Don't trust Three data (1 Viewer)

Movinon

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Don't trust Three. Your data sims will work until Three decide you've had enough, regardless of what you have purchased. They can change their T&Cs tomorrow and cut you off - that's what they did to me.

I purchased a 12 month 12Gb Three data sim last August, after explaining to their sales rep what I needed it for and how it would be used. I used it for 2 weeks in August and 2 weeks in October, about 3.5Gb in total. When I tried to use it in April in France it wouldn't work. They failed to answer their phoneline so I complained by email using CP wifi and 3 times they tried to get me to go away by asking me questions not relevant to the product, and passing me around. Eventually after several weeks of this they admitted it had been switched off for foreign use after October, apparently because I had used it abroad. It seems that just after I had bought it from them they amended the T&C's so it's use could be limited to the UK, presumably ensuring a better profit for them.

They categorically refused me re-instatement or a refund. I warned them that I would post details on Motorhomefun and a few other sites and complain to OFCOM and they promptly offered me a £30 refund. I can't be bought for £30.

Your data sim will only work until they switch it off, which could be today or tomorrow or next week. You won't know. They make the decision and they make it regardless of what you think you have paid for, or have actually paid for.
 
Last edited:
Oct 5, 2014
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we had exactly the same sort of story be bought the sim last march(i think)with 1GB did not use it as we could not get a signal where we were. paid for another GB in July2015 on tour for 2 weeks it worked in some places. bought 3Gb last november used it in spain it worked well.
bought another 3 Gb in April this year did not work on contacting them was told that we had used it for the maximum amount of time in Europe and had automatically been turned off. after being passed round and round the departments(calling on mobile from France,bill still not received) complained that we were not told that we could not use it they gave us a credit of £10 for use in England told us we had used 12GB(impossible only paid for 6 GB) then we were told by the supervisor that we had used it for maximum amount of days? in the year. Buy another sim card when we return to England. Left without internet they advised we should buy one locally.
 
Sep 9, 2014
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That's not a good read. I've just spent an hour or two in my local 3 store and after asking questions about using their data plans abroad (phone and mifi) I was assured there were no restrictions on foreign use.
On the basis of that I gave my 30 days notice to EE for my SIM only deal and bought 3's unlimited data contract for my phone and a 12 month 12gb mifi card...I'll be going back tomorrow and see what's the truth. I'll be hugely unhappy if their T&C's, or whatever, have been changed

David

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Last edited:
Jan 25, 2013
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Well, so far, so good on my 12GB SIM card in France which I have been using for 10 days.. Fingers crossed for continued use, but nothing surprises me about telecom companies and their devious, shady, incomprehensible practices to extract more dosh out of poor unsuspecting Joe Public!
 

My Dog Likes Fishing

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Not used a data card abroad but used my phone lots. No problems and have used a lot of calls texts and data. Just comes off my monthly allowance. Seems strange as I've been with 3 for years and have always found them helpful.
 

tonka

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Slightly off the thread but may warn others,,. Had a txt off Three today.
If you add any pics onto TXT messages it did cost 17p as of Mid June it will be 40p !!! So watch out...

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mid4did

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started in a minivan 1970's when I could fit into it.
Only used the 12 months data sim for the last couple of weeks as we were on a cruise round the med.It did connect to moviestar mostly but the speed was 2g at best ,very slow.That was in lisbon,Cadiz,valencia,Ibiza cartagena and gibralter.Previously earlier this year a 3 gig 3 month data sim worked fine across spain and france.
 
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That's not a good read. I've just spent an hour or two in my local 3 store and after asking questions about using their data plans abroad (phone and mifi) I was assured there were no restrictions on foreign use.
On the basis of that I gave my 30 days notice to EE for my SIM only deal and bought 3's unlimited data contract for my phone and a 12 month 12gb mifi card...I'll be going back tomorrow and see what's the truth. I'll be hugely unhappy if their T&C's, or whatever, have been changed

David

I have had an unlimited data contract with 3 for my phone for a couple of years now. The only thing I cannot do in France which I can in UK is use the phone as a personal hotspot for my I pad - which was made clear to me from the start.
 

Jim

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Whoever 3 partners with in Spain throttles your connection, calls are OK but meaningful broadband was for us, mostly pretty poor to terrible.

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sdc77

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We've used a 3 data sim pay monthly in a mifi..
I'm pretty sure it's currently 20g for 15 quid..
Not had any probs except slow "3g" on a fair few occasions
 
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2657

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Whoever 3 partners with in Spain throttles your connection, calls are OK but meaningful broadband was for us, mostly pretty poor to terrible.

It's the same in France but the strange thing is when I did a speed check yesterday it showed download speed of around 8.5 Mb/sec which I consider to be good, however it will not download a Filmon mp4 file of around 450 Mb in any meaningful time........24 hrs to 2days estimate!!
 

Jabberwocky

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I'd be amazed if there isn't a limit on how much you can use a uk sim abroad for. I dare say this limit is set by the foreign firm 3 partners with. It's a uk card to be used in the uk and whilst on holiday in some of Europe, not a uk card to be used whilst touring Europe for 6 months.

It will be in the t's and c's somewhere.

Buy a local sim, I once had to phone Barclays customer services from rural Uganda and on a local card it cost all of £2.50 for a 25 min call, I dread to think what it would have cost on a uk card.

there's bound to be some good local data deals to be had in Europe.

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Movinon

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Here is an extract from their last email:

"In order to make sure that we provide the best possible service to the vast majority of our customers, we regularly monitor FAH and reserve the right to modify our fair usage provisions accordingly. The change to our fair usage policy is not a contract variation but an update to our fair use provisions."

In other words it's OK to change the T&C's in force when you signed up (purchased your Sim) if they don't call it T&C's. They can call it Fair Use instead.

So the usage you thought you were signing up for is not necessarily the usage you will get, despite what you may be told at the time, because they can change it anytime and render your purchase worthless to you.
 
Jun 10, 2010
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I still think this is the best deal out there. I try snd use mine in the uk a bit as well. And havent been cut off yet, but I do accept that I'm misusing it - it is meant for holidays not what we do - and take a pragmatic view.

If you want more or better You can always buy a local sim card or sat internet - you pays your money........
 

ebikejohn

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Just on my way back from 2 weeks in France, pretty good coverage, bought a 12gb card for mifi, used 2.5gb so far so good but will be interested to see how this progresses, it's a shame if they do this type of thing, really undermines their reputation.

Interestingly, I also use an O2 card in my iPhone, pay a £8 per month fee for 'special travel abroad' rates which I have just discovered are identical to normal rates, Just found that I am out of contract and that means they collect the fee but don't apply the discount, they asked me if I would like to renew, no thanks I said I'll let Three, EE or Vodafone rip me off for a while instead.

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Welsh girl

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I just renewed mine with three. Is now £20 for an add on for 12 GB. You have to pay £25 for all you can eat data.
Not sure on t&c abroad as I don't intend to use it out of the uk for a while.
I'll check if and when I go, after hospital tests.
 

Dave and Ginny

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Interesting thread and I wonder how they monitor the usage. We used outr'3' payg sim from November last year through to April this year in Spain. I topped up with the £20 add on each month. I was probably a moderate user; about 6 gb per month I guess but used all my 3 hours phone call allowance.
 
Feb 16, 2013
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Just on my way back from 2 weeks in France, pretty good coverage, bought a 12gb card for mifi, used 2.5gb so far so good but will be interested to see how this progresses, it's a shame if they do this type of thing, really undermines their reputation.

Interestingly, I also use an O2 card in my iPhone, pay a £8 per month fee for 'special travel abroad' rates which I have just discovered are identical to normal rates, Just found that I am out of contract and that means they collect the fee but don't apply the discount, they asked me if I would like to renew, no thanks I said I'll let Three, EE or Vodafone rip me off for a while instead.
We have just been to France for 17 days , had internet wherever we have been on the £9.99 3 sim, but also found out, with o2 , ok it's £1.99 a day all in and can tether, BUT it's £1.99 whatever you do , if you send one small text you are straight away charged the full £1.99 even if you don't use it again that day. So can end up being charged £60 for a month even if you only send one text a day:(

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Sep 11, 2014
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Slightly off the thread but may warn others,,. Had a txt off Three today.
If you add any pics onto TXT messages it did cost 17p as of Mid June it will be 40p !!! So watch out...

And I believe a smiley or emoticon counts as a picture!
 

Cibaris

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Interesting. I have had an Three 'all you can eat' contract for about three years, with unlimited texts data tethering and so many minutes. In April this year Three increased charges from £21/month to £30. They then discriminated between 'all you can eat' data and 'tethered' data. Its called personal hotspot. The new limit is 30gb of data tethered. The new contract started on 13/04/16. On or around 06/05 I received a text from three advising me to top up my personal hotspot. I checked how many Mb left and it was 6096 (6.09gb's). I went to the store and the sales person confirmed I had 6096mbs remaining but couldn't explain why I received a text. The next day, a Sunday, I received another text advising I had almost no GB's left. I checked my allowances and the GB's were now zero. So overnight I had apparently used 6gbs. Fine, except both phone and surface pro 3 were not online in the intervening time. The GB's simply disappeared. However, there was no way I have used 24gb's during the month. They had also disappeared. I changed my password on both machines and stopped all tethering until after renewal on the 13/05. When I checked my allowances 493mbs had disappeared. I now check and take a screen shot into one note and tracking missing data. Three is as rapacious as any other British corporate and clearly not only is something wrong but the shop staff and telephone support don't believe this situation and are not interested at all. But its actually a form of theft and dishonesty. You are not getting what you paid for, so watch out.
 
Aug 31, 2015
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we used our 12 GB /12 mth data sim from 3 while we were in France and Spain for 3 weeks in April with no problems whatsoever. It even let me top up when we ran out.

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Aug 18, 2014
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Interesting. I have had an Three 'all you can eat' contract for about three years, with unlimited texts data tethering and so many minutes. In April this year Three increased charges from £21/month to £30. They then discriminated between 'all you can eat' data and 'tethered' data. Its called personal hotspot. The new limit is 30gb of data tethered. The new contract started on 13/04/16. On or around 06/05 I received a text from three advising me to top up my personal hotspot. I checked how many Mb left and it was 6096 (6.09gb's). I went to the store and the sales person confirmed I had 6096mbs remaining but couldn't explain why I received a text. The next day, a Sunday, I received another text advising I had almost no GB's left. I checked my allowances and the GB's were now zero. So overnight I had apparently used 6gbs. Fine, except both phone and surface pro 3 were not online in the intervening time. The GB's simply disappeared. However, there was no way I have used 24gb's during the month. They had also disappeared. I changed my password on both machines and stopped all tethering until after renewal on the 13/05. When I checked my allowances 493mbs had disappeared. I now check and take a screen shot into one note and tracking missing data. Three is as rapacious as any other British corporate and clearly not only is something wrong but the shop staff and telephone support don't believe this situation and are not interested at all. But its actually a form of theft and dishonesty. You are not getting what you paid for, so watch out.
Couldn't agree more. Utter load of lying scum that , even when caught out, don't apologise. & yes it is blatant theft.
 

PeteH

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They have another little "scam" too. I have had a 3 "dongle" for my laptop for several years, recently I got an unlocked MiFi, which will allow my wife to access the "net" on her I-Pad now as well. Currently this is running on Giff Gaff. So I went to the 3 shop, and asked "can I change the sim over to use in the MiFi.", to get the benefit of the latest offer 12gb for 12 months, for £30.? the answer is NO. (or actually YES.) BUT if I do I have to have a NEW sim, which means ALL the credit on the old sim is "lost". It cannot be transferred!. Con Merchants!.

Talk about how to run a business!!.

Pete
 
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2657

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They have another little "scam" too. I have had a 3 "dongle" for my laptop for several years, recently I got an unlocked MiFi, which will allow my wife to access the "net" on her I-Pad now as well. Currently this is running on Giff Gaff. So I went to the 3 shop, and asked "can I change the sim over to use in the MiFi.", to get the benefit of the latest offer 12gb for 12 months, for £30.? the answer is NO. (or actually YES.) BUT if I do I have to have a NEW sim, which means ALL the credit on the old sim is "lost". It cannot be transferred!. Con Merchants!.

Talk about how to run a business!!.

Pete

I don't see it as a scam, the 12Gb for 12 months at £30 is an introductory offer and it is not possible to recharge that sim with the same deal.The sim you have will work in a mifi device so the solution as far as I can see is to buy a 12 Gb sim (or more than 1) use up the data on the existing sim throw it away and replace it with the 12 Gb sim.
If you buy more than 1 then keep replacing the sim's and don't bother registering them, they work without registering, the only real reason to register the sim is to enable online top ups which if you intend to keep using new sim's is not needed.

I am talking about PAYG sim's and assume that the 12 Gb offer is only on PAYG.

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ukbill

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i'm using the 3 data sim and also a 3 sim in my phone,here in italy i must admit they are both a bit slower but i have had no problem whatsoever with either on the sim's.I will however hold total judgement till i see wat happens in the next few weeks
 

Shrimp

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I've had 3 pay-as-you-go for about 2 yrs now with no problems but last Dec we went to France to house sit with free WiFi so my phone got used twice as a phone, not Internet, as family always ring my husbands phone.
When we left the house sit, beginning March, I used my phone-Internet- a few times, not much at all. Then after a week or so my phone stopped working, all I got was 'No Service' all the time, I had no warning messages from 3 that they would cut me off and cut me off completely!
As soon as we got back into UK my phone was working again!
We had been back nearly three weeks when I got a message telling me that as I had used my phone abroad for too long/too much they were turning off my Roaming, nothing at all about blocking my phone/sim!
I am staying with them in UK as, at present, they are so cheap but I've got another sim for when we go back to France!
 
May 31, 2015
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We pays our money.... We takes our choice :cool:

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Langtoftlad

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For those who are "losing" data - just make sure none of your Apps are using your allowance in the background.
Many apps call home!
In Android, one can change settings to either 'restrict' background data or 'on wifi only'
 
May 31, 2015
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For those who are "losing" data - just make sure none of your Apps are using your allowance in the background.
Many apps call home!
In Android, one can change settings to either 'restrict' background data or 'on wifi only'

That's the problem I think, we download some apps and they all mostly send and receive their own data usage to the makers and some more then others update quite frequently .....

Although we all may be on the wifi the same amount or less the information transfer used has increased on what we do without us knowing....
 

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