[3GScottishUser]

It looks like the restrictive 30 day top-up rule is about to be ditched for new ThreePay customers. Handset subsidies have been removed and it is rumoured that top-ups will be valid for 60 or 90 days from the date of purchace.

Sensible move.... well just about the only move 3 UK could make to attract customers to its withering pre-pay product. Good enough to appeal and arrest the demise of ThreePay? We shall have to see.

[getti]

I would hardly say threepay was a flop. In fact a few months after 3pay was launched, 3 nearly doubled their member base.

The problem is 3 are known now to be cheap and any increase is put as a bad thing.

[3GScottishUser]

ThreePay was responsible for attracting 1.7 million customers to 3. The vast majority bought NEC e313, e238 and e616 handsets at between £20 and £40. Cheap and easy to buy and similarly painless to dispose of. I suspect thousands have now disposed of those for all the reasons we know so well. What were once a fairly common sight are now very rare and it looks likely that 3 will have to build up their pre-pay subscriber base again using a more traditional funding model.

[Ben]

What's your source for this? As far as I had seen so far all that was happening was a £30 initial on-phone credit with 60 days validity, rest as before.

[3GScottishUser]

The lack of subsidy is a big clue!!

Argos state "Please note that the 3 phone network have recently changed their pricing structure. Handsets now come with £30 pre-loaded airtime and the package price remains unchanged. In-store browsers have full details of the new handset/airtime rates."

Some changes on the way for sure and the validity period of the top-up looks likely to be the major change. All will be revealed in a few days when the new models become available and they will be followed by a cheaper range (from about £70) in Q4 from a Chineese supplier.

[solo12002]

I agree with ben, ive not seen any thing to confirm this other than 60 days for the new mobiles,

I wonder if this "Please note that the 3 phone network have recently changed their pricing structure" means the change three made a number of months ago with the £15 pounds topup going from 100 mins to £15 pounds worth?

[3GScottishUser]

I suspect changes are about to happen. As a catalogue retailer Argos have to be able to print etc months in advance and 3 have obviously had to advise them about changes well before they occur and for commercial reasons have asked them to keep the changes under wraps.

There is no way the 30 day top-up can survive if no handset subsidy is provided. The handset subsidy was the reason for the 30 day validity. With the subsidy gone it make total sense that the 30 day top-up restriction will also become redundant. (If it does not go then I fear 3 will have no chance shifting many LG's and Motos at £250).

[maven]

Great news! All they need to now is dump the crappy LG phones and heavily drop the price of the rest of their prepay handsets and maybe Three will overtake Fresh and Tesco Mobile in the subscriber lists....

[3GScottishUser]

Cant see that until they have some decent fashionable 3G handsets to sell at 'pocket money' prices. Perhaps before the end of the year.

[getti]

I cant see why people dont like LG. I have liked every phone they have had on 3. They may have been a little bad on the specs wise but for a 3G phone they were still great.

Again i go back to the new 8360 due any day now. Its as good as any other 3G phone on any network so far and thats an LG.

Would you say moto are crap just because of the V980? Or Nokia because of the 7600?

Or what about NEC with the 313........errrrr....hold on a second that is bad :D

[maven]

Nokia's 7600 was indeed a pile of crap but they more than redeemed themselves with the decent 6630 and the ossum 6680.