107 replies to this topic

[Confucious]

That's the one, thanks - Showing 29kbits/sec = 362 Bytes/sec which isn't that good - about 3G not HSDPA. Also it doesn't test upload speeds which is a shame.

Edited by Confucious, 03 August 2008 - 12:15 PM.

[Mark]

That is bizarre, I just tested using o2 gprs and got 42 kbit/sec....

Just tested using wifi and got 389 kbit/sec

[Confucious]

Think I got my calculations wrong! just tried again and got 114 kbit/sec from my Three SIM in my Ameo but only11 kbit/sec from my T-mob sim in my E90

Not sure what's going on!

[Mark]

I think we have to guess that the speedchecker is not very reliable...!

[Confucious]

you could be right

[stampedingturtle]

The link appears to be down now, does anyone have a fresh link to this?

Thanks.

[PaulOBrien]

It expired 31st July I believe!



P

[stampedingturtle]

Paul (MVP), on Aug 5 2008, 11:33, said:

It expired 31st July I believe!



P

Doh,

It was there yesterday but today I was redirected to the home page.  I could have sworn it said it was on till August 31st.

[Confucious]

Mark, on Aug 4 2008, 11:27, said:

I think we have to guess that the speedchecker is not very reliable...!

Seems to be working again now

940kbs on my Athena using a Three SIM
1355kbs on my E90 using a T-Mob SIM

[wbloore]

I signed up for this on July 31 (expiry date was Jul 31, but had changed to Aug 31 on Aug 1, but the offer is not longer online).

Received my first bill today - for £15 per month. I called 3 today and was told that it is £15 per month. Luckily I saved the confirmation page as a PDF clearly showing £7.50 per month. I have to fax the confirmation to them. They told me that the offer of £7.50 per month is for existing customers only, and I wasn't an existing customer and so not entitled to the offer.

The confirmation page makes no mention of eligibility for the offer. I will be making sure I get the £7.50 price.

[Confucious]

I an being charged £7.50 and I wasn't an existing customer!

[PaulOBrien]

Yup, they're talking rubbish!

P

[Dr Who]

wbloore, on Aug 22 2008, 23:26, said:

I signed up for this on July 31 (expiry date was Jul 31, but had changed to Aug 31 on Aug 1, but the offer is not longer online).

Received my first bill today - for £15 per month. I called 3 today and was told that it is £15 per month. Luckily I saved the confirmation page as a PDF clearly showing £7.50 per month. I have to fax the confirmation to them. They told me that the offer of £7.50 per month is for existing customers only, and I wasn't an existing customer and so not entitled to the offer.

The confirmation page makes no mention of eligibility for the offer. I will be making sure I get the £7.50 price.

I came across this same problem when I contacted their support line by online chat. There were effectively two offers running at the same time. There was the one for existing customers and there was the one accessible through quidco. I better check the documentation they sent me to check they have got my billing right.

EDIT: Just checked and my first bill is for £7.50 on each account.

Edited by Dr Who, 26 August 2008 - 06:00 PM.

[TheNerd]

NikLP, on Jul 22 2008, 12:46, said:

Note that these items are all marked "This offer is available until 31st July 2008"!

Not so... "This offer is available until 30th September 2008" but you can not find these pages from the main website, so use the links above!   (Deal will probably go missing completely very soon, but it is definitely there at the moment)

COMPARE...

• £7.50 per month
  
• £15.00 per month

This is 5GB a month at £7.50 - nobody else is even close to this offer!

[Confucious]

So too

The offer was not there in August - looks like it's back now
Just be aware that it only covers 3G and does not drop back to 2.5G out of 3G coverage.
T-Mobile to 3Gb for £10/month but that's on a 24 month contract (rather than Three's 18 Months) but does include WiFi Hotspot access.

[TheNerd]

Confucious, on Sep 7 2008, 22:15, said:

Just be aware that it only covers 3G and does not drop back to 2.5G out of 3G coverage.
T-Mobile to 3Gb for £10/month but that's on a 24 month contract (rather than Three's 18 Months) but does include WiFi Hotspot access.

Hi Confucious, thanks for the warning about 3's coverage. I have always been suspicious of 3 since they cold called me and offered a great sounding deal for my mobile phone contract (but I had to take it there and then or the deal was off - the salesman was actually quite aggressive and he couldn't believe I wanted to check with my current provider first. Wonder why   After some research I learnt that 3's network coverage was pretty limited and the service transferred the call to a partner network in areas of low or no signal, which meant the charge for the call was not in the inclusive price deal. So how often would that happen I asked? They've got to make their money somewhere.

I'm not sure what the network coverage is like these days, but considering that 3G networks are relatively new and much of the underlying technology seems to be "available real soon" I am still pretty sceptical.

The T-Mobile deal for a 24 month contract seems to be £10/month for the first three months only, thereafter £15/month. (Average £14.38/month - excuse me for insulting anybody's basic maths skills) This as you said gives 3Gb use, but is still nearly twice the price of the 3Store offer for less data and a longer contract. I still haven't found out how the free WiFi is supplied either - charged then refunded or genuinely free?

[Confucious]

Three only have a 3G network - which is expanding but still not universal. When you are out of coverage with all there other services - including data on a phone, just not with the data only contracts - it uses their 'partner' network which is now Orange (it used to be O2) but these ARE included in your allowance so you don't pay for them.
They do cost Three though so they try to keep you on their network even when the signal isn't strong enough and the handover would result in dropped calls. I haven't used them for voice for years though so I don't know if that has changed.
I must admit I hadn't noticed that the T offer was only the first three months - D'Oh! It does make a difference, doesn't it.
I believe the Wi-Fi is charged to your phone account and credited the same month so you don't pay anything but I don't have it so can't be certain.

The Three data plan is cheap and good if you only want to use it in places that have Three coverage but not if you want to use it while travelling (except in Three areas - which DO include Three in other countries which is also worth considering)

Good luck.

[PaulOBrien]

Woo, it's back!!!

P

[TheNerd]

Confucious, on Sep 8 2008, 11:06, said:

When you are out of coverage with all there other services - including data on a phone, just not with the data only contracts - it uses their 'partner' network which is now Orange (it used to be O2) but these ARE included in your allowance so you don't pay for them....
The Three data plan is cheap and good if you only want to use it in places that have Three coverage but not if you want to use it while travelling (except in Three areas - which DO include Three in other countries which is also worth considering)

Thanks for clarifying that Confucious. I am nearly convinced by this deal, I spoke to sales at T-Mobile the other day and they told me "it must be a con". The package was £15 per month they said (£7.50 for the price plan and £7.50 for the USB modem hire) - WTF??? Modem hire? I looked all through the details on the threestore website and couldn't find anything about the £7.50 a month deal being anything other than £7.50 per month TOTAL. Modem hire for Pete's sake! I guess T-Mobile can not match the price deal so they have to scare me into believing it is a con. T-Mobile offered the first 10 months for a tenner (from a 24 month contract, the rest being the normal 15/month) but it really doesn't compare (average £12.92 per month) to three's £7.50

Can anyone who has gone for this deal confirm it is £7.50 per month and nothing more to get the modem and the 3g broadband package? Cheers

[Dr Who]

I can confirm that when I took the deal out the first time it was available it really is only £7.50 per month with no extra charges (yet!). Do be aware however that out of bundle charges would be steep (10p/Mb) so it might not be suitable as a home broadband solution for a heavy user. Also, I am not convinced it would provide good 'on-the-move' internet access, i.e. on a train, but provided you only need to use it in discreet locations and can sit so you can make sure your signal is maximised it seems an absolute bargain. Initial DNS resolution seems a little slow but once you are on it seems to work well.

Also be aware that Three's staff don't have a scoob about this offer - one operative kept insisting that to get this offer I already had to be a Three customer, despite the fact I sent them the weblink and they said they checked it out. There is a similar offer run for existing customers but the offer I took from quidco was a separate offer entirely.

Edited by Dr Who, 15 September 2008 - 02:41 PM.