anyone else had trouble with three in France

[chaser]

Last year we use 3, 321 pay and go sims in our phones with the £15 addon that gave us" feel at home" and worked everywhere we went, most impressed with it as I have commented on here many times.
So, went with it again this year but its been terrible, no signal hardly anywhere and we have been to roughly the same areas, same phone, same sim.
Now it has been a lot different weather, last year was sun but this time we have had a lot of cloud and rain, could this be the reason , don't know, but on the other hand, this year I have a Chinese phablet with a similar sim in and that has worked OK , got a signal when the phones didn't.
So anyone who is thinking of this route to getting cheap phone calls have a good check first.
Would add an old phone we have with us on o2 has worked everywhere and tethered for data but obviously it is a lot more money, but only if you use it.

 

[FIDGET]

Hi Chaser , You don't actually say where you are, other than in France, not that would help with your query.

 

[chaser]

Hi Chaser , You don't actually say where you are, other than in France, not that would help with your query.

We are back in grave lines now , catching tunnel back 14.30 but have been here a fortnight , went down the middle east of Paris then across to blaye an Bordeaux and up the west coast, same everywhere.

 

[Jaws]

Ummm If the tablet was getting a signal when the fone wasn't, it is indicating a wee problem with the fone..
Not heard of it happening with most fones, but iPhones are failing all over the place now ( they always have been a little flaky on reception ) and going 'deaf'
If you have another fone you could just slip the sim in to it might be worth a check

 

[jollyrodger]

Can't say about France ,but mid-week here in Plymouth data side of phone sim was fine Tuesday ,had been tethered to lappy all day .Wednesday crap no 3g,and yet put data sim in mifi was working fine... weired !
Then late Wednesday back to normal ?
Local papers report that war games out in the channel causing big problems to mobile phone 3g .

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[chaser]

Ummm If the tablet was getting a signal when the fone wasn't, it is indicating a wee problem with the fone..
Not heard of it happening with most fones, but iPhones are failing all over the place now ( they always have been a little flaky on reception ) and going 'deaf'
If you have another fone you could just slip the sim in to it might be worth a check

We have a Nokia and a moto g with them in exactly the same as last year, both working when we came and are now working in grave lines albeit not a great signal but have been rubbish anywhere else

 

[Jaws]

Very strange !!

 

[Neil S]

I'm using a 3 mi-fi Huawei E585 with a pay as you go data sim and used in France in multiple locations without any signal issues , am currently in Spain and since the 1st April have been able to use it here and it seems to work fine .

 

[DBK]

I'm having major problems with Three at the moment. Have bought a PAYG sim for data but I cannot register a card on their website. After trying over 3 days I went all the way into Plymouth today to their shop - to discover they have a problem with their website. Nice to tell me - although when I got back home their website is now carrying that message when I try to register a card - rather than telling me I live in Liverpool or Cornwall, which is what it has been doing this week.

 

[Dorwyn]

I'm having major problems with Three at the moment. Have bought a PAYG sim for data but I cannot register a card on their website. After trying over 3 days I went all the way into Plymouth today to their shop - to discover they have a problem with their website. Nice to tell me - although when I got back home their website is now carrying that message when I try to register a card - rather than telling me I live in Liverpool or Cornwall, which is what it has been doing this week.

mmm, I'm having an issue topping up a previously used data SIM at the mo on a mifi, I'm wondering if it is because it has passed the 6 month inactivity period, but it is showing that it is connecting to 3. Three said earllier that I should take it into my nearest 3 shop, Taunton, but I don't fancy driving 50 miles round trip to get the run around like you did. I've noticed that Currys PC World are selling 1GB preloaded data cards for a bargain £3.99, but likewise it's not worth driving to my nearest shop just to buy one.

But wouldn't it be worth your while either going for that option, or even buying one from 3 for £10, to save messing around?

Incidentally, I'm off to France later, do you know if you have to pay extra for the "at Home" option.

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[DBK]

Incidentally, I'm off to France later, do you know if you have to pay extra for the "at Home" option.

Not as far as I know, just check it is included with whatever package you buy, but I think it is included in them all.

 

[maison]

We also have problems with 3 in France. Very hit and miss and coverage seems very poor.

We spend a lot of time in Burgundy where the signal is bed but, all the way down the Autoroute from Calais there are more blind spots than active.

Can't speak for other areas.

 

[Dorwyn]

We also have problems with 3 in France. Very hit and miss and coverage seems very poor.

We spend a lot of time in Burgundy where the signal is bed but, all the way down the Autoroute from Calais there are more blind spots than active.

I guess it's worth taking a different sim card as well, in case we have this problem, too. Perhaps an Orange, or whatever they are to be called.

 

[Dorwyn]

I'm just wondering it the reported poor service from Three in France is due to their dropping their roaming charges, thereby losing their roaming partners. These lower charges were to be adopted across Europe but the proposal was dropped because agreement could not be reached between all the roaming partner providers, as some unsurprisingly wished to continue with the more profitable higher roaming charges. This could have left 3 only able to use their own mast locations. Just a guess.

 

[chaser]

We also have problems with 3 in France. Very hit and miss and coverage seems very poor.

We spend a lot of time in Burgundy where the signal is bed but, all the way down the Autoroute from Calais there are more blind spots than active.

Can't speak for other areas.

I'm just wondering it the reported poor service from Three in France is due to their dropping their roaming charges, thereby losing their roaming partners. These lower charges were to be adopted across Europe but the proposal was dropped because agreement could not be reached between all the roaming partner providers, as some unsurprisingly wished to continue with the more profitable higher roaming charges. This could have left 3 only able to use their own mast locations. Just a guess.

I know some think I am wrong on this so didn't follow it up but we did have lots of problems with no signal at all in places we used last year with the same phones with the same sim and they are now working perfect again at home.

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[chaser]

Don't want to labour this, as I had give up on it but out of a fortnight in france I would say at least a half the days we had no signal yet an old phone with an O2 sim never failed

 

[Judge Mental]

over on tunnel last Thursday and both out three phones working fine in France and spain. I had to put 0044 in front of all my stored numbers I wanted to call first!! We are on monthly contract and what an improvement compared to T-Mobile!

A tip: turn off phone. Remove sim. Replace and try again

 

[chaser]

over on tunnel last Thursday and both out three phones working fine in France and spain. I had to put 0044 in front of all my stored numbers I wanted to call first!! We are on monthly contract and what an improvement compared to T-Mobile!

Well we are on pay as you go , and no trouble with wrong numbers just no signal, but as I said in an earlier post it was very overcast and raining most of the time so this could have had something to do with it.
But then again I have a Chinese cheapo phablet and seemed to find signals a lot better, strange, I didn't put this thread up to knock 3 as last year I was very happy with the service and just wondered what had gone wrong , also as someone else said the 6 month thing could be something to do with it as the pago phones hadn't been used since last year but the cheapo had a new sim in.

 

[Dorwyn]

I didn't put this thread up to knock 3 as last year I was very happy with the service and just wondered what had gone wrong

You are just mentioning your findings, that's not knocking 3, just stating what you found. That's fair enough. One thing I will say, is that the places us camping-caristes tend to visit are usually not in high-signal areas.

 

[Fragle]

Was at gravelines good Friday and worked ok on iPad data sim. In honfleur at moment and have great signal. Can't complain at the moment

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[ABZSteve]

No, but three in a bed caused absolute mayhem

 

[Leltel]

We are back in grave lines now , catching tunnel back 14.30 but have been here a fortnight , went down the middle east of Paris then across to blaye an Bordeaux and up the west coast, same everywhere.

We have just been down to the same areas, now in Camphin en Pevele for the Paris Roubaix, our 3sims worked perfectly, we had problems with our europa sim in the mifi, that Adam & Sophie quickly helped us with as we had forgotten how to change networks!
Sounds like it may have been your phone?

 

[DBK]

We have had poor reception in Cornwall for the last couple of days and apparently the cause is the air pollution. This is worse in parts of Europe and the south East of England so reception there is also likely to be affected.

 

[chaser]

Was at gravelines good Friday and worked ok on iPad data sim. In honfleur at moment and have great signal. Can't complain at the moment

You can get free wifi at gravelines, think it's only an hour a day though, don't use much so never got to the limit

 

[Dave and Ginny]

Came over to Spain a month ago and was very pleased with how well our 3 payg worked all the way down through France. Now been using it since Spain was added to the feel at home countries and again it's continued to work great, so good that I haven't bothered to use any site extortionate cost wifi leaving more money for wine and beer

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[Neil S]

Were at Camping Bonterra Park , Benicassim and my p.a.y.g 3 Mi-fi works very well with good 3G connection allowing me to Skype without any freezing or buffering

 

[chaser]

We have just been down to the same areas, now in Camphin en Pevele for the Paris Roubaix, our 3sims worked perfectly, we had problems with our europa sim in the mifi, that Adam & Sophie quickly helped us with as we had forgotten how to change networks!
Sounds like it may have been your phone?

No, same phones same sim , never been changed, worked fine where we got a signal, but was just getting a round o where the signal bars should be.