[solo12002]

I have a three PAYG mobile to day I got a text advising me of price rises as follows:

Call charges up to 25p from 20p - after last years rises as well from 12.
Voice mail now 15p was free
MMS from 25p to 30p
Calls from UK to Band 0 from 40ppm to 45ppm
Roaming within EU now 38ppm was 34ppm
Taking call within EU remains same at 15ppm
Calling 084 and 087 increse by 5p

Good news if you call it good free Twitter - You have to be a twit to stay on three at these increases
Fackbook
150MB of data etce

[Ben]

Interesting price rises... some of it may be exchange rate related... why raise PAYG prices in this economy?

[DBMandrake]

I got that text too, and I wasn't impressed. Doesn't really make any sense for these price rises to come out of nowhere - especially starting to charge 15p/min for voicemail access when previously they were the only network offering that free. Also increasing off-network calls from 20p/min to 25p/min when some MVNO's like Asda are charging as low as 8p/min makes no sense at all - and clearly positions 3 away from being a "budget" offering, but without the higher quality CS you would expect of a more expensive network.

Desperate clutch for cash, or have they just lost their way ?

As disappointed as I am, to be honest it wont have much effect on me as I'm 70% data, 20% SMS, and 10% calls, most of them free 3 to 3 calls, but it does make it a lot harder to recommend them to anyone else...

[Hands0n]

Hmmm, very odd indeed. Given that they have retained their Mumbai CS these price rises in PAYG [and surely there are Contract rises to follow] tariff make 3 even less attractive.

Perhaps they are trying to marginalise PAYG in favour of Contract? This will be okay as long as they don't reduce the contract's value in terms of inclusive items.

[solo12002]

Right now I have got a update. If you are on Flat 12 your calls to line lands and mobiles remain at 12p. BUT all other charges will appliy ie 15ppm for voice mail, 30p mms roaming increases etc.

[DBMandrake]

I've been giving this some thought and I wonder if the price increases have been prompted by the Orange/T-Mobile merger ?

Part of the agreement between 3 and Orange/T-Mobile for the merger to go through the competition authorities is that T-Orange agree to continue the site share with 3, AND give 3 access to the additional non-redundant sites provided by Orange into the T-Orange venture - some 3000 additional sites approximately. (Bringing the total shared sites up from the October figure of 13,000 between 3/T-Mobile to about 16,000 shared between 3/T-Orange, when the dust settles next year)

If that's so, perhaps they've had to increase their prices slightly to cover the running costs of an originally unplanned for additional 3000 sites ? Another possibility is that Orange played hard ball with 3, and in return for agreeing to continue the 3G site share, they may have raised 3's 2G roaming costs. Or it might even be a gentleman's agreement not to undercut the new T-Orange by too much, when so much infrastructure will be shared with them.

Either way, I can't help but think the T-Mobile/Orange merger is behind it, possibly for a number of reasons...

[3GScottishUser]

The question that needs asking is - why are 3 putting up prices when they have been banging on about others profiting from interconnection charges!

I think 3 need price rises for PAYG customers like a hole in the head and this will probably lead to a fall in users. Perhaps they are trying to foce folks on to short/long term contracts?

Looking at whats on offer now both on contracts and PAYG 3 seem to have some of the least attractive deals available for mobile users, MBB seems to be their big focus now.

[Hands0n]

It does seem to be rather bizarre to say the least. Certainly, it doesn't have the whiff of a sane strategy about it. So I wonder if it is an enforced tariff rise because of other costs from the merged networks.