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3 have terrible service!

DenniZ said:
Think I'm going to bypass all the trouble, get a pay as you go sim of ebay.

12GB to be used within 12 months.

£35.

No contract, its basically the same sim they give with their pay as you go dongles.
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Have three not been blocking those sims when used in an iPad though?
 
There is no blocking going on.

And £30 for 12GB over 12 months is a brilliant deal.

I think it would be very very hard to use that in a year as everyone has wifi for most of the time.
 
Boblister said:
12gb Three sim from Ebay with up to 12 months to use it in. £35. Top up with £10 for 1gb when used up or £15 for 3gb. No phone calls or things to sign. No Mumbai people to talk to. Sim took 5 mins to cut to size. No problem.
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This looks to be a great idea! Ive only used 7gb on my iPhone in the last year, id use an iPad more but 12 gb would probably last me a year of usage... all for £35.

Anyone else done this? any problems etc etc. Definatly going to try this when I get my iPad.
 
Sevv said:
This looks to be a great idea! Ive only used 7gb on my iPhone in the last year, id use an iPad more but 12 gb would probably last me a year of usage... all for £35.
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I was thinking of that, but the World Cup's this month and I'll be at work/travelling when the games are on. I'll make a fair dent in my 10Gb allocation for June.
 
I must admit my usage is a lot less than I expected. Before the iPad I was using a Three MIFI with 3GB on for three months. The three months has just expired and I had used around 2GB in that time. That was quite a bit of browsing on an iPhone. I think the killer will be streaming video.

As far as world cup is concerned. Wake me up when its all over :p
 
Sevv said:
This looks to be a great idea! Ive only used 7gb on my iPhone in the last year, id use an iPad more but 12 gb would probably last me a year of usage... all for £35.

Anyone else done this? any problems etc etc. Definatly going to try this when I get my iPad.
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Going to try it soon, just waiting on the delivery.

Its the cheapest option going. Three also do a £5 a month, 'unlimited' package, sim only. Fair usage says their is a 1GB cap (but you don't get charged after going over just reminded not to go over). Hence that will be about £60 a year + all the hassle of going through the customer services to cancel.

£35 with no set up, can't complain.

You may want to get a free O2 micro sim, because you can pop out the micro sim, use the rest of the plastic as a guide for how to trim down the standard three sim.
 
I'd be tempted by the 3 sim deal but I'd be afraid of getting it blocked.
They used to do that if you used the sim in a non-Three phone.

Also, when it talks about "rolling" contracts, does that mean it's automatically renewed or can you pick it as a month by month basis?
 
Vidd said:
I'd be tempted by the 3 sim deal but I'd be afraid of getting it blocked.
They used to do that if you used the sim in a non-Three phone.

Also, when it talks about "rolling" contracts, does that mean it's automatically renewed or can you pick it as a month by month basis?
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I believe it means it's a monthly contract. Ie. Direct debit will take £x per month but to quit it's 1 month notice.
 
Well I am totally gobsmacked. I have a Three dongle on PAYG which works superb. Also I cropped a Three sim and my iPad is working fine on that. Well, my iPhone O2 PAYG sim runs out on 18th of this month so I decided to go with a Three PAYG as thats the best signal where I am. Anyway, after a bit of faffing by O2 they have unlocked my iPhone tonight. So I swapped sims over, re-synced with iTunes and my 3GS is running fine on Three. Another phone call to O2 and 10 mins later I had my PAC code for porting my number over. Now for the part I was dreading...Mumbai calling!!! I phoned Three and got through straight away. The chap on the other end was in Mumbai or similar, but his english was superb. Nothing pronounced more than once. he understood everything. Took my PAC code and repeated it perfectly. Said number will be ported over in two days. He understood everything. It just worked! I asked about adding the web addon for £5, he said no problem just log onto Three and its done from there. Ahh I said, I dont have a password. No problem he said...Ding went my iPhone and there was a text with my password. Yes I have had horrendous dealings with them in the past. But I must admit, today I was pleasantly surprised.
 
AppleCallum said:
Just bought my 32GB 3G iPad from PC World and trying to activate the 3G package with 3 right now!

The agent has a poor grasp of English, cannot understand me and doesn't know what the iPad plan is! Great 3!
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Same here - a shiny 64Gb 3G iPad beside me and all I was doing was literally shouting security information down the phone. Worst signup experience ever.

Still... £15 for 10Gb :)
 
I've pretty much decided to stay with O2. They understand that Apple customers buy on quality, not price. These catchpenny offerings from the likes of Three demonstrate they haven't learned that (most) customers know the bitterness of poor service lingers in the mouth far longer than the sweetness of a cheap deal.

Until the other network operators can offer the same customer service and user experience (and that means well-trained English-speaking support staff and on-iPad activation/management), I'll cheerfully continue to give O2 my dosh.
 
Seamaster said:
I've pretty much decided to stay with O2. They understand that Apple customers buy on quality, not price. These catchpenny offerings from the likes of Three demonstrate they haven't learned that (most) customers know the bitterness of poor service lingers in the mouth far longer than the sweetness of a cheap deal.

Until the other network operators can offer the same customer service and user experience (and that means well-trained English-speaking support staff and on-iPad activation/management), I'll cheerfully continue to give O2 my dosh.
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When they get a decent network, they can have mine too.
 
Just an update - Three's executive office contacted me about my email. The contact was apologetic about the shortcomings, saying it was a new product and they have had some teething troubles which should be addressed soon.

Unfortunately, its too little too late for me. I had enough of trying to clarify my requested package was the right one, so I have cancelled. In line with the OP and Seamasters thoughts I can't honestly say I trust them with my account. Shame really, looked to be the best package and best value for money. :mad:
 
Three are claiming on their blog to have listened to the complaints about iPad microSIM activation and acted to improved matters:

http://blog.three.co.uk/2010/05/25/data-plans-for-ipad-from-three/#comments

Braced for a re-run of my earlier experiences with them, I thought what the hell, let's have another go. I called them this afternoon and to be fair to Three I have to say they do seem to have sharpened up their operation. It's still an offshore call centre that deals with getting you connected, but — and I don't know if this was just good luck — this time round I got a very helpful and knowledgeable agent with good english who got all my details right and in around ten minutes. Within an hour I was connected and am getting good 3G service.

Possibly a second try, if you've previously written them off?
 
Putting the previously awful customer service experience several of us have had behind us, it looks like it has proved worth persisting to get a Three microSIM activated. Coverage and speed have been impressive thus far. The big test for me will be the 800 mile round trip to London Village on the train next week - a journey which has always showed O2's 3G coverage to be patchy at best. If Three can keep me connected on most, if not all, of that route, battling the boys of Bangalore will have been worth it.
 
Three - the number of brain cells in your average Three agent

I just spent 30 minutes, 4 phone calls, 5 different agents only to get to the point where they were asking me 'So let me get this straight. You want to take your sim card out of your phone and put it in your iPad?'. Basically a complete waste of time, and I've reverted to using my O2 Sim Card which just works.
 
My free internet from O2's PAYG runs out in a week as my 3GS is nearly a year old. I got it unlocked last week and had the number ported over to a Three PAYG sim. I got my PAC code from O2 and thought, here comes the hard part with Three. It went like clockwork. Didn't repeat a single thing. Two days later number ported. Very pleased with the quality of signal where I am. Best of all the networks.
 
A few more observations about coverage and speed.

At home, central Newcastle, I am impressed with Three. I always get in excess of 2Mbps, often 2.5Mbps. However, in Newcastle I rarely need it. Being a BT Total Broadband customer I get free access to BT Openzone, which is pretty much ubiquitous in the city, and generally faster.

On the train journey to London, one I have to do nearly every week, coverage on Three is almost continuous, with speeds around 1Mbps. Compared to O2, this is excellent. This alone is worth a tenner a month to me.

But once you get to London, it's a totally different story. Here, even high up in my hotel near Kings Cross, and with a full five bars of signal, I am struggling to get 120Kbps, which is very disappointing. I can only assume the issue here is one of contention?

So, a mixed story. Generally good, and good value, but those who spend most of their time in London (poor sods) may be better off with one of the other networks.
 
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