[getti]

www.todayon3g.co.uk

Check out the new plans on 3 and which are being replaced

[3GScottishUser]

As expected then.

It looks like 3 are heading squarely into the mainstream with 200 inclusive mins for £25 and £45 buying a little more than the 500 offered elsewhere.

The significant move is the inclusion of videocalls and content. Whether customers use them or not 3 will now claim that their non-voice revenue is much higher.

I doubt if any of the new tariffs are that attractive really and features like Vodafone's 'Stop the Clock' make them look expensive. Customers will no doubt choose the older Talk & Text tariffs but a lot will depend on the incentives attached to individual tariffs. A good indication seems to be the heavy subsidy of the T/T & Video 700 deal now which provides the cheapest deals on most 3 phones on an 18 month contract.

At first glance I doubt if those new additions will be any more appealing than their predecessors, indeed some are vastly dearer (off peak used to be 3000 minutes for £25/month now its 1000 for £20).


Perhaps 3 are now more confident about their network performance? Not sure they should be as there are still plenty of reports of unacceptable levels of call dropping (even with 6630/6680's) which like all 3 handsets suffer from the inability to switch seamlessly between GSM and UMTS.

Bottom Line? The new tariffs are less attractive and similar/better deals are on offer elsewhere when you look beyond the headline pricing but we have yet to see the incentives the dealers will apply and those could make what initially look pretty unattactive, market leading propositions.

[getti]

I think the days where 3 were by far the cheapest are over now. Since Stop The Clock came out that really effected things.

However now that 3 have easily the best coverage, are getting decent phones, are getting full internet access and are still cheap they will continue to do well.

Only problem i can tell with 3 now is the CS based in India. Not wanting to be horrible but we cant understand them and they cant understand us, thats where the problem is with CS.

If CS was based in the UK then that would be so much better. yes it costs more but if one of the reasons people are leaving 3 is cause of the CS then best fix the problem.

I just gone BACK to 3 on Threepay with a LG 8360 and i aint even thinking about changing for AGES yet. Its a great phone with loads of features, and threepay suits me fine

[3GScottishUser]

Handovers are still a BIG problem that wont go away.

If you are in a weaker signal area with 3 you get a very significant number of dropped calls as your handset rergisters on 02's network. This is a pain for many users (like me) and the others who have both can do seamless switching. You can even lock your 3G handset onto GSM where the big 4 have over 99% UK population coverage.

3's UMTS coverage is nowhere near that of GSM so in vast areas of the country switching (and call dropping) remains a big issue. Even in cities 3's UMTS is far less robust and the same applies.

On a 200 inclusive minutes £25/month contract if you had the choice of all 5 available networks, 3 would have to be the last resort for the above reason above all others.

[Ben]

No confirmation of the Add Internet type bits? In all honesty I couldn't give a hoot about what they do to their vast vast array of priceplans.

[getti]

Well there are rumors but no definate info yet. I didnt want to publish them on my site incase they were not true

[gorilla]

If this is true, then I will consider changing from TT600 to Online 1400. It seems much better value as I never use 500 mins a month anyway, and to be honest I probably wont use more than 300. Would this change in tariff affect a cash back claim? I'm thinking it shouldn't as they are both £30 per month.

[bsrjl1]

The retailer would love any excuse not to pay the cashback, so changing your tarriff will probably invalidate your claim. Check T&Cs - although the prices are the same, the commission the retailer gets will change on different tarriffs.

[3GScottishUser]

Any change to the tarriff WILL affect cashback deals. If you have a balance to claim I would suggest that you DO NOT change your contract until your cahback has been paid. (Dealers are often paid commissions according to the customer's payments over a period - revenue sharing).

A safer bet might be to add a video or text bundle if you really need them.

[Hands0n]

Well, tomorrow we find out for sure.

I must say that I am not at all attracted to the price plans detailed in the above link - they dont spin my wheels, float my boat or do anything much for me! All a bit of a yawn really. I do need to see what they intend to do with Internet and Data tariffs.

Such indifference of mine coupled with many-times-bitten shyness against their Mumbai Customer Service (sic) operation does not bode well for my continued custom with 3 come contract end. Maybe I really am the only one of their stated 3Mln customers who feel this way. I need to see something [at the very least moderately] compelling to keep me on the 3 network and to date it hasn't happened. Making things more expensive to generate more business is a curious British business trait that is entirely lost on me!

They've got until 18 Jan 2006 to make it happen for me.

[solo12002]

Why wait untill the 1st of sep. Heres the details.


http://www.hughsymons.com/documents/hscm/pdf/8_2005_hscm_pdf_5pric_sep.pdf

Philip

[Ben]

Ah, thank you. Not seeing any mention of data access there whatsoever.

[solo12002]

Ben

I agree, no sign of the 30 days Top up Rule going,most of the new plans are a backward step, only good thing I can find is that you can now buy a sim Card at £9.98 for use from the three web site.

Who would want to buy 1000 of peak calls when they may still be able to get 3000 for about the same price.

[getti]

Threepay will be changing near the end of the month

[frazzel]

Ok its going ahead as stated elsewhere!

£2.50 FOR 5MB AND ADVISED NO RESTRICTIONS YIPEE!!!! FINALLY THEY HAVE SEEN THE SENSE TO LET THE WALL DOWN!

Just got off the phone from customer services! :) Good News all round i say!

[@NickyColman]

If Three were to open the internet up, I would deffinately start using ThreePay again as at the moment Orange dont have 3G coverage were i live!! Even bloody O2 as managed 3G coverage! and thats saying something! lol

Ive never had any of the "switching between 3G/2G" problems that some people have had, and seeings as i had no problems with ThreePay id deffinately considering trying them out again!

[frazzel]

Well im ringing at midnight to try and get it goin!


might as well! very cheap as well!

3 must be planning a new assault"

[Hands0n]

This is excellent news and I hope that it actually pans out. I'd go for the £2.50 for 5MB but what worries me most is what the ex-bundle charges are per MB or WHY. Are you saying that 3 are releasing the Internet access on 1 Sep also? Presumably (always a dangerous thing with 3) this will take the form of an Add On i.e. "Add Internet" or suchlike.

I'd rather sign on using My Three rather than endure the direness* of the [one wishes] moribund Mumbai Customer Services (sic).

* NB: Dire - Causing or able to cause fear:
appalling, direful, dreadful, fearful, fearsome, formidable, frightful, ghastly, redoubtable, scary, terrible, tremendous

[frazzel]

Ok this is what I was told:


Its £40 per month for 500 megs and £2.50 for add mobile web. The first one is mre geared for laptop users mind you.

Also my3 during the day was going through some maintence as I did try several times to get on and was not available for most of the day, hence something was on

[Hands0n]

Just visited My3 - nothing new there at this time of night.