Three Broadband Review
In a nutshell: Three offer the cheapest mobile broadband service
in the UK, starting at £7.50 per month, and offering a massive
15GB
for just £15.99 per month. Maximum speeds are now 21.1
Mbps. The 7.2Mbps USB modem is now available free on all except the
1 month contract. The HSDPA network covers 91% of the UK population
and is easy to use. 3 are currently offering a range of free
laptops when you take out a mobile broadband contract. Ofcom's
survey of mobile broadband, published in May 2011 found that Three
offered significantly faster average download speeds than T-Mobile and
Orange, but slower than O2 and Vodafone.
Best buy: Broadband
1GB (£7.50 per month); or 15GB
Broadband (£15.99 per month) with free modem.
Three Broadband is the most popular mobile broadband in the UK. The
Three network has the longest established 3G network in the UK, and
so is a natural supplier of mobile broadband services. The service is
very easy to set up and use: you simply plug a modem (or "dongle")
into your computer's USB port, and you can then access the Three broadband
network from home, work or on the move. You can choose between Pay
Monthly and Pay
As You Go options. The Pay as you Go option offers data at the same
cost as Pay Monthly, although you have to buy a modem, which currently
costs 19.99. On Pay Monthly the modem is free, except on the cheapest
1 month tariff, where it costs £9.99. Sign up for 18 months, or
take out a more expensive tariff and the modem is free. You can choose
a data allowance of between 1GB and 15GB per month.
The speed that you experience will depend on whether you are
in an area with "excellent coverage" (i.e within HSDPA coverage),
"good coverage" (i.e. within 3G coverage) or "marginal
coverage" (i.e. on the edge of the 3G coverage region. Three's
HSDPA coverage region currently covers 91% of the UK population (data
correct in February 2009) and offers download speeds of up to of up
to 2.8 Mpbs. 3 now offers 7.2 Mbps coverage across the UK and is starting
to offer 21Mbps. You can check
coverage by postcode on the 3 website. If you find that the service
is not as good as you expected, you can return your Three USB Modem
within 3 days of purchase. If you purchased it at a distance (via telesales
or online), you can return your 3 USB Modem within 14 days of receipt
provided you have not used your 3 USB Modem for more than 3 consecutive
days. You'll also have to return the original boxed accessories and
documentation "as new". 3 claim that most people on the HSDPA
network can expect a speed ranging from 1 Mbps to 1.5 Mbps.
The Three broadband modems are very compact, and are available in a
choice of colours. They can even be personalised using "skins".
Ofcom's
survey of mobile broadband, published 26 May 2011 found that Three
offered significantly faster average download speeds than T-Mobile and
Orange, but slower than O2 and Vodafone. This survey was based on 4.2
million tests run from September 2010 to December 2010. Ofcom noted
that the most important factor affecting mobile broadband performance
is location, so check
coverage in the area you plan to use the service before deciding
on which network to use. The average speed obtained by Ofcom with 3
was 2.3 Mbps.
By the way, if anyone is experiencing slow speeds with Three Broadband,
one of our users, Paul Tait offers the following advice: right click
on the network icon (two little flashing computers in the bottom right
hand corner of your screen) and click on connect to a network. Click
on the 3 usb modem but with the second button and click on properties.
In the window that pops up, click the configure button and another window
will pop up showing the maximum speed. Sometimes the maximum speed has
been set to the default value of 115200 which will cause your modem
to be slow. If this is the case change it to 921600 and click OK. If
this works for you, please let everyone know by submitting a review
below. And thanks to Paul! [Reply by Pauline on 20th May 2009: Followed
instructions re changing to faster speed and it has worked brilliantly.
Have had my 3 mobile broadband for around 5 months now and it gives
excellent service.] [Reply by mark from england on 24th Oct 2009: With
Paul's tip 3 is now pretty quick! still not as good as Voda or O2 but
a vast improvement!] [Reply by Simon from uk. devon on 26th Jan 2012:
the tip mentioned does not work . . i can change it to faster but it
is reset to the slower number each time i re connect (i am told the
new speed will not take effect until i reconnect . when i do the speed
us reset). my average speed is never over 3mbits/sec . . some test have
shown over 10! mbits/sec but this fast speed mobile broadband is not
sustained for very long at all. i really suspect these higher speeds
are in fact possible but throttled back by the network. and or its busy
doing other things. sometimes my upload speed is faster than my download.]
Three Broadband (UK) User Reviews
Love your mobile network? Hate it? Please share your experiences to
help other people choose the mobile broadband network that's best for
them. Please do not review this network if you have not used it. This
is a review site, not a forum, so please don't just ask questions. Please
do not use swear words or offensive language, and please, no advertising!
Average rating from 219 reviews: 
Reviewed by steve from england on 10th Apr 2013
3 broadband worst customer service no help keep getting sent to technical
deptment no help thay denie bad service charge u for stuff you don't
even know any thing about. quick to ring you when you owe them money
but when u ring them to complaine your on hold passed to the next person
then on hold again. my advice don't sign any contract with them coz
you will not be able to cancel. regardless if you get no connection
coz in contract it says there no guarantee of service.3 Broadband usless...!
Rating:  Reply
Reviewed by dangregable from west sussex on 4th
Mar 2013
Bought a 3g dongle from Currys.Ok for a bit slow so Currys told me Huawei
e367 dongle would speed things right up.So i bought it,and somtimes
it is fairly good for emails looking up things on the web,but thats
where it stops. ytube keeps buffering mostly in the eve.I phoned up
Three to cancel my contract 11 mths remaining.They want £181.94 to cancel
early.The full payment to end service.
When you phone customer service they do not listen to you,put you on
to another agent,and go throght the same again name,first line of address
and post code,date of birth. put you on hold,then ask you it all over
again and again.After a hour and you have got nowhere.YOU DO WHAT I
AM DOING NOW.DONT BE A FOOL LIKE ME STAY WELL CLEAR PLEASE.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by dave from UK on 8th Nov 2012
Do not purchase 3 mobile broadband unless you have NO alternative and
you are not worried about random service drop-outs and slow connection
speeds even within an 'excellent' reception area. It's really bad.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Jack from UK on 2nd Nov 2012
I live in London with the best possible coverage - average speed is
57 kbps. Yes folks, it is a 'k' not an 'M'. Welcome to the dial-up speeds
in 2012 offered by 3. Connection drops willy nilly and this is true
for a desktop and three different laptops with different systems (XP,
Vista, 7, Ubuntu). Customer service worse than you can imagine. One
star only because you can't give zero. Frustrating.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Alan Butcher from England on 26th
Oct 2012
The service from Three in the last few weeks has been rubbish, it keeps
on dropping off and you have to re-connect, I contacted them and they
said that the transmitter is OK, but the problem persists, I can only
assume that they have down graded the signal, and as a result I am going
to be testing other providers as I can no longer function with Three.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Jeff from UK on 26th Oct 2012
Got a good deal from the Indian call centre when I wanted to upgrade.
In general, my experience with the call centre was good.
Connection is fast but suffers from frequent drop outs. Also gets bad
connections sometimes which on ping.exe goes: slow packet, extremely
slow packet, lost packet and repeats this sequence indefinitely. Reconnecting
solves this. I noticed that drop outs can be caused by a sudden change
in data throughput (e.g. I begin downloading a file). Presumably, the
network often has problems re-allocating enough data channels in these
situations.
I run a continuous ping to google.com, in order to maintain an active
HSPA+ connection. The mobile phone network cannot sustain everybody
being constantly on HSPA+. That's why you are dropped to 3G when idle
for too many seconds. The 3G networks are meant for mobile phones, not
Internet access.
Overall, a good service considering that the 3G mobile phone networks
were never meant for broadband in the first place.
Rating: 
Reply
Reviewed by Mel from UK on 3rd Oct 2012
Pros :-
Well it's mobile, and works in most places I've been over the last two
years, (but not at advertised speeds).
Cheap as chips when compared to other providers. (but still expensive
for what it is).
Flying in the face of what other people have said, the peeps at their
end seemed very pleasant, (with a proviso as outlined in "cons".)
Cons :-
If you are on a two year contract with additional hardware bundled,
they tend to 'forget' after the 24 month period is up, and continue
to charge for the now paid for device(s).
For a communications company, their support/billing enquiry lines are
woo-full. It's almost as if they put static on your end of the conversation,
with additional cut outs, so you can't hear what the person at their
end is saying. Seems suspicious as it's digital, (not the tele-bod's
fault, seems to be a greasy upper management type decree).
Had about three months of really really horrible speeds in various places
late 2010/ early 2011. They said it was because of mast upgrades, when
it was actually down to losing shared mast privileges from a previous
associate of theirs. So they can be very disingenuous.
When it works as published it's fine, however... and
star rating reflects my experience.
Rating: 
Reply
Reviewed by Michael from UK on 22nd Sep 2012
I live in North West London and the signal and reception is very good
for three.
I have a dongle, 5gb per month (monthly contract) for £15.98 and it's
fine for reading the news, downloading catalogues and sending emails.
However, the signal does vary in parts of West London, where I have
found I get a "No Service" message.
I would recommend with caution (ie) very much dependent upon the reception
on your area. I would not advise taking out a long term contract. As
others have said, Customer Service is in the land of the outboard motor
and predictably expert at wasting your time and money.
Rating:
Reply
Reviewed by dom from uk on 21st Sep 2012
worst coverage ever , do not sign a contract with 3 as you will rarely
receive signal !!!
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Mr Ghost from UK on 10th Sep 2012
Three is the best network on the planet if you follow the following
rules
1) Buy any sim free android phone
2) Hook it up to your PC
3) Buy unlimited data
4) Laugh at the people still using dongles.
Rating:
Reply
Reviewed by Isobel from UK on 17th Aug 2012
3 Mobile might be the cheapest (or they might not), but their customer
service is truly appalling. They recently had an outage in my area for
18 days in one month. No explanation or information was given. After
several phone calls at my expense to their 'customer service' team,
who were completely clueless about the problem, I was told that 'your
query has been escalated and an engineer will definitely call you within
two days'. Twice. No such call ever arrived. Their 'customer service'
appears to consist of giving their staff the minimum information and
the chance to offer no or minimum compensation in order to get people
to go away. All I heard were the phrases 'I can only apologise' (which
is clearly true since that IS all they can do, and which is also a stock
phrase designed to get rid of you), and 'that is at your discretion'
from a supposed 'manager' who was also desperate to get rid of me. Very
very poor. Companies would have been embarrassed to be giving such a
poor level of service and information a few years ago, now it happens
all the time, as a matter of policy. Sadly, due to their protective
terms of service and refusal to admit fault, sites like this are the
only forum we poor customers have to be heard. Do yourself a favour
- Avoid!
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by PetrolDave from England on 14th Aug
2012
Swapped from a Vodafone SIM that I had borrowed from a friend to a Three
SIM, immediately the connection speed, both at home and work, dropped
from 7.2Mbps to 384kbps. This is using a Huawei EM770W built-in to my
Acer netbook.
I've never managed higher than 384kbps in any location, even when the
signal strength is high - I suspect that Three are restricting the maximum
data rate when you buy their low volume SIM only packages.
Bad show Three, you should never restrict the maximum connection rate
for any reason other than poor signal strength.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by david henshall from Uk on 4th Aug
2012
It is a shame that there is not a 'no stars at all rating'. Here on
the South side of the isle of wight we've had no service at all now
for 2 weeks - 3 seem to be unable to grasp the fact that the node is
down and there is NOTHING - zip. To get access means getting in the
car and driving!
The problem is for us locals is that fixed line broadband is also a
real issue, so Mobile is a good solution - and was, until 2 months ago.
Forget ringing customer service - in all my years of dealing with call
centres (my job used to be setting them up so you could say that the
biter is bit!) i've never ever seen such poor quality of service.
So, no network, no customer service but lots of threats to bill you
for £180 if you wish to change suppliers!
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Ben2020 from UK on 19th Jul 2012
I'm pretty surprised by the bad reviews but I imagine it depends on
your area's reception and moaning threshhold. Currently, on the Huawei
E586 5Gb service and both the connection & speed are much better than
Vodafone & Orange services I tried previously. Naturally, it won't be
as good as cable home broadband, but that's an issue with the wider
technology. I travel throughout the country a lot, from London to Scotland
and always managed to get either HSDPA or 3G connection. Running Internet
radio or YouTube streaming isn't a problem? Yes, the customer service
isn't native English but so what?! The majority of world population
aren't native English and you're dealing with a multinational company
so get over it. They were helpful & efficient enough when I rang recently
to 'upgrade' to the 10Gb per month for a pound less than my previous
monthly charge without being tied down to a lengthy contract. Credit
where credit's due. And for those few cynics out there, no....I don't
work for them.
Rating: 
Reply
Reviewed by adam from england on 28th Jun 2012
Its really poor. Anything from 3kilobytes/s to 25 during the day, up
to 400kilobytes in the early hours.
You can browse the internet just about ok and stream internet radio.
Forget video.
Ive no idea what ofcom are on about.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Adam from GB on 19th Jun 2012
terrible
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Jeff from England on 19th Jun 2012
If you don't want to talk to the distant citizens of the British Empire,
(now renamed to "The Commonwealth of Nations"), simply call the sales
line. It's always an English person on the sales lines, because Indians
would scare away potential customers.
Begin your call by explaining that you aren't happy with your current
service, but you are interested in upgrading it. Have the English salesperson
explain to you about all the upgrade options and how the system is meant
to work. Then decide that, in the end, you just want to cancel your
current contract. The salesperson can do this for you. You will have
escaped! (Note: Don't talk about the problems from a technical standpoint,
as sales don't want tech' support calls. Just say something like, 'it
doesn't give me enough data allowance each month' and go on from there).
The service itself is good at my semi-permanent location (fast and low
ping), but with intermittent lag spikes caused by packet loss. When
I travel, the performance degrades to fast and high ping and even slow
and high ping.
For an outdated 3G network that was never designed for high speed packet
access, it's actually very impressive. As a substitute for 4G, HSPA+
is a pale shadow in comparison.
Use a landline whenever possible. Mobile Internet is only for those
forced to use it. 3G and all interim 3G technologies are not suited
to the modern Internet. This isn't company related, it's the technology
that all UK mobile networks currently use.
Rating:
Reply
Reviewed by Evaldas from Bedfordshire, UK on 13th
Jun 2012
3 INTERNET IS COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY! IF YOU CAN - JUST BUY
CABLE BROADBAND WITH WIRELESS ROUTER! YOU WILL PAY FEW QUID MORE, BUT
THE SERVICE WILL AT LEAST BE THERE! AS OF 3 MOBILE - YOU GET NOTHING
WORTH YOUR MONEY + RUBBISH CUSTOMER SERVICE AND EMPTY PROMISES! DO NOT
BE TEMPTED INTO CONTRACTS WITH THEM! USING MY EXPERIENCE WITH THEM,
I CAN ONLY SAY: STAY AWAY FROM THEM!
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by DW from England on 11th Jun 2012
EL wrote "the best thing to do is to do a coverage checker yourself.
Its on the 3 website really simple to use. Just type your postcode in
if it says you have good indoor and outdoor it will be exactly that
(Ofsted regulated guys)"
I had to just wipe the tears from my eyes after reading this!!! I have
had the unfortunate displeasure to have purchased a dongle to use for
7 days whilst away in Devon. Checked the coverage checker numerous times
to see if I would be able to get signal in the postcode (EX15 2RA) I
was staying at, and also checked with the local 3 store in Leicester,
and was told each time that I would have no problems with connection
inside or outdoors. So I bought the dongle. Set it up at home and checked
it worked ok (which it did but at a very slow speed, but O2 told me
that their network had no 3G service in that area - very honest of them!).
You can imagine my dismay when I got to Devon and found that I could
NOT get a signal at all on the 3 dongle!!!!!! In fact in a 10 mile radius
of where we were staying, was a complete dead spot (even though the
coverage checker said connection was fine!). Over the 7 days, I managed
to get 15 minutes connection at less than 100kbps (connection speed
not transfer speed!) and this was in the middle of a forest 15 miles
away from where we were staying!!!!! I have worked in IT communications
for over 20 years now and until now have never had a coverage checker
tell me something but do the complete opposite! Even the GPRS speed
on my O2 iPhone was faster than the 15 minutes I was connected on the
3 dongle. I called up 3 Technical Support today after checking the dongle
was working at home (got no need for it now as only needed it for last
week when away!) and to get the sim telephone number, and the Indian
guy asked for the postcode I was at and confirmed that the checker showed
that I should have had no problems with coverage (after speaking to
the owner of the place we stayed, he also said that he has had people
come down on 3 there and no managed to get a signal even on basic phones!),
and confirmed my experiences with my account and that I had no connection
other than the brief one in the forest for the whole week. All they
could offer was a £10 cash credit placed on my account for future usage
(which I doubt I will ever use as doubt I will need the dongle again!!!).
Absolutely disgusting and fraudulent service from them and because it
was more than 7 days after purchase that I returned home, I cannot take
it back for a refund (& if I could, apparently I cannot get a refund
on the credit that I cannot use!!!!).
Stay WELL CLEAR of this company!!!!!
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Ella from UK on 26th May 2012
I have had to contact 3's useless customer services four times now to
tell them that they don't send me an SMS when I have run out of data,
let alone when I have nearly run out of data. In fact, they don't give
me any indication at all that I have run out of data and am now paying
the incredible fees they charge for using data outside my allowance.
Other than that, I find the speed and reliability OK. But the time and
expense that this problem has caused, plus the fact that despite my
continually telling them they have still not done a thing about it,
and it going completely against what they promise on their website,
make me view 3 very negatively.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Aaron L from London on 9th May 2012
I find it funny that for a multi billion pound company Three broadband
has a poor and cheap looking website that doesn't work properly.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Rachel E from UK on 24th Apr 2012
Awful speed - awful customer service. I stupidly signed up to a 2 year
contract where I pay £17.48 each month for 15GB service - except that
I don't receive 15GB speed. The speed is so slow it's not even usable.
I've spent literally days on the phone to technical support and customer
services who assure me my connection is fine, when I go into 3 stores
and complain, no one is interested. I'm trying to cancel but can't because
they'll charge me £180 for my remaining contract terms! >:o( Urghhh
the sheer frustration of it is enough to make you want to throttle someone!
Spare yourself - if you need fast Broadband - use Virgin!
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by gary from england on 22nd Apr 2012
i do not wish to see any nudity picture on my home page thanks
Rating:
Reply
Reviewed by Louise from Ireland on 20th Apr 2012
I am so sick of 3. I took out an 18 month contract in January for their
mifi. Last month I was forced to move house as my landlord sold my house
and before we moved I checked on 3's network checker if I would have
coverage in my new location, which it said I did. So we moved there.
After about a week, my mifi was still saying " no network" so I rang
them. It turned out that was no coverage in my area! When I asked to
come out of the contract as it is completely useless to me they said
they'd call me back on it, which they did - to say that I'd have to
buy myself out of the contract or keep paying monthly regardless of
having no wifi at all and having to pay another network provider that
did have coverage in my area. When I rang O2 to find out what theyd
have done in the same situation, they said they'd let me straight out
of the contract as its up to them to provide me with coverage when in
contract and not my fault if they couldn't, therefore it would b a breach
of contract on their behalf. I am absolutely sick that I chose 3 in
the first place. Never again, their customer care and handling of complaints
are appalling. Stay away from 3!
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Fiona from Scotland on 12th Apr 2012
I have a 3 dongle and it is very very slow. I know for a fact I have
HSDPA coverage less than 5 miles from my house. Anyime 3 have called
(for the dongle) they only want me to get a new phone with them - NOT!
I don't receive e-mails to tell me my limit is up and then just cut
of the internet. I will be going to see about changing my supplier and
metwork. DO NOT SIGN UP WITH 3 FOR ANYTHING EXCEPT AFTER 2 AND BEFORE
3. STAY AWAY!!!
Rating:
Reply
Reviewed by Helen littlewood - webster from Sheffield,
uk on 9th Apr 2012
The new 3 website has not worked at all for about 2 weeks now,it's completely
useless, no idea what data allowance i have left on my account. seriously
thinking about ditching 3 for another service provider, which would
be a great shame as i have not had any problems with it for the past
2 years prior to this !
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Fazza from England on 28th Mar 2012
I have experience with Vodafone, Orange and 3 USB Dongles all around
the UK via my work.
With Vodafone you can pretty much always get a signal, it might not
be a good/fast signal (or even useable) but you get a signal.
With Orange (if you are lucky enough to get a signal) you get a reasonable
connection speed.
With 3, if you get a signal (more likely to than Orange in my experience)
then you get a very good 3G signal compared to other mobile broadband
in your area.
Overall I would say 3 are best for speed of connection.
Customer service on the other hand, I would give Vodafone 5 stars, Orange
4 and 3 none whatsoever as they're useless.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Pat from UKI on 22nd Mar 2012
I have tried to get away from 3 for years and sent a final payment last
month making it very clear that I had had enough! I went through 3 dongles
in that time and none were compatible with my computer so I decided
to go 'dongle free'!!! What happened today? your right - I had a bill
for £33.749(?) I had confirmation by phone that £202.50 was my last
payment but today evil 3 is back again - get lost and be evil elsewhere!!!
Rating:
Reply
Reviewed by magnus from chesterfield UK on 21st
Mar 2012
Been with three for a few years now, although i had problems at first
with disconnecting and poor speed, it has improved quite a lot... until
yesterday when i visited their new website,to say it's bad would be
an understatement,It's very slow and it's almost impossible to view
my account, or top up my payg dongle. i have no idea what data allowance
i have left & i must have wasted about 40 mb of data just trying to
find out. Unless this improves i WILL be looking else where !
Rating:
Reply
Reviewed by Peter from England on 18th Mar 2012
Worst customer service I've ever experienced. AVOID 3 MOBILE BROADBAND
LIKE THE PLAGUE!!!
I took out a rolling contract with 3 mobile as a stop gap whilst I moved
house and got set up in a new area. It wasn't brilliant but did the
trick and today I phoned to cancel the contract which I assumed would
be a simple task. I told the operator I'd signed up to Virgin so wouldn't
need a dongle anymore and that I've got a mobile with internet which
will serve my roaming needs. Well to my amazement after only 6 months
I'd qualified as a 'premium' customer so was able to take advantage
of a host of special offers. I explained again and again and again that
I don't need mobile internet, I don't want a new ipad, I don't want
a laptop, I don't need it as a back up, I JUST WANT TO CANCEL!
Eventually the first person I spoke to got the message but then decided
to pass me on to his manager to confirm the cancellation. But strange
I thought but whatever. Said manager then offered me the same amazing
offers for 'premium' customers. Now I'm mild mannered to a fault but
by this time (30 minutes into the simple cancellation process!) I was
really getting wound up. I had to be rude enough for him to get the
message so he said he was canceling the contract but I could take a
code and use these 'premium' offers in the next 30 days for myself or
family/friends. Whatever I thought, so I took down a code and just as
he was about to hang up I said just to confirm the contract ends on
17th April as discussed?
'Oh no Sir, now you have this code the contract will continue until
you cancel!'.
Well that was the final straw, I congratulate 3 for making me lose my
temper as very few things or people have in my life but they really
were extracting the michael! I think I managed to cancel it in the end.
He told me the last payment date so as soon as that goes from my account
I'm canceling the direct debit.
I was so annoyed with 3 that I immediately phoned to cancel my 3 mobile
phone contract which was due an upgrade. They seemed to sense my irritation
and that was quite a simple process. In short 3 are a bunch of crooks
and I will make every effort to tell people of their shoddy practices
so they can avoid them!
Rating: Reply
Reply by Maureen from England on 1st
Apr 2012
Thank you for the information. I have unfortuneately been in a contract
with this shoddy company for two years and my contract has now come
to an end. I too thought it would be a simple process to just phone
and cancel but the following month I received a bill. I rang up and
was practically called a liar and that I had never called them - I have
their phone number and the time I called on my phone bill so can prove
it.. The woman then tried to sell me an ipad and said if I didn't want
one if I paid £10.90 a month I could keep my contract open. I said I
don't want a contract I am ending it now. She said she will speak to
her manager and he will ring me back in an hour. No call came and now
I have to go through the whole process again. I have never owed any
money in my life but feel they can take me to court before I will pay
this bunch of crooks another penny. I too will tell as many people as
I can to avoid this relentless bunch of crooks..Surely they are breaking
the law.
Reviewed by unhappycustomer from UK on 18th Mar
2012
Yet another bad review absolute terrible I bought dongle payg waste
of money I will soon be switching
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Em from UK on 16th Mar 2012
I signed a 24 month contract with "3" ("the one plan", a mobile contract
with unlimited data for usage of the internet) in September 2011.
With the contract, the shop assistant on Chiswick High Road/London offered
me an internet stick with 1 GB data worth 15 Pounds for free, as a "little
thankyou" for signing up a contract. I mentioned that I would not really
need it as I just signed a contract with unlimited internet data. Nevertheless,
the shop assistant urged me to take it, as I could "fling it in the
bin", if I wished to.
I took the stick, signed a confirmation that I received the stick and
went home. I never unpacked the stick and started using my phone.
In January, I realized that 15 Pounds had been taken off my bank account.
I called the "3" helpline to ask what it was all about. They apologized
and told me that they had made a mistake, I should go to my bank, cancel
the direct debit and claim a refund. I did so. Also, "3" closed my so-called
broadband contract (which I had apparently been tricked into signing.
Since then, I am getting around 3 calls per day from a debit collection
centre, urging me to pay random amounts of money. The amounts they claim
vary from 15 Pounds to 65 Pounds, of course they come along with threats
to tag me with a negative credit note. I never got anything in written
form up to now, nore does the complaints department seem to have any
idea what I am talking about when I am trying to contact them. The two
departments seem to be in several different countries. I am scared stiff
of facing a negative credit note, but at the same time I am far too
angry to pay some random amount of money. I am still paying the monthly
charge (a monthly minimum of 33 Pound) for my mobile contract, the one
I knowingly signed up for´, although it is worth mentioning that
the reception is more than poor and many downloads do not work.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by James from county durham uk on 9th
Mar 2012
Have been a 3 mobile broadband customer for 2 years and have had the
odd problem in the past but still not much to complain about. However,for
the past 2 months it has slowed to a crawl every night and it makes
watching clips on youtube impossible.It used to reasonibly quick 24
hours a day but now it is so frustrating to use on a night. NOT HAPPY!
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Julia Bentley from England on 9th
Mar 2012
Three Broadband (UK) is excellent for supplying broadband to its customers.
However, phoning up to cancel your broadband with them is a different
matter. You cannot give them more than 30 days notice to discontinue
your contract on its end date - you have to remember to give them exactly
30 days notice. Then when you phone and go through to their call centre
in India, they will not simply cancel your account and leave it at that.
I was told I could send them my laptop and they would send me a better
one, to which I replied I did not want another laptop as my present
one hadn't given me any trouble. They still did not want to let go so
offered me a £5 a month to keep 3 Broadband as a backup. In the end
the only way I could make the Indian man understand that I didn't want
any further services, that I just wanted to cancel my broadband was
to be thoroughly rude to him, which I regret, but it was the only way
I could make him understand to stop messing me around and just go ahead
and cancel my broadband. Grrrrrrrr!!!
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Jay from Newcastle UK on 5th Mar 2012
WHAT A RIP OFF! I use the new Huawei E367. I live just under 600m from
my local 3 antenna and I Never get over 1mbps. I used to get 2-3mbps
until around two monthes after my contract started. Now my gmail asks
if I want to load basic HTML. If I try to download anything during the
day (9am-11pm), I get around 30 KB/s!!!
Rating: Reply
Reply by Michael from England on 12th
Mar 2012
I know exactly what you mean, recently my service has been absolutely
terrible. I only get decent speeds at 1am-8am. The only reason I stick
with them is price, and lack of landline permissions in my rented appartment
Reviewed by krizzy from england on 27th Feb 2012
I have tried to cancel my 3 broadband four times now. they keep me on
the phone for ages trying to sell me something else and when i say no
thanks just cancel my contract they cut me off What a joke.
Rating: Reply
Reply by lewis from uk on 8th Mar
2012
I have had the same problem they have dreadful customer service have
had this dongle for 3 weeks am cancelling my dd with them if anyone
is thinking about going with 3 don't bother!!they are the worst company
ever!!
Reviewed by Miss Gee from UK on 25th Feb 2012
I'm so glad I'm not tied into a contract with these crooks. I topped
up a wifi PAYG dongle with £25 for 7GB three days ago. My laptop is
broken so have connected my mobile phone to the wireless dongle. This
morning I'm told that I've used up all my data. I don't stream movies,
just use it to browse and do some Internet shopping. I can't see how
I've used that much data in such a short space of time!
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by marigold Buttcake from UK on 9th Feb
2012
I have been using 3 g bband for a few months & i find that video buffer
speeds are really really lousy. Downloads are really slow aswell. I
think this service is overpriced like all Mobile Broadband in the uK
it sucks!
Im only using this as a temporary measure as im spending between 15
& 30 pounds a week for 6-7 Gig which is a real JOKE! Rip off Britain
and it's companies fleecing people who are on Pay As u go!
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Max from UK on 31st Jan 2012
I hate 3 connect!!! After signing a 15 month contract, the signal was
always bad!!! I called 100 times to the support team and they just tell
that they are going to improve the signal in my area shortly! Now I
want to end my contract because they are providing a creepy service
but after 100 calls I am not able to do it. I will see if I can make
a formal complaint to some UK agency. I am very frustated about it!!!
Rating: Reply
Reply by Karen from England on 4th
Jun 2012
Don't believe the spiel about work going on in the area to improve things.
Work MAY go on in your area but not necessarily to your advantage. I
had a perfectly good phone service and dongle with 3 until they 'Upgraded'
over 6 months with excuses every week why my phone signal dropped out
every 20s. Now, the same with my broadband dongle from 1.5-3 Mbps to
200kps if I am very lucky. All the usual guff. Must be your computer:
Clear out your computer, Often the software: reload the software, your
dongle's too old: I offer you a 'free upgrade', the SIM card is faulty:
replace the SIM card. Complete waste of time. The consolidation of your
services to mast share with other providers and lack of bandwidth is
the problem. You just can't handle to traffic and yet you still want
to dosh.
Reviewed by j mckenna from england on 30th Jan
2012
cnt top up cos of essential maintenance?.again.? & even then not gettin
full download allowance.gonna buy o2 broadband dongle......:(
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Mr Ghostie from Sittingbourne, UK on
26th Jan 2012
2.75Mbps DL is brilliant!! Much better than the Sky broadband which
I had before (1.8Mbps), It has a latency of 105ms and is very usable
with Xbox live, MUCH better than T-Mobile and O2 for speed and connectivity
and for £15p/m incl. 300mins, 3000 texts and all you can eat data....tis
pretty awesome :)
Rating:
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Reviewed by J from UK on 24th Jan 2012
Never ever buy from 3. I have been a customer with them for little bit
over 2 years, and since I changed my address recently I've been having
network troubles. Made a complaint and guess what, they are not going
to do anything about it, but I must pay the remaining of my contract
or a huge cancellation charge of £191 even after returning my handset.
I have never been treated like this ever, and this is the worst customer
service in the whole world probably. I have no other words to describe
my disappointment. J
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Miss M from UK on 23rd Jan 2012
DO NOT purchase from 3, I have never been treated so badly from a company.
The customer services are based abroad and are complete crooks, I have
had many contracts from lots of companies and pay all of my bills on
time without problem, mobile 3 is an absolute disgrace and I will never
ever advise anyone to sign up to any contract of theres. this is my
brief story- I had a broadband service for around £5 a month that I
used for 3 months I moved house and cancelled the contract. I then received
a letter from a dept collection agency saying I owe £40 to 3. I spoke
to 3 and they said they had no record of cancelation. So I paid and
cancelled again. Another letter from 3 I owe £20, rang and said they
still needed to make a final payment, and no cancellation until it was
received, and the list is too long to mention what they were charging
me for left rite and centre for nothing but apparently it was in contract
so I could never actually cancel and get rid of them. This carried on
for almost a year, being charged for nothing they even rang me over
the xmas holiday 6-10 times a day for a £20 charge that I didn't even
owe. The customer services are based abroad and can obviously do what
they like, as they never cancelled my contract, tried selling me more
offers, hung up on me, said they would call me back and didn't, said
they would put through a complaint request and didn't, said they would
settle my final bill and didn't, charged me more money than I owed according
to the contract, this all happened numerous times. The final straw I
couldn't take anymore and wanted to eradicate 3 from my memory. I ended
up crying over the phone to a lady customer service operator who finally
said she has waved any charges and that I shouldnt hear from the company
again. I really hope this is the end from the 3 night mare.
Rating: Reply
Reply by danny from ireland on 25th
Feb 2012
it is possibly the worst broadband in history it is slow it wont do
anything i would not let anybody i know sing up to this everybody i
know that had it got rid of it so i am moving to vodafone's mobile broadband
i hear it is far better than 3
Reply by ruby100 from England on 15th
Dec 2012
Vodafone is the rudest I couldn't repeat the name they called me , just
look at their reviews and see for yourself I wouldn't be surprised if
they shut down, just read their fb page. I always say ask your friends
what their signal is like as the shop said I had a good signal , not
to bad for the first year then the signal went and never came back.3
is the best in my area and have the wifi one and have full bars for
the first time .
Reviewed by No more MrNiceguy from England on
20th Jan 2012
I used to have O2 mobile contract unlimited internet (fair usage) and
i changed it to 3 network for unlimited internet. As a commuter, i use
the data a lot on the internet. However i cant even watch a youtube
video on 3mobile right now. I checked the mobile connection speed: 3
mobile/personal > its 0.17 mbps; O2 mobile/business> its 3.5 mbps. Its
a big difference. I think 3 network is overcrowded or they limit people's
usage so they cant stream videos or watch live tv. Im stuck with 3 network
22 months more :/ I guess any network but 3 is realistic. There wont
be unlimited internet on mobiles, if it's only with fair usage.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Gill B. from London, UK on 17th Jan
2012
Guys, my friendly advise to you: DON'T GET 'THREE' and specially if
you live in NW6 AREA!!! Since 2 weeks i can not acses internet niether
on my mobile broadband niether on any of my phones. It used to be more
or less bareable before but now it is just DEAD!!! 15 pounds for 15GB
sounds great but you wont be able to spend even 1GB: because you won't
be able to go online at all if you live in this post code! Save your
money, time and your NERVES! Stay avay from 'three'. (rating one star
because there is no option of rating 'zero')
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Della Harris from England, Isle of Wight
on 15th Jan 2012
I've had my phone and internet dongle since July 2011, I don't know
why but my phone is good but the dongle isn't, I have a 15gb dongle,
it says after about an hour or two I've used it up and cant use it again
till the next lot of usage I only use it for Loading photos of bands
or any photo shoots I've done to facebook, check my emails and look
for work and maybe listen to a few songs on youtube, i dont even catch
up on my programmes on bbc three incase i go over. it cuts out well
disconnects and I cant connect till my next lot of monthly usage. I
thought 3 were meant to be good for internet etc but looks not good
just with my phone its good, but the internet is 15gb... i could be
on facebook for a month and it wont use it up... but with my dongle
it has, I don't know why either, i need to try and opt out but I don't
know if they will let me, plus i just really need my phone as my mum
is getting sky, can anyone help me? email me? del_shadz_dan@hotmail.com
thanks :D (sorry if i said things over and over haha)
Rating:
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Reviewed by Cathy from United Kingdom on 14th
Jan 2012
Hi, In answer to Paul Tait's advice, I do not have two little flashing
computers in the bottom R.H. corner of my screen. Any other suggestions
to get a faster speed?
Rating:
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Reviewed by Paul from Leicester, England on 14th
Jan 2012
My landlord won't let me fit a landline so I've been using a 3 dongle
for months. At £15 per 3Gb it was expensive and I had to keep an eye
on what I was doing so even without ever going near iplayer or youtube
it was costing me £30 a month but the signal is good and the speed was
fine. A friend gave me a smartphone that can be tethered so I stuck
a 3 PAYG sim in it and have been buying the all-you-can-eat +3000 texts
+300 minutes of talktime on it for £15 a month. I'm saving £15 a month
on data now and I binned the Asda PAYG because just keeping that topped
up was at least £10 per month. I'm better off and when I do find a better
flat, I probably won't bother getting a landline with broadband fitted
as this provides my phone and data needs.
Rating:
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Reviewed by Ally from England on 10th Jan 2012
The worst customer service ever!!! I had bought a one month rolling
contract mobile broadband in Aug. We were moving house and we need internet
during the transition. So, I bought this and I assumed that I could
cancel after using it for that month. But 3 network would not let me
cancel my contract at the end of the month. They said that I have to
give a 30 day notice for a 1 month contract. Which is ridiculous! How
can I give a 30-day notice for a 1 month rolling contract!!! They demanded
that I pay for that extra month, for a service that I didn't even use.
When I called the customer service, they were no help. Each person that
I talked to, gave me different answers. They were absolutely inconsistent
in their answers and rather rude! At the end, I was just left frustrated
and ended up paying for that extra month. I never want to deal with
this company again. If anyone gets this network, just pray that you
don't have to deal with or talk to the customer service!
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Ethos from UK on 10th Jan 2012
WORST NETWORK PROVIDER ONCE THEY LURK YOU IN TO ALL U CAN EAT THE WILL
LET U SURF TWO OR 3 DAYS WITHOUT ISSUES AND THEN THEY WILL START CUTTING
OFF YOU FROM INTERNET EVEN PHONE SIGNAL EVEN IF U HAVE GOOD SIGNAL!!!
I GOT GALAXY S II ANDPAYG AND THEY CONSTANTLY DISCONNECTINGE FROM NETWORK
AND EVEN CALL ITS ALL FAKE
Rating:
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Reviewed by Steve from UK, Birmingham on 8th Jan
2012
Unlike others, I don;t think it is bad at all. Before I bought it I
checked online and found that signal is pretty decent in my area. Had
it for 3 weeks and no problems thus far (touchwood!!).
Rating:
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Reviewed by Emmet from Ireland on 6th Jan 2012
Pretty bad in my opinion, never stays at one current speed, always fluctuating.
Also, the modem is always disconnecting from my computer, and when i
try to reconnect, half the time i have to restart the modem, or it even
turns it self off for no reason sometimes, and often freezes, so i have
to take out the battery to restart. All in all, a pretty bad service,
and hopefully i can change to a better service soon.
Rating:
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Reviewed by ella from ireland on 4th Jan 2012
The worst service provider ever!! and the worst customer service ever!
actually the attitude of customer service is shocking. They charged
me twice for the same thing more than 150 EUR x 2 and when I wanted
to claim my money back (I learn about it when I've checked my bank statement)
they didn't want to give me back that money. I rang them lots of times
and all I heard was 'you have to go to the bank'. So finally I went
to the bank, took time off for that and obviously bank has nothing to
do with that. I waste so much time. And still don't have that money.
The guys on the customer service line have very strong indian accent
which is difficult to understand but it is o'right as long as they are
helpful but they are NOT! If you ring them to make a payment, they are
nice. If you ring them because they took too much money from your account
then they are rude and treat you like dirt. I sill have a contract with
them and don't want to pay penalty for cancelling now but as soon as
the contract ends I'm gonna buy prepay somewhere else. Never ever want
to deal with thieves and bunch of gangsters from Three.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Tong Ding from EDINBURGH on 3rd Jan
2012
I SKYPE BACK HOME EVERYDAY AND THERE IS ALWAYS PROBLEM WITH THE CONNECTION.
THE PROBLEM IS THE LINE KEEPS DROPPING DEAD N OFF- LINE .HAVE TO DISCONNECT
/ CONNECT ALL THE TIME. REALLY ANNOYS N HOPE THE TECKNICAL SUPPORT CAN
SEE WHAT IS HAPPENING N IMPROVE THE SERVICE.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by lakhwinder from uk on 2nd Jan 2012
Hi there! First time posting on here, I hope some of you can help. I
took out a 24-month contract on a mobile broadband dongle with 3G which
finished in October 2009. At that time it was the only mobile broadband
option I could find. However, it didn't work very well despite them
constantly telling me I was in a 'turbo' area. After about 6 months
it got worse and phonecalls to them were of little help. My neighbours
then installed wifi and I paid for half in return for the code for the
remainder of that year. The dongle from 3 just lay at the back of a
shelf for the remainder of the contract, except one time when I used
it on a train journey (to no avail- still hopeless). so 18 months thereabouts
of no use, except on one occasion. In May 2009 I called 3 to try and
cancel, even though the 24 months weren't up. They said I would have
to call back in October to do this. Getting fed up with being on hold
when I called, I cancelled the direct debit with my bank as the 24 months
had expired. Thinking it was all done and dusted, I then start to get
calls in January this year saying I owed them £92! They had not cancelled
it even though the contract had expired and the DD was cancelled at
the bank. I put forward my case- 1. I honoured the 24 month contract
despite the dongle not working for the majority of that time 2. during
that period, the cost had gone down to around £7.99 a month while I
had paid £15.99 a month, and had been happy to do so as it was the contract
I had entered 3. they have records showing both that the dongle was
barely used and that I had requested cancellation in the past. They
claimed to be unable to see previous calls I had made regarding issues
further back to try and resolve the functioning of the dongle as their
records did not go back that far. As it turns out, my DD cancellation
had been a little hasty and I had cancelled it before the Oct payment
was taken. They also said that although the contract expired in Oct,
I would have needed to pay for Oct in Nov, so 2 payments out of the
24 were not taken. I offered to pay for these there and then on the
phone (total, approx £32), but they refused, saying it was either full
payment or nothing. I'm not at all happy about paying for a service
that I did not receive, and for which they have records to prove the
same. As far as I can see I honoured the 24 months of the contract,
except the last 2 months- due to oversight- yet offered to pay these.I
am still happy to pay for the last 2 months out of the 24, but not the
remaining £60 of that. I'm not happy about this issue and now its showing
on my credit report. What can I do? Thanks in advance to anyone who
can help. Lakhwinder kaur
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Missy from UK on 29th Dec 2011
Had 3 mobile since July and I'm more or less pleased with the service
I've received so far. The speeds have been manageable and I haven't
had any problems with connecting etc. I'm on 15GB/month which is *just*
about enough for me. Haven't needed customer services yet...judging
by the reviews below they sound atrocious...!
Rating:
Reply
Reviewed by Tom from England on 28th Dec 2011
At home in the centre of Birmingham its a rare occasion to recieve data
speeds above 0.2mbps, this is with full bars regardless of whether its
3am or 3pm. Elsewhere speeds do seem to improve though. Staff instore
and over the phone can be described in one word - absymal. Make sure
you test your local connection before entering a contract!!!
Rating:
Reply
Reviewed by Cal from UK on 19th Dec 2011
Fantastic tip - download speed just went into warp 5!
Rating:
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Reviewed by darren from uk on 19th Dec 2011
bunch of con artist, first and last time i go to 3 again. i was told
my contract was flexible that when i moved to my new house i could cancel
it. instead i am signed up for a 24month contract i did not ask for.
grrr.... AVOID AVOID AVOID!!
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Jodie Lawrence from UK on 16th Dec
2011
I signed up for a deal with 3G in order to get a Dell Inspiron Laptop.
The contract was for £35 a month for 24 months until the Laptop was
paid for then it should only be £15 for the monthly internet dongle.
I decided to cancel over a month ago, 02 are offering a great deal on
broadband as I've had a mobile contract with them for years and I was
never happy with 3G's product or customer services. In the 26months
I was with 3G I had to call them at least 7 times as their kept on overcharging
me even though I had a cap on the account, then they overcharged me
for a replacement dongle (should have only been £10 yet they took £49.99
out of my account) It was so frustrating that I would have to call them
up (which costs a bomb as I had to call from my mobile which isn't 3G
so cost a lot per min) I'd be on the phone for a good 15/20mins before
even speaking to anyone then it would take forever to deal with the
problem so even when they did refund me the money it's cost me an arm
and leg to get the issues resolved. Now the WORST part is that when
I called to cancel I was advised that I was still being charged £35
when it should have gone down to £15 and tax after 24months so technically
I'm in credit of around £50+ so I was surprised to receive a bill for
the internet used within the 30days until the account was closed. Surely
this should be credited off of the balence on my account and the difference
refunded to me. WRONG!!!! I was on the phone for 50mins (a 3rd of that
time was I was on hold). This still hasn't been resolved I am awaiting
a callback, but have a feeling I am going to have to call them AGAIN!
I will be making a complaint to ombudsman services of telecommunication,
if you have had similar issue I suggest you do the same.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by darrin pavey from England on 9th Dec
2011
I have had a contract dongle from 3 network for two years and my contract
terminates on January19, 2012. I have asked them today 9/12/2012 to
terminate my contract on that date and have been told that i cannot
give them notice to cancel my contract unless it is exactly 30days prior
to the termination date, if i cancel 1 day before i will have to pay
an extra month and if i cancel 1 day late i have to pay an extra month
yet while i was trying to cancel they kept me on the telephone for over
1 hour trying to get me to extend the contract or take out another,
i am disgusted by the company that i have given my custom to for over
7 years, but wont be for any longer, will cancell my contract mobile
and my wife and sons payg phones and go to vodaphone, please all be
aware and do not fall into their trap.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Craig from England on 9th Dec 2011
Rang to cancel my contract 3 times today's the 4th as they haven't done
it n keep me on the phone 4 at least 35 mins until I hang up
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Sven from UK on 9th Dec 2011
Agree, terrible and unhelpfull. Especially if you try to cancel with
them.
Rating:
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Reviewed by JT from UK on 5th Dec 2011
A terrible, unhelpful company. Avaoid at all costs.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Milly from England on 5th Dec 2011
Paul's tip about changing the default speed was absolutely brilliant.
I was having a lot of trouble even loading basic pages and found this
site by googling how to cancel my 3 mobile broadband (sounds excruciating).
I've just given it the ultimate test by trying BBC's iplayer and it
worked brilliantly. Alas I've got an ancient deal of 3GB a month for
17 quid something. Do I upgrade or cancel because I want wifi (for the
other computer and wii? I don't know. I live in Thanet, Kent.
Rating:
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Reviewed by David from Ireland on 4th Dec 2011
Ireland 20:37 GMT Three broadband is such a useless service. The lowest
I could give it here is one star. They don't even deserve that. Over
the last few months they have been reducing my bandwidth. When I asked
about this on the 'help-line' I was told that this wasn'thappening.
A blatant lie. If its true, how come I can barely get thru the month's
allowance with normal usage anymore? Once when I got a new high speed
dongle from them it ate up my months allowance in a WEEK and I had to
pay them e75 extra for that month. Plus I couldn't use it for three
weeks until I got some credit back up start of the next month. Went
back to the old dongle immediately. What a rip off. They'll tell you
anything on the outsourced helpline. Polite people but a useless service.
They just read from a book of pre-formulated answers as far as I can
tell. Isn't a minus star rating available for Three Broadband? update:
just tried to post this and guess what? Yup, its gone offline again.
I'll keep trying ... The connection to the server was reset while the
page was loading. The site could be temporarily unavailable or too busy.
Try again in a few moments. If you are unable to load any pages, check
your computer's network connection. If your computer or network is protected
by a firewall or proxy, make sure that Firefox is permitted to access
the Web. The option 'Your 3 Broadband connection is a useless piece
of junk' should be there but its not ... ah well, on with the task.
Step #1 Disconnect the already disconnected line (which tells you 'Connection
is working normally'). 'Normally' in this instance means 'rubbish'.
Step #2 'Go thru the 'Safely Remove Hardware' routine Step #3 Replug-in
Step #4 Try to reconnect ... in progress. I usually have to go through
this routine a couple of times before I can get a connection. Oh btw,
just tried to go to the Three site. Surprise, surprise I can't get to
you the 'your account' section. Connection failed. Laughable but annoying
isn't it. Sheesh, if I have to look at Jedward gawking out again ...
I started this post about 30 minutes ago but cannot post it. Determined
I am tho ... Hello, what's this? ... The connection was reset The connection
to the server was reset while the page was loading ... 10 minutes or
so later ... Ok supposedly connected message again ... let's see ...
try 'Login to My3' again ... Problem Loading Page message Try Google
... ; 'Problem Loading Page' ... yup I know what the problem is I think
... would it be 'Three's useless broadnband service by any chance'?
Ok I'll take a break. The connection is gone. I'll save this in Notepad
and try post later. About an hour spent at this stage 21:37 GMT Unable
to connect Firefox can't establish a connection to the server at statcounter.com
The site could be temporarily unavailable or too busy. Try again in
a few moments. If you are unable to load any pages, check your computer's
network connection. If your computer or network is protected by a firewall
or proxy, make sure that Firefox is permitted to access the Web. The
notice 'Your 3 Broadband connection is a useless piece of junk' should
be there but its not ... This post should go into the Guinness Book
of Records under the name 'Longest Time Ever to Make a Post due to a
lousy Broadband connection' record. Step #1 Disconnect the already disconnected
line (which tells you 'Connection is working normally'). 'Normally in
this instance means 'rubbish'. Step #2 'Go thru the 'Safely Remove Hardware'
routine Step #3 Replug-in Step #4 Try to reconnect Yahh I think it MAY
be back. I'll try to post this now ... If you see this post, it worked
(eventually). This happens all the time with Three ... So that's my
experience with them. Could I sum Three up in one word if I had to?
'A Hopeless Ripoff'. Wait that's three words isn't it. Well u get the
idea ... Hitting the 'Submit' button now ...
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by sean from united kingdom on 1st Dec
2011
im paying that for 5 gig wheres the other 10? i have a dongle from u
lot???????? plus it slows down every 30 secs???? not happy at all
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Aidan from UK on 28th Nov 2011
I have had six years worth of contract with 3 (phones and mobile broadband),
and I will never go back. I was counting down the weeks until my last
contracts ended and not knowing if they automatically went onto a one
month rolling contact, I called to officially cancel my broadband first.
I was encouraged to take an upgrade to an ipad2. I was hesitant as I
was not in the market for one but I was fed a lot of chat about how
it was a good deal and that I was a premium customer etc. I was told
that it would be £35 a month for 24 months and that 3 would waive the
£200 upfront charge by making it a discount. I was really reluctant
but after 30 mins of their notorious hard-selling technique, I said
yes to them sending it - only after asking if there was a cooling off
period. I checked on-line for ipad2 and prices that afternoon and saw
there was actually no discount; the upfront cost was not waived at all
but instead factored into the monthly cost. I would have been cheaper
as a first time customer getting that 'deal'. I was disgusted. Six years
of contracts with every bill being paid on time and that is how they
will treat a loyal customer. I tried to cancel the dispatch of the ipad
the same day but was told I would have to wait until it arrived and
then send call to find out how to return it. I also asked 3 when cancelling
the broadband if there was any notice due for my phone and I was told
no. So today, I was most unpleasantly surprised to find they have kept
billing me for my phone. I called 3 today to try and sort this out once
and for all and it will be a battle to have my money reimbursed. They
also tried to sell my some deal or other and it took four very firm
"no's" before he stopped trying to sell me something. These issues aside,
there have been numerous signal problems, a lack of any clear communication
from them and over billing. Definitely a network to stay away from.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Andy from UK on 24th Nov 2011
Using this with a tethered phone that supports HSPA+, "up to 21 Mbps"
. What a joke, even with a good signal, the best I can get is 3Mbps
download speeds, and that is at sisx in the morning. Peak time(evening)rates
can drop as low as 100kbps.
Rating:
Reply
Reviewed by samuel Daw from uk on 24th Nov 2011
one word, useless
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Paul from Uk on 20th Nov 2011
I bought a laptop about 3 weeks ago and decided to buy a dongle with
12gb starter for £100 which apparently is supposed to last 12 months
i'm already down to 6.5 gb but i have noticed something quite odd which
i haven't seen in the other reviews:last night before i logged off i
checked my data allowance and it said 6409mb and today when i logged
on i checked my data again straight away and it said 6342mb,why is my
data disappearing when i'm not even logged on,as for the customer service,
i haven't had the pleasure of using that service yet,reception is not
bad,slow at times,might go on to a sim only contract,15gb a month for
14.99 dosen't sound too bad
Rating:
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Reviewed by Anon from Uk on 16th Nov 2011
I've had 3 broadband for many years and after deciding to cancel this
service 3 make it very difficult to cancel. No matter what you tell
them they'll insist you need the service and offer free netbooks but
not tell you there is a contract. After 20mins of saying I want to cancel
they had me no hold for a further 5mins then when they returned another
offer was put to me. I understand about customer retention, but this
is on the verge of bullying. The broadband reception cannot be reach
anywhere and everywhere it's absolutely terrible. Tmobile's much better!!!!
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Helena from UK on 15th Nov 2011
The stability of the service has improved greatly in the last couple
of months, after months and months of being completely unusable, although
oddly the signal strength seems to have got worse. The only downside
now is that they have stopped sending me warning emails when I have
20% of my allowance left, and I keep unexpectedly running out of data,
since I expect that they will send the warning.
Rating:
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Reviewed by Tim from Wales on 15th Nov 2011
This 3G service from 3 has been a life-saver! Brilliant! Altough the
coverage map clearly indicates that I should not get any kind of service,
in desperation I bought a 1 G dongle just to try it out. Full strength
signal if I put the dongle up in the loft! So I bought a contract with
a MiFi device - ALWAYS over a 1 Meg speed where the landline NEVER provides
more than 300kbps. It drops out now and again, but this is superb -
and I gather that speeds may be increasing in January - possibly to
3M. The monthly fee is less than £15 - its very good value.
Rating:
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Reviewed by David Moore from england on 15th Nov
2011
I am very unhappy with the service i have received. I started paying
for my broadband and i had to wait 4 month to even started getting connected.
As far as the people i spoke on the phone too where concerned i was
not even on their systems for recieving internet biggest waste of time
ever in my eyes.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by John Fennell from England on 10th
Nov 2011
I am (and have been for 11 months) an exceptionally happy 3 customer.
I have an iPhone on an all you can eat data plan which I use as a main
Internet connection at home-which is so remote that 3 show only poor
signal outdoors on their signal map-(Bodenham, Leominster. ) My BT broadband
is at very best pathetic, I could on a good day hope to get 250kbps
down 160kbps up. Whereas my tethered 3G connection always operates at
between 1.7-2.8mbps down and 1.3-1.6 up! Furthermore, I had an issue-the
only issue I have ever faced with 3- when my local mast failed and it
took 8 weeks before it was working correctly, I only lost 3G so I still
had 2G to use for phone calls. When I reported the issue to 3 customer
services, the very nice Indian man gave me a full refund for that month,
even though the problem occurred merely days before the end of June,
but informed me that I would not pay a penny until the problem was sorted;
I received at least weekly updates on the problem and what was being
done to sort it out but once the problem was in fact sorted they gave
me a 25% discount on ALL payments due for the remaining period of my
two year contract! I have never dealt with a better customer services
team, their technical team were really switched on and knew what they
were talking about and could not have been more helpful. I would-and
have-recommend this network to anyone thinking of mobile broadband or
telephone. Why pay BT for broadband and phones if you can get a smartphone
with an amazing data plan for the same money? Sent by my iPhone, on
the 3 3G network.
Rating:
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Reviewed by Angry (soon to be ex) customer from UK on
9th Nov 2011
I agree with Big Al. I have finally had enough of 3 after months of
no network, when it says it's connected but clearly isn't, speed of
usage when I can get it working is extremely poor. When I first got
a contract with 3 they put me on the worng contract so I was paying
£5 extra per month for a different price plan I was not getting! I have
also complained in the past and been advised it is my computer that
is causing the slow speed, however this is total rubbish as I have family
who are very adept with computers and they can not find any issue at
all. I rang up to cancel my contract today. I spoke to a person called
Amon Chowdhary. He agreed my service has been terrible and then said
he would try to compensate me, and that I can trust him as he wants
to sort this out for me. He then offered me another price plan (for
24 months!), which anyone can get, in fact there are cheaper deals advertised
for new customers! He also told me the problem was the dongle I have
been using which is very old and out of date, and that I should have
had a new one, which he would send out straight away! When I advised
him I wanted to cancel, he replied, 'ok so you wnat to go with the price
plan we talked about,' to which I replied a firm 'no.' It took me a
good hour to end the contract becasue of his hard selling and refusal
to end it. I find it incredible that 3 can ring me constantly to offer
me a mobile phone, and I repeatedly tell them not to ring me. Yet, they
can not contact customers to offer them free upgrades for clearly useless
dongles! Big Al, I was able to give 30 days notice today so I would
ring them back and keep pushing for the contract to end. I asked for
written confirmation that my contract has been terminated as I don't
believe 3 will actually end it, but was told I can not have it! I find
the company and the workers within it highly immoral in their workings
and it's frustrating there is not much that can be done. I would not
even give this service a 1 star but it's the lowest choice unfortunately.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Big Al from UK on 7th Nov 2011
The network is simply atrocious. It constantly drops the connection
(it still says connected but there is no actual connectivity), and I'm
lucky to get dial-up speeds, even though I'm in a HSPA+ area. Customer
services are in complete denial - I sat with two dongles on two laptops
next to each other (a friend also being unlucky enough to own one) and
both consistently dropped at the same time. Customer services response
- it's just a settings error on my laptop (which they were unable to
pinpoint). Hmm... Fortunately had only signed up to a 1 month contract,
but strangely despite cancelling after 3 days my notice period is 45
days and I must be billed for 3 months usage. THAT IS NOT THE DEFINITION
OF A 30 DAY CONTRACT! Simply put, if you enjoy being ripped off, not
being able to use the internet, and treated as a mug, this is the perfect
network for you!
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Mihenga,J.O from Tanzania on 3rd Nov
2011
I mostly used 3 mobile Broadband it is speedy and very helpful!
Rating:
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Reviewed by phillip from england on 2nd Nov 2011
Three is the worst company to deal with. i just signed up a 24 month
15gb dongle with them just to find out two days after that the 3 dash
board was giving incorrect readings. they are unwilling to repair or
replace the dongle as i was told once the dongle can connect to the
internets its fine. now the faulty dongle has given false readin of
me consumin 17gb within 1 week of signing up for the dongle and the
dongle is also showin usage of internet at days dat i hadny even purchased
the dongle. the customer service r rude and they wont get away with
this as i wont give up without bringing them before the law
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Jay from UK on 1st Nov 2011
21mbps? Why would you even say that? Because you want the £80 commission?!
THIS NETWORK IS A RIP OFF!!! Their new Huawei E367 HSPA+ dongle doesn't
make any difference to the speed you get. That's because their network
isn't capable of HSPA+. I've been testing my connection every 1-2 hours
from 7am to 11pm for the last few weeks. Ping is 140ms+ and my average
download speed is 0.37 mbps/ 46.25 KBps!! Thats the speed I got 5-6
years ago tethering to my old SE phone. It used to cost me 50p per day,
pay as you go.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by tb from uk on 26th Oct 2011
worst provider EVER! yeah their cheap but YOU WILL regret going to them
!
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Clive Sinclair from UK on 25th Oct
2011
Moved my phone account from Vodafone to Three recently - after using
their old and new MiFi devices and getting very good service and speeds.
With recent network updates have seen unto 12mb d/l in the areas I use.
Now have a iPhone 4S and getting similar (slightly slower) to the E586
MiFi devices. When I phoned up to order my new iPhone, I got through
within 30seconds and order was easy, simple and delivered on the date
and time stated. Also the data deal offered by Three is far superior
to any other network.
Rating:
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Reviewed by davidssr from england on 25th Oct
2011
Stay clear. Worse service and customer care ever. I suffered 18 months
of hell with this company, yes I had unlimited data but at speeds that
rarely got above 0.5 mbps what's the use in that. Kings of the internet
time out errors.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by mark mc from uk on 23rd Oct 2011
I have been with 3 for 2 years and i think they are great never had
any problems,i have a phone and mobile broadband.
Rating:
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Reviewed by Katie from UK on 21st Oct 2011
Absolutely appalling customer service, on every occasion I have spoken
to them!!
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Jiau from UK on 17th Oct 2011
I called up Three's customer services because I have been charged unfairly
for usage which should have been free according to the sales adviser.
When I got through, I spoke to a manager in India and he was very rude
and aggressive. He obviously had an agenda and did not allow me to speak
for a long time. He even said that I "did not have common sense" to
understand the terms and conditions of the contract. Every attempt to
explain my situation was stopped almost instantly by the same long-winded
regurgitation of the terms and conditions. After a long time, he said
that he would apply a credit to the current month's balance as a "goodwill
gesture", which was to the amount of £2.56. He said that he could not
do anything about the extra charges for the last month because the company's
policy did not allow for such credit to be applied. What he just said
completely contradicted his actions seconds earlier. I decided to end
my misery by telling him that I was very disappointed with his attitude
and I would make a formal complaint to Three. Based on what I have read
here, I am not optimistic about getting a fair response from Three.
Seriously, Indian companies aside, why would any other company want
to have a customer services center in India? Their attitude to customer
service is all wrong from the start!
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Hughie from UK on 15th Oct 2011
Avoid this provider at all costs. **Do not waste your money**. Lying
cheating scum bags.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by doloresmcnulty-hunter from ireland on
5th Oct 2011
I stopped using yoiur service in december 2010, because it was too slow
and stalled regularly. I singed up to Eircom and rang 3mobile. I spoke
to some man in india and he was rude and arrogant, told me i had rang
the wrong number to canel. I was so shocked at his attitude that I hung
up and cancelled my direct debit. Now I am receivng bills for a service
that I have not used for over a year. When I purchased the package I
was told the contract was for one year, which I did. Now I am being
billed for each month since I stopped using the service. I have just
logged on to ratemyisp.ie and the reviews from customers are so bad
that it is unbelievable. Get off my back and leave me alone- I want
nothing more to do with you people and the rude arrogant guys in india
who work for you. It is also intersting that when I tried to get your
terms and conditions on line this evening that something came up about
Jedward instead. What a way to run a business. Dolores mc Nulty Hunter
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by MrD from UK on 1st Oct 2011
After multiple blue screen crashes for 2 weeks and desperatly trying
to find the reason for my computer problems by unloading and reloading
software I decided to install a new hard drive and reinstall windows.
Technically my machine is now new but when I installed the dongle I
started experiancing the same problems as before. As I write this a
new message has just popped up notifying me that the modem has experianced
a problem and has closed. I am not even going to bother informing the
customer service dept (I am sure they read these messages). The constant
crashes, slow speeds and drop outs have caused me a lot of grief and
as I am out of contract and will cancel it today. I think my computer
is about to crash again.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by simon from uk on 28th Sep 2011
I use this at home as didn't want to pay for a bT line. I get the 15gb
per month deal for £10 a month as I'm also a mobile telephone customer
on contract. Speeds get up to 1mbs when downloading torrents which lets
me download a movie within about 15 -20mins. The new high speed dongle
is great in my house ,I've never taken it out of the house so can't
comment on roaming speeds. I'd highly recommend 3 broadband. The customer
service is also good.
Rating:
Reply
Reviewed by JK from Scotland on 25th Sep 2011
Very disappointing. I just checked the speed of my newly purchased 3mobile
dongle (running on a Macbook in the centre of Inverness), instead of
the advertised "Up to 21Mbps" mine is running at 0.48Mbps! It also seems
to disconnect regularly (although this may be other applications accessing
the internet in the background & using up too much of the paltry connection).
So don't expect this to run anywhere near as well as a land-line connection.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Kate from Uk on 23rd Sep 2011
I have had my dongle for a year and a half. We live on a boat so we
are always in a different location. Sometimes it is ok, streaming is
possible. Other times it is hopeless depending on where we are (always
central London) My Biggest gripe is this: I called them to cancel my
Dongle because I now have a mooring with broadband. The lady in India
(Monica Jaisinghani) argued with me for over half an hour, trying to
convince me to keep it, or to reduce the payment to £5 for 3 months
with 1 gig. Over and over again. I kept saying No. No thank you, I do
not need it, I do not want it. She kept going on and on, not cancelling
it and pushing so hard to change my mind. The conversation finally ended
with me saying NO for the umpteenth time, I WANT TO CANCEL MY ACCOUNT
NOW. 6 weeks later when I find they have taken more money and are about
to bill me again I call to find she has made a note on my account saying
that I had agreed to give my dongle to someone else and continue paying
myself. WHAT!! This could not have been more ridiculous. The man then
went on to say that they would could only cancel from 30 days from that
day. I said no, I cancelled 6 weeks ago, I am not cancelling today.
This went back and forth many times with him saying sorry there is nothing
ha can do, he agrees the lady was wrong and I was right but I still
had to pay. After arguing he then stepped down a little and said they
could cancel immediately from that day rather than a further 30 days.
I said no, i am not cancelling today I cancelled 6 weeks ago. He was
now adament there was nothing more to be done. I would have to pay for
their error. After more arguing He finally said he could actually cancel
from the day I had cancelled it, they would send out a letter with the
readjusted fees on it. POINTS TO REMEMBER ABOUT 3: 1.When you cancel
they will go to absolutely any lengths to scam you out of more money.
if they managed to make all of the outgoing customers pay an extra month
they would make a tidy sum. 2.They will lie about what can and cant
be done. You must be persistent and push for what is right. It may take
many hours of pushing back at them. 'oh we cant do that' 20 mins later
'oh yes we can do that, i was just lying the first time to try to squeeze
more money out of you.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Andrew from Uk on 15th Sep 2011
I've had my 3 dongle for nearly 2 years now and I must say i'm very
impresed. I always get a good signal and touch wood it's never let me
down. I have noticed over the past couple of months it has got quite
slow. I tried Paul Tait's tip bit it doesn't seem to stay on the 921600
setting, it always defaults back. Any help there would be nice. I haven't
had any reason to call their customer service help line so can't really
comment on that. Although I think I may give them a call regarding the
speed of it now. Anyway overall I am very happy with it and wouldn't
hesitate getting anouther from 3 if anything ever happened to this one.
Rating:
Reply
Reviewed by Jane from UK on 12th Sep 2011
Like many people I thought 3 mobile broadband was great when I got it
in 2008. Since May this year however I have not been able to stay on
line for more than a few minutes before I have to log off and on again.
Repeated chats with staff in India have got me nowhere and I have been
led to believe that this problem is unique to me. It is only by reading
all these reviews that I realise they have been kidding me. Eventually,
after many calls my monthly payments were stopped until September. I
was told that the 'Mast was being upgraded' and all would then be well.
So far not true. Really frustrating particularly as it stops me doing
any transaction on line. Can't shop or check my on line bank accounts.
If I go into the local 3 shop they havn't a clue and couldn't really
care less. I spend quite a bit of time in a local internet cafe.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Tom from Ireland on 11th Sep 2011
Nothing good to say about them other than thesales girl is nice. Do
NOT call their helpdesk (India). It took me anhour to egt my system
back to 'normal' after their 'help'. Tried to watch and listen to the
NFL game today. Video wouldn't stream at all and audio would stream
for 3 secs and buffer for 30. )I timed it.) Skype? Connection drops
after a couple of seconds. Maybe nobody is any better. I don't know.
I do believe with those who maintain that they are oversubscribed in
relation to avaiable capacity.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by JSM from UK on 10th Sep 2011
I'm coming up to 2 years with 3 Mobile Broadband and on the whole have
found their network to be excellent. Maybe I'm lucky but I'm surprised
to see SO MANY negative reviews. I've lived in two Cambridge addresses
and it's been great there as well as spending weekends in the Midlands
where it has also been great. I consistently get between 2 and 3 Meg
download speeds which is enough for me. I'm constantly on BBC IPlayer
and Youtube and as long as I don't watch in HD the buffering is fine.
The only gripe I really had was with the hardware supplied. I got the
silver Mifi Wireless router which was a real faff with the 3 button
start up and which eventually died after 15 months. However, when it
did work it was great, I was even playing COD Black Ops on it through
my PS3. I'm due for an upgrade so I may well continue on if they can
offer me the new fancy E586 MiFi Router for free. At this price, (£15.99
for 15GB), it's bargain broadband considering that fixed line broadband
costs around £30 per month (including line rental for a landline no-one
wants). And in the 20 months I've never (thankfully from the comments)
had to call Customer Services. But that's just me...
Rating:
Reply
Reviewed by Chris from UK on 9th Sep 2011
Just got a contract with 3 no signal in my house, back garden or front
garden I have to walk to the local pub to get a bar and if you think
im over exaggerating I really am not.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Raj from UK on 9th Sep 2011
Is not great, in service, policies, connection in every aspect.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by Russell from UK on 5th Sep 2011
When started using mobile internet from Three, i thought that this was
a miracle - internet as fast as landline I had a that time but about
5 month ago, things were getting worse day by day. In the evening hours
you won't be able to get even youtube streaming... hours of conversations
with second line technical support... all waste of time... It feels
like they increased their customer base significantly but forgot to
increase capacity on their station. Very big disappointment. Back to
landline.
Rating: Reply
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