Three mobile network

[#1]

Good evening,
I'm currently on shit Vodafone and hardly get any 3G let alone 4G service in Newcastle upon Tyne, pointless for an iPhone where I use the internet instead of traditional calling and texting and using Facebook Messenger etc...
A friend of mine who is on Three gets solid 3G and 4G service in Newcastle and says they're quite reliable.
Has anyone else got experience with Three or is currently with them?
I also have my PAC code ready, its the case of ordering my new SIMO sim and porting my number across.  It expires on the 7th Nov so might sort it all out next week.
Regards
NE

[#2]

I use three for my dongle and it's normally very reliable.
There were two outages back in 2010 and i've not used it much in the last couple of years but i never really had a lot of hassle.

[#3]

There's an outage with Vodafone at least once a week 
Seriously Vodafone C/S is a joke and so is their unhelpful team!
Thanks
NE

[#4]

Out and about I find Three pretty good. It can get a bit iffy right out in the sticks, but I have been pleasantly surprised by the coverage.  I doubt it can compete with the likes of EE for overall coverage. But then its prices are probably best of all the providers.
At home I don't have a Three signal at all, I have to use their Signal Box; not a problem, I don't evaluate based on coverage at home - it's a mobile phone after all!

[#5]

where I live they have near perfect outdoors signal but as beeceegee said indoors its a bit flaky, hopefully that will improve once they get round to using both O2 and three's own mast networks to provide coverage (they already are doing this in Ireland) but who knows I haven't seen any announcements about it yet over here

[#6]

Quote from: nanotm

... once they get round to using both O2 and three's own mast networks to provide coverage (they already are doing this in Ireland) but who knows I haven't seen any announcements about it yet over here

I think both the O2/Three and BT/EE mergers are currently bogged down with the competition regulatory authorities. Don't hold your breath. 

[#7]

i'm on Three (sim only).
best decision i ever made. was on O2 and you don't realise just how bad they are until i moved.
unlimited data (free 4G)
unlimited texts
200 minutes (i never use the actual phone)
free roaming in selected countries (holiday in spain meant i had full use).
£15pm
never had any coverage issues apart from when out in the sticks, but no other network would have coverage there either.

[#8]

Both my daughter and I have been with 3 for over 2 years - she's West Yorks and I'm near MK.
We've both got Nokia 635 4G phones that I purchased - sim on,ly with 3
Her 3G reception was rubbish at home but 4G has really improved things.
Got my sim cut down yesterday for Nokia - surprised to get 32Mb down sat in lounge.
Makes my 8Mb adsl look slow.

[#9]

Looks positive.
I went to the post office and got a 3 sum and topped by £5. Did a full day on it and have to say that I was very impressed with the 3G coverage as well as 4G. I did run a speed test but it showed around 10mb on 3G and 6mb on 4G  . Must he congestion or something. However browsing experience was good. Especially better than Vodafone and would get GPRS or E 
Now I need to get a contract - might do it online and hopefully will arrive soon. As my Vodafone PAC code expires on the 7th Nov.
NE 

[#10]

Quote from: NorthEasterner

I'm currently on [Censored] Vodafone and hardly get any 3G let alone 4G service in Newcastle upon Tyne

Yep, been in that situation, had my Galaxy Tab on vodajunk and in the city centre of Durham, NuT and Sunderland, I got 3G for about 3 seconds and it flopped down to sub-2G, absolutely useless service...

Quote

Has anyone else got experience with Three or is currently with them?

Yep, been with them for about 6 years, first mobile broadband and latterly phones, rarely had issues with them myself, though lately they've gotten a bit uncomptetive with price plans, but the signal is perfect, even here (a couple miles form Pontop Pike)...

Quote

I also have my PAC code ready, its the case of ordering my new SIMO sim and porting my number across.  It expires on the 7th Nov so might sort it all out next week.

As they say across the pond, git 'er done...

[#11]

That's great to hear from a northerner 
I'm mostly in the areas you mentioned Newcastle and Sunderland.
Yes 3G / 4G is hit and miss with Vodafone and unreliable if you are travelling between places or on the Metro (Tyne and wear train system)
Thanks TwoCVBloke
NE 

[#12]

Vodauseless is hit & miss even when you're stood next to one of their towers with a high-gain antenna hooked up, they just can't handle the data...
But they are the oldest network in the country and a lot of the hardware in place is a bit past it...

[#13]

Quote from: NorthEasterner

Looks positive. I went to the post office and got a 3 sum and topped by £5. Did a full day on it and have to say that I was very impressed with the 3G coverage as well as 4G. I did run a speed test but it showed around 10mb on 3G and 6mb on 4G  . Must he congestion or something. However browsing experience was good. Especially better than Vodafone and would get GPRS or E  Now I need to get a contract - might do it online and hopefully will arrive soon. As my Vodafone PAC code expires on the 7th Nov.

the PAYG tarrifs have lower priority than contract, so the slower speeds could be due to that.

[#14]

Quote from: twocvbloke

Vodauseless is hit & miss even when you're stood next to one of their towers with a high-gain antenna hooked up, they just can't handle the data... But they are the oldest network in the country and a lot of the hardware in place is a bit past it...

Haha so true!! They need to upgrade them!

Quote from: chenks76

the PAYG tarrifs have lower priority than contract, so the slower speeds could be due to that.

Ah right. That's handy to know - I got a PAYG to see what signal was like in my area.
Thanks again
NE

[#15]

go into a 3 store, get a sim only contract and it should be under 20 quid a month on an unlimited data plan, there handset prices for unlimited data plans are around 35 quid a month often the shop can give you a discount for using a pac code but the website cant /