Maybe I've just got lucky? Happy musings of a Three user (!) (Three (3))

Member Name: frambuesa

Product:	Three (3)
Date:	28/02/09 (57 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good value, great internet access, best option for me at least

Disadvantages: Coverage depends on when you live, many horror stories.

Looking at the reviews on here, there appears to be a lot of negativity pertaining to the Three mobile network. I'm new here, and I thought that for my first review, I'd put the cat amongst the pigeons as it were and give my own review of life with Three!

(.... and I don't work for them, honest.)


Compared to other mobile networks, in my opinion, Three is very good value indeed. I am currently on a £17.50 a month contract, for which I get unlimited texts and internet (!), and 200 minutes a month, which was reduced from the £20 a month for less minutes which I paid until I had been with them for the first 18 months. Go onto the websites of Vodaphone and O2. Do they offer deals like this? I remember when I was researching what contract to get (bear in mind this was 2 years ago), I would have been looking at more like £35 a month for a comparable contract with other networks, and their "unlimited internet" actually had rather low fair usage limits!

Indeed, the internet. This to me is the thing I LOVE the most about my Three phone (the Sony Ericsson z610i). With this, at least on my phone, I can check my emails, go on 85% of websites on the net (basically all html, e.g. those without fancy features such as flash games), buy off amazon, use facebook (a bad obsession I know), etc. And the best thing? YOUTUBE. Yes, I haven't had to buy an mp3 since I got the contract, as I use Youtube mobile on my daily train journeys for an hour and a half a day. I am not sure what the upper limit translates to in terms of actual hours of usage, but in 2 years, I have never surpassed it, and I swear that I am on it all the time.

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Now, let's talk about coverage. This seems to be the major gripe about Three, apart from customer service, which I'll get onto in a minute. I live in the South, and have never had any problems with coverage, probably because I spend my time in London/ other horrifically built up Southern areas. However, I have been back up North visiting my family, and it does seem that my coverage was significantly more patchy than that of others. It seemed rather random, more a rather high proliferation of "black spots" than anything, but it is something you will have to take into consideration before choosing Three. However, as I said, where I live there are no problems whatsoever.

And the customer service. I have never actually had any issues in this respect. My phone broke withing the first month of having it, and they were great, picking it up and sending it back repaired to my place of work within a week. The customer service phonelines are a different issue. They phone you almost daily, which is frustrating, and quite simply they appear to be a bunch of robots. However, after a bit of persuading they did reduce my contract after the first 18 months, and did not appear reluctant to do so.

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In conclusion then, I would recommend Three mobile, if you live in the South East and are willing to take the risk (!) for what is actually a very good deal compared to other companies. It appears to be a case of "when things go wrong, they go very wrong", but for me this risk has paid off, and I have no honestly have no gripes about the service.


... reading the other reviews however, I am not looking forward to the day when I try and cancel my contract!

Summary: It seems like taking out a contract with Three is a bit of a gamble, but if it pays off it's great!