire time.

On arrival, it didn't work at all. I had to change my carrier settings from automatic to manual. Of the three local networks Orange ES, Vodafone ES and Moviestar, only Moviestar worked. The others were completely dead.

I got an average 2-3mbps with a 3G signal only. Tethering was blocked, streaming doesn't work at all, so YouTube was dead the entire week, as was Netflix and all news app videos. I noticed that my IP address was UK based, which meant location restricted websites were allowed.
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Old 10-09-2016, 12:29
jonmorris
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Ask Three on social media and see if they use the 'local conditions' line on you.

The official line is that Three has no control of what happens when you're roaming, implying that you take your anger out on the foreign network.

The unofficial line (the truth) is that they run everything via their own servers and restrict certain services, or slow others.

What's mad is that they have, to their credit, now stated that streaming services are blocked on their website - yet the social media team don't seem aware so still won't admit it to people who complain.

As I've said a million times, I have no problem with the service and its restrictions if Three made it very clear. Calling it 'Feel at Home' is incredibly misleading.

When nobody else offered EU data roaming, Feel at Home was better than nothing and tolerable. Now you can roam at full 4G speeds, stream and tether just as if you were at home, it's time for Three to change its offering. Ideally before it has to next June.

For non-EU roaming, Three can continue to do what it does now and it gives them an edge over the competition, but for goodness sake call it something else.
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Old 10-09-2016, 12:33
omnidirectional
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By the time I go to Tenerife next August the rules will all be changed anyway and I'll be able to take my 50GB EE Extra plan and use the data as I see fit anyway
Courtesy of the EU you're happy to be leaving

I suppose we'll have to make the most of it as we could end up with the horrific roaming rates Isle of Man and Channel islands customers have to pay in 2-3 years.
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Old 14-09-2016, 22:23
Mark C
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I noticed that my IP address was UK based, which meant location restricted websites were allowed.
That's normal for roaming on any network, it's normally a VPN still tunnel back home

FWIW I see a few more countries have been added to FaH, notably Netherlands and Germany

http://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Phones/Feel_At_Home
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Old 14-09-2016, 22:49
jonmorris
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That's normal for roaming on any network, it's normally a VPN still tunnel back home

FWIW I see a few more countries have been added to FaH, notably Netherlands and Germany

http://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Phones/Feel_At_Home
It's all of the EU and a bit more now.
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Old 15-09-2016, 11:08
AxeVictim
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Working fine in Bulgaria even managed to stream some YouTube videos. Speeds are slow just above 1mb but fine for browsing and email.
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Old 16-10-2016, 11:44
SadmeHappy
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Working great here in Paris with orange fr. Getting 25mb speed. YouTube and streaming not working but video calls and everything else working great.
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Old 17-10-2016, 13:23
Aldridge Andy
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Working great here in Paris with orange fr. Getting 25mb speed. YouTube and streaming not working but video calls and everything else working great.
As others have mentioned, speed tests always return a fantastic speed. But if you try to use other services or even update apps you find that the "real speed" is far from that reported on speed checker services.

If we all got a transparent 5mb+ across all services I doubt there would be any complaint, but in reality you are lucky to get 0.5mb.
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Old 17-10-2016, 13:30
Andrew_Reid
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In Ibiza just now using a 20gb 3 data sim inside a unlocked EE Osprey WiFi device.Tried streaming through BT app and sports mania on android tablet,nothing worked until I used turbo VPN,then I could watch anything I tried.Download speed I was getting was 10mbps.
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Old 17-10-2016, 13:31
jonmorris
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Thine Wonk has been the exception to the rule by getting video to stream. Not sure how, or whether it's a sign of Three changing policy (given it now, at last, makes it clear that it isn't intended for streaming) but I do hope that we may see more consistent speeds for all other usage, including one day 4G roaming.

If Three is honest and says what will not work, I have no issue with it. I do think it's missing a trick by not offering access for an extra cost though. I willingly pay £3 a day for unhindered data access and tethering abroad on Vodafone, for example.

Come next year, Three will likely be forced to offer unrestricted data in the EU for net neutrality reasons.
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Old 19-10-2016, 12:21
InfamousTeal
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As others have mentioned, speed tests always return a fantastic speed. But if you try to use other services or even update apps you find that the "real speed" is far from that reported on speed checker services.

If we all got a transparent 5mb+ across all services I doubt there would be any complaint, but in reality you are lucky to get 0.5mb.
I've recently moved to Paris for a few months and I'm very thankful for Feel at home here. Working data, calls and texts to UK, and only 3.9p per min calls to France.

Yeah I'd like youtube when out and about sometimes but not often. EDGE even works in the metro sometimes for Whatsapp!
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Old 20-10-2016, 06:53
natbike
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I've recently moved to Paris for a few months and I'm very thankful for Feel at home here.
Have they removed the time limits for using FaH abroad? If not, how long can you use it before they revert to standard pricing?
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Old 20-10-2016, 07:52
Thine Wonk
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Thine Wonk has been the exception to the rule by getting video to stream. Not sure how, or whether it's a sign of Three changing policy (given it now, at last, makes it clear that it isn't intended for streaming) but I do hope that we may see more consistent speeds for all other usage, including one day 4G roaming.

If Three is honest and says what will not work, I have no issue with it. I do think it's missing a trick by not offering access for an extra cost though. I willingly pay £3 a day for unhindered data access and tethering abroad on Vodafone, for example.

Come next year, Three will likely be forced to offer unrestricted data in the EU for net neutrality reasons.
Maybe they will, maybe they will withdraw the offer or set a 1GB cap, who knows. It was never intended for using for tethering or watching high bandwidth services like Youtube or Netflix, it is exactly what typical holidaymakers want, a data connection to use for looking up places, navigating and making a few phone calls or sending texts back home.

If people are on a £20 they need to understand that it doesn't pay the wholesale costs of hundreds of gigs of roaming data to a partner network, so Three would be selling the UK contract at £20, giving this away as a free add-on and then getting billed by the partner network more than the cost of the contract value for heavy users.

Three have done what they can to offer it, but if regulators force or people use services to get around the blocks they'll just kill it dead and put a 1GB cap in.
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Old 20-10-2016, 08:01
jonmorris
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I did miss that.

I should be in Germany again in a couple of weeks so look forward to seeing if YouTube is now becoming accessible everywhere.

If they remove the restrictions, FaH will become great and in line with what rivals now offer.
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Old 20-10-2016, 08:05
Thine Wonk
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I did miss that.

I should be in Germany again in a couple of weeks so look forward to seeing if YouTube is now becoming accessible everywhere.

If they remove the restrictions, FaH will become great and in line with what rivals now offer.
No rivals offer free access to so many countries just included where you use your price plan at no extra cost, rivals are often much more expensive from the outset here in the UK too.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that most of the general public are very happy with the free usage they get in many countries, also some outside of the EU. The moaning is once again largely confined within specialist forums.
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Old 20-10-2016, 17:21
InfamousTeal
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Have they removed the time limits for using FaH abroad? If not, how long can you use it before they revert to standard pricing?
I'm hoping they haven't.. Hoping I'll get away with it for a couple of months
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Old 20-10-2016, 17:42
Denco1
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No rivals offer free access to so many countries just included where you use your price plan at no extra cost, rivals are often much more expensive from the outset here in the UK too.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that most of the general public are very happy with the free usage they get in many countries, also some outside of the EU. The moaning is once again largely confined within specialist forums.
It would be interesting to see what the restrictions are like on ID mobile.

You could argue that it's not really free anymore though, with the differtiation between essential and advanced plans.
It's not really any different to EE offering EU internet on their standard/max plans, or Vodafone on their Red/Red value plans.

I also wouldn't say most of the general public are happy with the roaming service they receive. Yes they're happy in knowing that they won't be charged and that calls/texts work well, but many I know simply turn off mobile data as it's very slow and it's impossible to know what services will be blocked and which will be allowed.

Yes the number of countries that Three serve is great, but most would rather have even 500MB of data inside of the EU, instead of unusable data in many countries that aren't frequently visited.
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Old 20-10-2016, 17:50
Mark C
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I did miss that.

I should be in Germany again in a couple of weeks so look forward to seeing if YouTube is now becoming accessible everywhere.

.
What is so compelling about the ability to watch You Tube fluff while travelling ?
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