Anyone gone 3G?

[Tifosi]

Just wondering if anyone has gone 3G yet?

If so...
With who?
Which handset?
Which tariff?
Do you rate it?

I'm thinking of making the leap always up for new tech.
Been using GSM WAP since introduction!

[Aaron]

I've been using a 3G handset on O2 for a bit but the 3G signal is really flakey. It could be the network or it could be the phone - I'm not quite sure.

I know quite a few people with 3G Nokia 6630s though. Most of them got it on Orange because they were offering 50MB of free data for 12 months and are now offering 1GB of free data for 3 months.

Most of them are pleased with the tariff/phone but couldn't care less about video calling and the like.

[JIMJAM]

Got myself a Motorola E1000 in early January on the 3 network. Alot of people told me to steer clear of 3 because of the problems with the service and customer support. I didn't listen and went ahead and cancelled my vodafone contract.

I have to say now that I am glad I did, have not had one problem and get a better signal in my area than I did with Vodafone. Had to ring customer support once shortly after receiving my phone and they were extremely helpful. My phone needed activating, they told me that it would be done within 2 days, 10 minutes later it was done!

I am on the Videotalk 1000 tarrif. You get....

1000 minutes (anytime, any network)
150 text messages
50 video messages
50 picture message
50 minutes video calling
25 emails
£20 of content

That lot costs me £60 per month. I dont use all of it but then I know that my phone bill isn't going to be much over £60 that month. Plus the phone costs nothing! And it is a great phone. I know people with the A1000 and maybe its me but I dont like it. If you want a phone, get the E1000. If you are after a PDA get the A1000.

Check the 3 website for all the other details, I would recommend them highly.

[Twigman]

Used an orange mobile office 3G PCMCIA card...for internet on laptop...pretty cool.
Upto 115.2kbps. Nice for light browsing, MSN, emails etc...

[Swafe]

How much do they cost a MB twig ?

I've got a Nokia 7600, as I'm sure quite a few fellow bargain hunters have, I switched from O2 PAYG to 3 contract thinking, what am I doing now ? But really, the network isnt half as bad as people make out, Ive only had 1 or 2 signal problems (That was early days tho, nothing lately) About the same reliability as O2, vodafone and orange, o2 are now offering the same services as 3, i have to say, the network might not be as good, but the tariffs (selected ones) give awesome value for money.

I now often get better signal than my mate on vodafone, his occasionally is searching for the network, while my signals on full, I think 3 are now over the initial coverage problems for voice calls at least, might be worth a punt, seing as all other 3g tariffs are so godamn exspensive in comparison

[Rave]

I'm also a happy 3 customer, I had one or two initial reception problems but they're rare now- although they were nonexistent on my old 2G Vodafone. 3 are giving me a way better deal though so I can't moan. I don't use any of the 3G services except for a bit of reading the news on the train home if I'm bored.

[Twigman]

I paid nothing...I borrowed it from ECS stores...Advantages of being an electronic engineering student at the best department in the country I spose.

We can borrow it as use it as much as we like "but dont take the piss" pretty much.

Seems good. Probably not worth the cost though. I think the unlimited data contract is around £70/month?

[Merlin4458]

PLEASE DO NOT GO WITH THREE. Customer service are indians who dont speak a word of english, and the LG phones are awful. DO NOT GO WITH THEM

[nichomach]

Bah...3G my left nut *grumbles* - we've got a Vodafone 3G/GPRS datacard, which is supposed to support VPN connections...except the damn service is NAT-ed and their NAT device doesn't seem to support IPSEC/L2TP passthrough properly. Great connection speeds, just utterly flipping useless for the main purpose that we wanted the service. *grumbles again*

[muddyfox470]

If so...
With who? > Three (3)

Which handset? > Nokia 7600

Which tariff? > Talk and Text 500 > 500 calls anytime to anyone > 100 texts (Free via e2save > now £5pm at cpw!)

Do you rate it? > Very good > battery life lower but no problem > only problem is the cutting out when you change signal > 2g to 3g, but it gets acceptable, especially with all those minutes to use. Cheap, substantial and a good (if not strange) fone! very pleased



(actually just to add, sometimes my texts i send take sometime to reach people, although that hasn't happened recently!)

[nur5ey]

Originally Posted by Merlin4458

PLEASE DO NOT GO WITH THREE. Customer service are indians who dont speak a word of english, and the LG phones are awful. DO NOT GO WITH THEM

I hate to say it but statistically you are three times more likely to ring back a non-uk helpline to ask the same question than our own but it makes perfectly good business sense to use countries that workforce don't demand over the £3000 per annum that they are paid. Saying that, the 3 service, in my experience, is absolutely PANTS, not only did I have to send the phone/s back over 11 times I would drop calls on more or less every call ( it's not fun having a good old chank to someone only to find that 5 minutes earlier whilst you're still ranting they got dropped and are trying to call you back whilst ya voicemail is cutting in every time and charging them Hmmmmm!! that's why they do it...) and when you're on the move woow, don't go there..

Then when you try and cancel, its easier trying to phone the local B and Q store on a bank holiday than to get through to the right person who will cancel without cross examining you and trying to con, sorry, sell you another few years of thier contract.

Hmmm something tells me my contract with 3 wasn't exactly plain sailing.

But as they kept telling me 'it's still a new service and we are bringing out new phones every few weeks' YEAH RIGHT!!!!!
This is only my experience with 3 and, i'm sure, if you live underneath a 3 mast and don't take your mobile out of your house then you'll be most happy with them.

[thestjohn]

Three's coverage map hasn't seemed to move an inch in the last year or so. Anywhere.

And the previous poster is right - I've seen god knows how many 3 LG 8100 series (8110,8120,8138 etc) phones come in to my shop with a bunch of consistent and sloppy flaws. They have the audacity to sell them in my hometown where the only reliable 3 3G signal available is by the main out of town roundabout. The nearby housing estate owns almost exclusively 3 contract phones, and laugh at the rest of us with their super-subsidised handsets and cheap call plans.

Then all their phones break down, 3 take forever to exchange them for another phone just as likely to stop working, and still nobody realises how bent over the desk they are.

[jimborae]

I have a Motorola E1000 on Vodafone, its fine but I dont use 3G services much, however coverage seems pretty decent, only got it because it was dirt cheap on the staff discount.

[thestjohn]

Originally Posted by jimborae

...only got it because it was dirt cheap on the staff discount.

And that's 3's entire business model. Super cheap, undercut every body, and sod the long term business plan. I mean, their parent company, Hutchinson, bails them out with a couple of billion pounds, and they're still running themselves into the ground.

Mobile calls and handsets can be as cheap as they can be on 3 and still be profitable, but you need to be in a position where you haven't been screwed by the government on the license fee for 3g services.