3 Mobile Broadband - Is it the best? Reviews and voucher codes.

In a nutshell: 3 Mobile offer the cheapest mobile broadband service in the UK, starting at £7.87 per month, and offering a massive 15GB for just £15.99 per month. Maximum speeds are now 21.1 Mbps. The 7.2Mbps USB modem is now available free on all except the 1 month contract. The HSDPA network covers 91% of the UK population and is easy to use. 3 are currently offering a range of free laptops when you take out a mobile broadband contract. Ofcom's survey of mobile broadband, published in May 2011 found that 3 offered significantly faster average download speeds than T-Mobile and Orange, but slower than O2 and Vodafone.
Best buy: Broadband Lite 1GB (£7.87 per month); or 15GB Broadband (£15.99 per month) with free modem.

3 Mobile Broadband is the most popular mobile broadband in the UK. The 3 network has the longest established 3G network in the UK, and so is a natural supplier of mobile broadband services. The service is very easy to set up and use: you simply plug a modem (or "dongle") into your computer's USB port, and you can then access the 3 broadband network from home, work or on the move. You can choose between Pay Monthly and Pay As You Go options. The Pay as you Go option offers data at the same cost as Pay Monthly, although you have to buy a modem, which currently costs 19.99. On Pay Monthly the modem is free, except on the cheapest 1 month tariff, where it costs £9.99. Sign up for 18 months, or take out a more expensive tariff and the modem is free. You can choose a data allowance of between 1GB and 15GB per month.

The speed that you experience will depend on whether you are in an area with "excellent coverage" (i.e within HSDPA coverage), "good coverage" (i.e. within 3G coverage) or "marginal coverage" (i.e. on the edge of the 3G coverage region. 3's HSDPA coverage region currently covers 91% of the UK population (data correct in February 2009) and offers download speeds of up to of up to 2.8 Mpbs. 3 now offers 7.2 Mbps coverage across the UK and is starting to offer 21Mbps. You can check coverage by postcode on the 3 website. If you find that the service is not as good as you expected, you can return your 3 USB Modem within 3 days of purchase. If you purchased it at a distance (via telesales or online), you can return your 3 USB Modem within 14 days of receipt provided you have not used your 3 USB Modem for more than 3 consecutive days. You'll also have to return the original boxed accessories and documentation "as new". 3 claim that most people on the HSDPA network can expect a speed ranging from 1 Mbps to 1.5 Mbps.

The 3 broadband modems are very compact, and are available in a choice of colours. They can even be personalised using "skins".

Ofcom's survey of mobile broadband, published 26 May 2011 found that 3 offered significantly faster average download speeds than T-Mobile and Orange, but slower than O2 and Vodafone. This survey was based on 4.2 million tests run from September 2010 to December 2010. Ofcom noted that the most important factor affecting mobile broadband performance is location, so check coverage in the area you plan to use the service before deciding on which network to use. The average speed obtained by Ofcom with 3 was 2.3 Mbps.

By the way, if anyone is experiencing slow speeds with 3 Mobile Broadband, one of our users, Paul Tait offers the following advice: right click on the network icon (two little flashing computers in the bottom right hand corner of your screen) and click on connect to a network. Click on the 3 usb modem but with the second button and click on properties. In the window that pops up, click the configure button and another window will pop up showing the maximum speed. Sometimes the maximum speed has been set to the default value of 115200 which will cause your modem to be slow. If this is the case change it to 921600 and click OK. If this works for you, please let everyone know by submitting a review below. And thanks to Paul! [Reply by Pauline on 20th May 2009: Followed instructions re changing to faster speed and it has worked brilliantly. Have had my 3 mobile broadband for around 5 months now and it gives excellent service.] [Reply by mark from england on 24th Oct 2009: With Paul's tip 3 is now pretty quick! still not as good as Voda or O2 but a vast improvement!] [Reply by Simon from uk. devon on 26th Jan 2012: the tip mentioned does not work . . i can change it to faster but it is reset to the slower number each time i re connect (i am told the new speed will not take effect until i reconnect . when i do the speed us reset). my average speed is never over 3mbits/sec . . some test have shown over 10! mbits/sec but this fast speed mobile broadband is not sustained for very long at all. i really suspect these higher speeds are in fact possible but throttled back by the network. and or its busy doing other things. sometimes my upload speed is faster than my download.]

3 Mobile Broadband (UK) Consumer Reviews

Love your mobile network? Hate it? Please share your experiences to help other people choose the mobile broadband network that's best for them. Please do not review this network if you have not used it. This is a review site, not a forum, so please don't just ask questions. Please do not use swear words or offensive language, and please, no advertising!

Average rating from 181 reviews:

Reviewed by Max from UK on 31st Jan 2012
I hate 3 connect!!! After signing a 15 month contract, the signal was always bad!!! I called 100 times to the support team and they just tell that they are going to improve the signal in my area shortly! Now I want to end my contract because they are providing a creepy service but after 100 calls I am not able to do it. I will see if I can make a formal complaint to some UK agency. I am very frustated about it!!!
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Reviewed by j mckenna from england on 30th Jan 2012
cnt top up cos of essential maintenance?.again.? & even then not gettin full download allowance.gonna buy o2 broadband dongle......:(
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Reviewed by Mr Ghostie from Sittingbourne, UK on 26th Jan 2012
2.75Mbps DL is brilliant!! Much better than the Sky broadband which I had before (1.8Mbps), It has a latency of 105ms and is very usable with Xbox live, MUCH better than T-Mobile and O2 for speed and connectivity and for £15p/m incl. 300mins, 3000 texts and all you can eat data....tis pretty awesome :)
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Reviewed by J from UK on 24th Jan 2012
Never ever buy from 3. I have been a customer with them for little bit over 2 years, and since I changed my address recently I've been having network troubles. Made a complaint and guess what, they are not going to do anything about it, but I must pay the remaining of my contract or a huge cancellation charge of £191 even after returning my handset. I have never been treated like this ever, and this is the worst customer service in the whole world probably. I have no other words to describe my disappointment. J
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Reviewed by Miss M from UK on 23rd Jan 2012
DO NOT purchase from 3, I have never been treated so badly from a company. The customer services are based abroad and are complete crooks, I have had many contracts from lots of companies and pay all of my bills on time without problem, mobile 3 is an absolute disgrace and I will never ever advise anyone to sign up to any contract of theres. this is my brief story- I had a broadband service for around £5 a month that I used for 3 months I moved house and cancelled the contract. I then received a letter from a dept collection agency saying I owe £40 to 3. I spoke to 3 and they said they had no record of cancelation. So I paid and cancelled again. Another letter from 3 I owe £20, rang and said they still needed to make a final payment, and no cancellation until it was received, and the list is too long to mention what they were charging me for left rite and centre for nothing but apparently it was in contract so I could never actually cancel and get rid of them. This carried on for almost a year, being charged for nothing they even rang me over the xmas holiday 6-10 times a day for a £20 charge that I didn't even owe. The customer services are based abroad and can obviously do what they like, as they never cancelled my contract, tried selling me more offers, hung up on me, said they would call me back and didn't, said they would put through a complaint request and didn't, said they would settle my final bill and didn't, charged me more money than I owed according to the contract, this all happened numerous times. The final straw I couldn't take anymore and wanted to eradicate 3 from my memory. I ended up crying over the phone to a lady customer service operator who finally said she has waved any charges and that I shouldnt hear from the company again. I really hope this is the end from the 3 night mare.
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Reviewed by No more MrNiceguy from England on 20th Jan 2012
I used to have O2 mobile contract unlimited internet (fair usage) and i changed it to 3 network for unlimited internet. As a commuter, i use the data a lot on the internet. However i cant even watch a youtube video on 3mobile right now. I checked the mobile connection speed: 3 mobile/personal > its 0.17 mbps; O2 mobile/business> its 3.5 mbps. Its a big difference. I think 3 network is overcrowded or they limit people's usage so they cant stream videos or watch live tv. Im stuck with 3 network 22 months more :/ I guess any network but 3 is realistic. There wont be unlimited internet on mobiles, if it's only with fair usage.
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Reviewed by Gill B. from London, UK on 17th Jan 2012
Guys, my friendly advise to you: DON'T GET 'THREE' and specially if you live in NW6 AREA!!! Since 2 weeks i can not acses internet niether on my mobile broadband niether on any of my phones. It used to be more or less bareable before but now it is just DEAD!!! 15 pounds for 15GB sounds great but you wont be able to spend even 1GB: because you won't be able to go online at all if you live in this post code! Save your money, time and your NERVES! Stay avay from 'three'. (rating one star because there is no option of rating 'zero')
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Reviewed by Della Harris from England, Isle of Wight on 15th Jan 2012
I've had my phone and internet dongle since July 2011, I don't know why but my phone is good but the dongle isn't, I have a 15gb dongle, it says after about an hour or two I've used it up and cant use it again till the next lot of usage I only use it for Loading photos of bands or any photo shoots I've done to facebook, check my emails and look for work and maybe listen to a few songs on youtube, i dont even catch up on my programmes on bbc three incase i go over. it cuts out well disconnects and I cant connect till my next lot of monthly usage. I thought 3 were meant to be good for internet etc but looks not good just with my phone its good, but the internet is 15gb... i could be on facebook for a month and it wont use it up... but with my dongle it has, I don't know why either, i need to try and opt out but I don't know if they will let me, plus i just really need my phone as my mum is getting sky, can anyone help me? email me? del_shadz_dan@hotmail.com thanks :D (sorry if i said things over and over haha)
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Reviewed by Cathy from United Kingdom on 14th Jan 2012
Hi, In answer to Paul Tait's advice, I do not have two little flashing computers in the bottom R.H. corner of my screen. Any other suggestions to get a faster speed?
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Reviewed by Paul from Leicester, England on 14th Jan 2012
My landlord won't let me fit a landline so I've been using a 3 dongle for months. At £15 per 3Gb it was expensive and I had to keep an eye on what I was doing so even without ever going near iplayer or youtube it was costing me £30 a month but the signal is good and the speed was fine. A friend gave me a smartphone that can be tethered so I stuck a 3 PAYG sim in it and have been buying the all-you-can-eat +3000 texts +300 minutes of talktime on it for £15 a month. I'm saving £15 a month on data now and I binned the Asda PAYG because just keeping that topped up was at least £10 per month. I'm better off and when I do find a better flat, I probably won't bother getting a landline with broadband fitted as this provides my phone and data needs.
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Reviewed by Ally from England on 10th Jan 2012
The worst customer service ever!!! I had bought a one month rolling contract mobile broadband in Aug. We were moving house and we need internet during the transition. So, I bought this and I assumed that I could cancel after using it for that month. But 3 network would not let me cancel my contract at the end of the month. They said that I have to give a 30 day notice for a 1 month contract. Which is ridiculous! How can I give a 30-day notice for a 1 month rolling contract!!! They demanded that I pay for that extra month, for a service that I didn't even use. When I called the customer service, they were no help. Each person that I talked to, gave me different answers. They were absolutely inconsistent in their answers and rather rude! At the end, I was just left frustrated and ended up paying for that extra month. I never want to deal with this company again. If anyone gets this network, just pray that you don't have to deal with or talk to the customer service!
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Reviewed by Ethos from UK on 10th Jan 2012
WORST NETWORK PROVIDER ONCE THEY LURK YOU IN TO ALL U CAN EAT THE WILL LET U SURF TWO OR 3 DAYS WITHOUT ISSUES AND THEN THEY WILL START CUTTING OFF YOU FROM INTERNET EVEN PHONE SIGNAL EVEN IF U HAVE GOOD SIGNAL!!! I GOT GALAXY S II ANDPAYG AND THEY CONSTANTLY DISCONNECTINGE FROM NETWORK AND EVEN CALL ITS ALL FAKE
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Reviewed by Steve from UK, Birmingham on 8th Jan 2012
Unlike others, I don;t think it is bad at all. Before I bought it I checked online and found that signal is pretty decent in my area. Had it for 3 weeks and no problems thus far (touchwood!!).
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Reviewed by Emmet from Ireland on 6th Jan 2012
Pretty bad in my opinion, never stays at one current speed, always fluctuating. Also, the modem is always disconnecting from my computer, and when i try to reconnect, half the time i have to restart the modem, or it even turns it self off for no reason sometimes, and often freezes, so i have to take out the battery to restart. All in all, a pretty bad service, and hopefully i can change to a better service soon.
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Reviewed by ella from ireland on 4th Jan 2012
The worst service provider ever!! and the worst customer service ever! actually the attitude of customer service is shocking. They charged me twice for the same thing more than 150 EUR x 2 and when I wanted to claim my money back (I learn about it when I've checked my bank statement) they didn't want to give me back that money. I rang them lots of times and all I heard was 'you have to go to the bank'. So finally I went to the bank, took time off for that and obviously bank has nothing to do with that. I waste so much time. And still don't have that money. The guys on the customer service line have very strong indian accent which is difficult to understand but it is o'right as long as they are helpful but they are NOT! If you ring them to make a payment, they are nice. If you ring them because they took too much money from your account then they are rude and treat you like shit. I sill have a contract with them and don't want to pay penalty for cancelling now but as soon as the contract ends I'm gonna buy prepay somewhere else. Never ever want to deal with thieves and bunch of gangsters from Three.
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Reviewed by Tong Ding from EDINBURGH on 3rd Jan 2012
I SKYPE BACK HOME EVERYDAY AND THERE IS ALWAYS PROBLEM WITH THE CONNECTION. THE PROBLEM IS THE LINE KEEPS DROPPING DEAD N OFF- LINE .HAVE TO DISCONNECT / CONNECT ALL THE TIME. REALLY ANNOYS N HOPE THE TECKNICAL SUPPORT CAN SEE WHAT IS HAPPENING N IMPROVE THE SERVICE.
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Reviewed by lakhwinder from uk on 2nd Jan 2012
Hi there! First time posting on here, I hope some of you can help. I took out a 24-month contract on a mobile broadband dongle with 3G which finished in October 2009. At that time it was the only mobile broadband option I could find. However, it didn't work very well despite them constantly telling me I was in a 'turbo' area. After about 6 months it got worse and phonecalls to them were of little help. My neighbours then installed wifi and I paid for half in return for the code for the remainder of that year. The dongle from 3 just lay at the back of a shelf for the remainder of the contract, except one time when I used it on a train journey (to no avail- still hopeless). so 18 months thereabouts of no use, except on one occasion. In May 2009 I called 3 to try and cancel, even though the 24 months weren't up. They said I would have to call back in October to do this. Getting fed up with being on hold when I called, I cancelled the direct debit with my bank as the 24 months had expired. Thinking it was all done and dusted, I then start to get calls in January this year saying I owed them £92! They had not cancelled it even though the contract had expired and the DD was cancelled at the bank. I put forward my case- 1. I honoured the 24 month contract despite the dongle not working for the majority of that time 2. during that period, the cost had gone down to around £7.99 a month while I had paid £15.99 a month, and had been happy to do so as it was the contract I had entered 3. they have records showing both that the dongle was barely used and that I had requested cancellation in the past. They claimed to be unable to see previous calls I had made regarding issues further back to try and resolve the functioning of the dongle as their records did not go back that far. As it turns out, my DD cancellation had been a little hasty and I had cancelled it before the Oct payment was taken. They also said that although the contract expired in Oct, I would have needed to pay for Oct in Nov, so 2 payments out of the 24 were not taken. I offered to pay for these there and then on the phone (total, approx £32), but they refused, saying it was either full payment or nothing. I'm not at all happy about paying for a service that I did not receive, and for which they have records to prove the same. As far as I can see I honoured the 24 months of the contract, except the last 2 months- due to oversight- yet offered to pay these.I am still happy to pay for the last 2 months out of the 24, but not the remaining £60 of that. I'm not happy about this issue and now its showing on my credit report. What can I do? Thanks in advance to anyone who can help. Lakhwinder kaur
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Reviewed by Missy from UK on 29th Dec 2011
Had 3 mobile since July and I'm more or less pleased with the service I've received so far. The speeds have been manageable and I haven't had any problems with connecting etc. I'm on 15GB/month which is *just* about enough for me. Haven't needed customer services yet...judging by the reviews below they sound atrocious...!
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Reviewed by Tom from England on 28th Dec 2011
At home in the centre of Birmingham its a rare occasion to recieve data speeds above 0.2mbps, this is with full bars regardless of whether its 3am or 3pm. Elsewhere speeds do seem to improve though. Staff instore and over the phone can be described in one word - absymal. Make sure you test your local connection before entering a contract!!!
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Reviewed by Cal from UK on 19th Dec 2011
Fantastic tip - download speed just went into warp 5!
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Reviewed by darren from uk on 19th Dec 2011
bunch of con artist, first and last time i go to 3 again. i was told my contract was flexible that when i moved to my new house i could cancel it. instead i am signed up for a 24month contract i did not ask for. grrr.... AVOID AVOID AVOID!!
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Reviewed by Jodie Lawrence from UK on 16th Dec 2011
I signed up for a deal with 3G in order to get a Dell Inspiron Laptop. The contract was for £35 a month for 24 months until the Laptop was paid for then it should only be £15 for the monthly internet dongle. I decided to cancel over a month ago, 02 are offering a great deal on broadband as I've had a mobile contract with them for years and I was never happy with 3G's product or customer services. In the 26months I was with 3G I had to call them at least 7 times as their kept on overcharging me even though I had a cap on the account, then they overcharged me for a replacement dongle (should have only been £10 yet they took £49.99 out of my account) It was so frustrating that I would have to call them up (which costs a bomb as I had to call from my mobile which isn't 3G so cost a lot per min) I'd be on the phone for a good 15/20mins before even speaking to anyone then it would take forever to deal with the problem so even when they did refund me the money it's cost me an arm and leg to get the issues resolved. Now the WORST part is that when I called to cancel I was advised that I was still being charged £35 when it should have gone down to £15 and tax after 24months so technically I'm in credit of around £50+ so I was surprised to receive a bill for the internet used within the 30days until the account was closed. Surely this should be credited off of the balence on my account and the difference refunded to me. WRONG!!!! I was on the phone for 50mins (a 3rd of that time was I was on hold). This still hasn't been resolved I am awaiting a callback, but have a feeling I am going to have to call them AGAIN! I will be making a complaint to ombudsman services of telecommunication, if you have had similar issue I suggest you do the same.
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Reviewed by darrin pavey from England on 9th Dec 2011
I have had a contract dongle from 3 network for two years and my contract terminates on January19, 2012. I have asked them today 9/12/2012 to terminate my contract on that date and have been told that i cannot give them notice to cancel my contract unless it is exactly 30days prior to the termination date, if i cancel 1 day before i will have to pay an extra month and if i cancel 1 day late i have to pay an extra month yet while i was trying to cancel they kept me on the telephone for over 1 hour trying to get me to extend the contract or take out another, i am disgusted by the company that i have given my custom to for over 7 years, but wont be for any longer, will cancell my contract mobile and my wife and sons payg phones and go to vodaphone, please all be aware and do not fall into their trap.
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Reviewed by Craig from England on 9th Dec 2011
Rang to cancel my contract 3 times today's the 4th as they haven't done it n keep me on the phone 4 at least 35 mins until I hang up
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Reviewed by Sven from UK on 9th Dec 2011
Agree, terrible and unhelpfull. Especially if you try to cancel with them.
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Reviewed by JT from UK on 5th Dec 2011
A terrible, unhelpful company. Avaoid at all costs.
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Reviewed by Milly from England on 5th Dec 2011
Paul's tip about changing the default speed was absolutely brilliant. I was having a lot of trouble even loading basic pages and found this site by googling how to cancel my 3 mobile broadband (sounds excruciating). I've just given it the ultimate test by trying BBC's iplayer and it worked brilliantly. Alas I've got an ancient deal of 3GB a month for 17 quid something. Do I upgrade or cancel because I want wifi (for the other computer and wii? I don't know. I live in Thanet, Kent.
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Reviewed by David from Ireland on 4th Dec 2011
Ireland 20:37 GMT Three broadband is such a useless service. The lowest I could give it here is one star. They don't even deserve that. Over the last few months they have been reducing my bandwidth. When I asked about this on the 'help-line' I was told that this wasn'thappening. A blatant lie. If its true, how come I can barely get thru the month's allowance with normal usage anymore? Once when I got a new high speed dongle from them it ate up my months allowance in a WEEK and I had to pay them e75 extra for that month. Plus I couldn't use it for three weeks until I got some credit back up start of the next month. Went back to the old dongle immediately. What a rip off. They'll tell you anything on the outsourced helpline. Polite people but a useless service. They just read from a book of pre-formulated answers as far as I can tell. Isn't a minus star rating available for Three Broadband? update: just tried to post this and guess what? Yup, its gone offline again. I'll keep trying ... The connection to the server was reset while the page was loading. The site could be temporarily unavailable or too busy. Try again in a few moments. If you are unable to load any pages, check your computer's network connection. If your computer or network is protected by a firewall or proxy, make sure that Firefox is permitted to access the Web. The option 'Your 3 Broadband connection is a useless piece of junk' should be there but its not ... ah well, on with the task. Step #1 Disconnect the already disconnected line (which tells you 'Connection is working normally'). 'Normally' in this instance means 'rubbish'. Step #2 'Go thru the 'Safely Remove Hardware' routine Step #3 Replug-in Step #4 Try to reconnect ... in progress. I usually have to go through this routine a couple of times before I can get a connection. Oh btw, just tried to go to the Three site. Surprise, surprise I can't get to you the 'your account' section. Connection failed. Laughable but annoying isn't it. Sheesh, if I have to look at Jedward gawking out again ... I started this post about 30 minutes ago but cannot post it. Determined I am tho ... Hello, what's this? ... The connection was reset The connection to the server was reset while the page was loading ... 10 minutes or so later ... Ok supposedly connected message again ... let's see ... try 'Login to My3' again ... Problem Loading Page message Try Google ... ; 'Problem Loading Page' ... yup I know what the problem is I think ... would it be 'Three's useless broadnband service by any chance'? Ok I'll take a break. The connection is gone. I'll save this in Notepad and try post later. About an hour spent at this stage 21:37 GMT Unable to connect Firefox can't establish a connection to the server at statcounter.com The site could be temporarily unavailable or too busy. Try again in a few moments. If you are unable to load any pages, check your computer's network connection. If your computer or network is protected by a firewall or proxy, make sure that Firefox is permitted to access the Web. The notice 'Your 3 Broadband connection is a useless piece of junk' should be there but its not ... This post should go into the Guinness Book of Records under the name 'Longest Time Ever to Make a Post due to a lousy Broadband connection' record. Step #1 Disconnect the already disconnected line (which tells you 'Connection is working normally'). 'Normally in this instance means 'rubbish'. Step #2 'Go thru the 'Safely Remove Hardware' routine Step #3 Replug-in Step #4 Try to reconnect Yahh I think it MAY be back. I'll try to post this now ... If you see this post, it worked (eventually). This happens all the time with Three ... So that's my experience with them. Could I sum Three up in one word if I had to? 'A Hopeless Ripoff'. Wait that's three words isn't it. Well u get the idea ... Hitting the 'Submit' button now ...
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Reviewed by sean from united kingdom on 1st Dec 2011
im paying that for 5 gig wheres the other 10? i have a dongle from u lot???????? plus it slows down every 30 secs???? not happy at all
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Reviewed by Aidan from UK on 28th Nov 2011
I have had six years worth of contract with 3 (phones and mobile broadband), and I will never go back. I was counting down the weeks until my last contracts ended and not knowing if they automatically went onto a one month rolling contact, I called to officially cancel my broadband first. I was encouraged to take an upgrade to an ipad2. I was hesitant as I was not in the market for one but I was fed a lot of chat about how it was a good deal and that I was a premium customer etc. I was told that it would be £35 a month for 24 months and that 3 would waive the £200 upfront charge by making it a discount. I was really reluctant but after 30 mins of their notorious hard-selling technique, I said yes to them sending it - only after asking if there was a cooling off period. I checked on-line for ipad2 and prices that afternoon and saw there was actually no discount; the upfront cost was not waived at all but instead factored into the monthly cost. I would have been cheaper as a first time customer getting that 'deal'. I was disgusted. Six years of contracts with every bill being paid on time and that is how they will treat a loyal customer. I tried to cancel the dispatch of the ipad the same day but was told I would have to wait until it arrived and then send call to find out how to return it. I also asked 3 when cancelling the broadband if there was any notice due for my phone and I was told no. So today, I was most unpleasantly surprised to find they have kept billing me for my phone. I called 3 today to try and sort this out once and for all and it will be a battle to have my money reimbursed. They also tried to sell my some deal or other and it took four very firm "no's" before he stopped trying to sell me something. These issues aside, there have been numerous signal problems, a lack of any clear communication from them and over billing. Definitely a network to stay away from.
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Reviewed by Andy from UK on 24th Nov 2011
Using this with a tethered phone that supports HSPA+, "up to 21 Mbps" . What a joke, even with a good signal, the best I can get is 3Mbps download speeds, and that is at sisx in the morning. Peak time(evening)rates can drop as low as 100kbps.
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Reviewed by samuel Daw from uk on 24th Nov 2011
one word, useless
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Reviewed by Paul from Uk on 20th Nov 2011
I bought a laptop about 3 weeks ago and decided to buy a dongle with 12gb starter for £100 which apparently is supposed to last 12 months i'm already down to 6.5 gb but i have noticed something quite odd which i haven't seen in the other reviews:last night before i logged off i checked my data allowance and it said 6409mb and today when i logged on i checked my data again straight away and it said 6342mb,why is my data disappearing when i'm not even logged on,as for the customer service, i haven't had the pleasure of using that service yet,reception is not bad,slow at times,might go on to a sim only contract,15gb a month for 14.99 dosen't sound too bad
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Reviewed by Anon from Uk on 16th Nov 2011
I've had 3 broadband for many years and after deciding to cancel this service 3 make it very difficult to cancel. No matter what you tell them they'll insist you need the service and offer free netbooks but not tell you there is a contract. After 20mins of saying I want to cancel they had me no hold for a further 5mins then when they returned another offer was put to me. I understand about customer retention, but this is on the verge of bullying. The broadband reception cannot be reach anywhere and everywhere it's absolutely terrible. Tmobile's much better!!!!
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Reviewed by Helena from UK on 15th Nov 2011
The stability of the service has improved greatly in the last couple of months, after months and months of being completely unusable, although oddly the signal strength seems to have got worse. The only downside now is that they have stopped sending me warning emails when I have 20% of my allowance left, and I keep unexpectedly running out of data, since I expect that they will send the warning.
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Reviewed by Tim from Wales on 15th Nov 2011
This 3G service from 3 has been a life-saver! Brilliant! Altough the coverage map clearly indicates that I should not get any kind of service, in desperation I bought a 1 G dongle just to try it out. Full strength signal if I put the dongle up in the loft! So I bought a contract with a MiFi device - ALWAYS over a 1 Meg speed where the landline NEVER provides more than 300kbps. It drops out now and again, but this is superb - and I gather that speeds may be increasing in January - possibly to 3M. The monthly fee is less than £15 - its very good value.
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Reviewed by David Moore from england on 15th Nov 2011
I am very unhappy with the service i have received. I started paying for my broadband and i had to wait 4 month to even started getting connected. As far as the people i spoke on the phone too where concerned i was not even on their systems for recieving internet biggest waste of time ever in my eyes.
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Reviewed by John Fennell from England on 10th Nov 2011
I am (and have been for 11 months) an exceptionally happy 3 customer. I have an iPhone on an all you can eat data plan which I use as a main Internet connection at home-which is so remote that 3 show only poor signal outdoors on their signal map-(Bodenham, Leominster. ) My BT broadband is at very best pathetic, I could on a good day hope to get 250kbps down 160kbps up. Whereas my tethered 3G connection always operates at between 1.7-2.8mbps down and 1.3-1.6 up! Furthermore, I had an issue-the only issue I have ever faced with 3- when my local mast failed and it took 8 weeks before it was working correctly, I only lost 3G so I still had 2G to use for phone calls. When I reported the issue to 3 customer services, the very nice Indian man gave me a full refund for that month, even though the problem occurred merely days before the end of June, but informed me that I would not pay a penny until the problem was sorted; I received at least weekly updates on the problem and what was being done to sort it out but once the problem was in fact sorted they gave me a 25% discount on ALL payments due for the remaining period of my two year contract! I have never dealt with a better customer services team, their technical team were really switched on and knew what they were talking about and could not have been more helpful. I would-and have-recommend this network to anyone thinking of mobile broadband or telephone. Why pay BT for broadband and phones if you can get a smartphone with an amazing data plan for the same money? Sent by my iPhone, on the 3 3G network.
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Reviewed by Angry (soon to be ex) customer from UK on 9th Nov 2011
I agree with Big Al. I have finally had enough of 3 after months of no network, when it says it's connected but clearly isn't, speed of usage when I can get it working is extremely poor. When I first got a contract with 3 they put me on the worng contract so I was paying £5 extra per month for a different price plan I was not getting! I have also complained in the past and been advised it is my computer that is causing the slow speed, however this is total rubbish as I have family who are very adept with computers and they can not find any issue at all. I rang up to cancel my contract today. I spoke to a person called Amon Chowdhary. He agreed my service has been terrible and then said he would try to compensate me, and that I can trust him as he wants to sort this out for me. He then offered me another price plan (for 24 months!), which anyone can get, in fact there are cheaper deals advertised for new customers! He also told me the problem was the dongle I have been using which is very old and out of date, and that I should have had a new one, which he would send out straight away! When I advised him I wanted to cancel, he replied, 'ok so you wnat to go with the price plan we talked about,' to which I replied a firm 'no.' It took me a good hour to end the contract becasue of his hard selling and refusal to end it. I find it incredible that 3 can ring me constantly to offer me a mobile phone, and I repeatedly tell them not to ring me. Yet, they can not contact customers to offer them free upgrades for clearly useless dongles! Big Al, I was able to give 30 days notice today so I would ring them back and keep pushing for the contract to end. I asked for written confirmation that my contract has been terminated as I don't believe 3 will actually end it, but was told I can not have it! I find the company and the workers within it highly immoral in their workings and it's frustrating there is not much that can be done. I would not even give this service a 1 star but it's the lowest choice unfortunately.
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Reviewed by Big Al from UK on 7th Nov 2011
The network is simply atrocious. It constantly drops the connection (it still says connected but there is no actual connectivity), and I'm lucky to get dial-up speeds, even though I'm in a HSPA+ area. Customer services are in complete denial - I sat with two dongles on two laptops next to each other (a friend also being unlucky enough to own one) and both consistently dropped at the same time. Customer services response - it's just a settings error on my laptop (which they were unable to pinpoint). Hmm... Fortunately had only signed up to a 1 month contract, but strangely despite cancelling after 3 days my notice period is 45 days and I must be billed for 3 months usage. THAT IS NOT THE DEFINITION OF A 30 DAY CONTRACT! Simply put, if you enjoy being ripped off, not being able to use the internet, and treated as a mug, this is the perfect network for you!
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Reviewed by Mihenga,J.O from Tanzania on 3rd Nov 2011
I mostly used 3 mobile Broadband it is speedy and very helpful!
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Reviewed by phillip from england on 2nd Nov 2011
Three is the worst company to deal with. i just signed up a 24 month 15gb dongle with them just to find out two days after that the 3 dash board was giving incorrect readings. they are unwilling to repair or replace the dongle as i was told once the dongle can connect to the internets its fine. now the faulty dongle has given false readin of me consumin 17gb within 1 week of signing up for the dongle and the dongle is also showin usage of internet at days dat i hadny even purchased the dongle. the customer service r rude and they wont get away with this as i wont give up without bringing them before the law
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Reviewed by Jay from UK on 1st Nov 2011
21mbps? Why would you even say that? Because you want the £80 commission?! THIS NETWORK IS A RIP OFF!!! Their new Huawei E367 HSPA+ dongle doesn't make any difference to the speed you get. That's because their network isn't capable of HSPA+. I've been testing my connection every 1-2 hours from 7am to 11pm for the last few weeks. Ping is 140ms+ and my average download speed is 0.37 mbps/ 46.25 KBps!! Thats the speed I got 5-6 years ago tethering to my old SE phone. It used to cost me 50p per day, pay as you go.
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Reviewed by tb from uk on 26th Oct 2011
worst provider EVER! yeah their cheap but YOU WILL regret going to them !
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Reviewed by Clive Sinclair from UK on 25th Oct 2011
Moved my phone account from Vodafone to Three recently - after using their old and new MiFi devices and getting very good service and speeds. With recent network updates have seen unto 12mb d/l in the areas I use. Now have a iPhone 4S and getting similar (slightly slower) to the E586 MiFi devices. When I phoned up to order my new iPhone, I got through within 30seconds and order was easy, simple and delivered on the date and time stated. Also the data deal offered by Three is far superior to any other network.
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Reviewed by davidssr from england on 25th Oct 2011
Stay clear. Worse service and customer care ever. I suffered 18 months of hell with this company, yes I had unlimited data but at speeds that rarely got above 0.5 mbps what's the use in that. Kings of the internet time out errors.
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Reviewed by mark mc from uk on 23rd Oct 2011
I have been with 3 for 2 years and i think they are great never had any problems,i have a phone and mobile broadband.
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Reviewed by Katie from UK on 21st Oct 2011
Absolutely appalling customer service, on every occasion I have spoken to them!!
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Reviewed by Jiau from UK on 17th Oct 2011
I called up Three's customer services because I have been charged unfairly for usage which should have been free according to the sales adviser. When I got through, I spoke to a manager in India and he was very rude and aggressive. He obviously had an agenda and did not allow me to speak for a long time. He even said that I "did not have common sense" to understand the terms and conditions of the contract. Every attempt to explain my situation was stopped almost instantly by the same long-winded regurgitation of the terms and conditions. After a long time, he said that he would apply a credit to the current month's balance as a "goodwill gesture", which was to the amount of £2.56. He said that he could not do anything about the extra charges for the last month because the company's policy did not allow for such credit to be applied. What he just said completely contradicted his actions seconds earlier. I decided to end my misery by telling him that I was very disappointed with his attitude and I would make a formal complaint to Three. Based on what I have read here, I am not optimistic about getting a fair response from Three. Seriously, Indian companies aside, why would any other company want to have a customer services center in India? Their attitude to customer service is all wrong from the start!
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Reviewed by Hughie from UK on 15th Oct 2011
Avoid this provider at all costs. **Do not waste your money**. Lying cheating scum bags.
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Reviewed by doloresmcnulty-hunter from ireland on 5th Oct 2011
I stopped using yoiur service in december 2010, because it was too slow and stalled regularly. I singed up to Eircom and rang 3mobile. I spoke to some man in india and he was rude and arrogant, told me i had rang the wrong number to canel. I was so shocked at his attitude that I hung up and cancelled my direct debit. Now I am receivng bills for a service that I have not used for over a year. When I purchased the package I was told the contract was for one year, which I did. Now I am being billed for each month since I stopped using the service. I have just logged on to ratemyisp.ie and the reviews from customers are so bad that it is unbelievable. Get off my back and leave me alone- I want nothing more to do with you people and the rude arrogant guys in india who work for you. It is also intersting that when I tried to get your terms and conditions on line this evening that something came up about Jedward instead. What a way to run a business. Dolores mc Nulty Hunter
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Reviewed by MrD from UK on 1st Oct 2011
After multiple blue screen crashes for 2 weeks and desperatly trying to find the reason for my computer problems by unloading and reloading software I decided to install a new hard drive and reinstall windows. Technically my machine is now new but when I installed the dongle I started experiancing the same problems as before. As I write this a new message has just popped up notifying me that the modem has experianced a problem and has closed. I am not even going to bother informing the customer service dept (I am sure they read these messages). The constant crashes, slow speeds and drop outs have caused me a lot of grief and as I am out of contract and will cancel it today. I think my computer is about to crash again.
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Reviewed by simon from uk on 28th Sep 2011
I use this at home as didn't want to pay for a bT line. I get the 15gb per month deal for £10 a month as I'm also a mobile telephone customer on contract. Speeds get up to 1mbs when downloading torrents which lets me download a movie within about 15 -20mins. The new high speed dongle is great in my house ,I've never taken it out of the house so can't comment on roaming speeds. I'd highly recommend 3 broadband. The customer service is also good.
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Reviewed by JK from Scotland on 25th Sep 2011
Very disappointing. I just checked the speed of my newly purchased 3mobile dongle (running on a Macbook in the centre of Inverness), instead of the advertised "Up to 21Mbps" mine is running at 0.48Mbps! It also seems to disconnect regularly (although this may be other applications accessing the internet in the background & using up too much of the paltry connection). So don't expect this to run anywhere near as well as a land-line connection.
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Reviewed by Kate from Uk on 23rd Sep 2011
I have had my dongle for a year and a half. We live on a boat so we are always in a different location. Sometimes it is ok, streaming is possible. Other times it is hopeless depending on where we are (always central London) My Biggest gripe is this: I called them to cancel my Dongle because I now have a mooring with broadband. The lady in India (Monica Jaisinghani) argued with me for over half an hour, trying to convince me to keep it, or to reduce the payment to £5 for 3 months with 1 gig. Over and over again. I kept saying No. No thank you, I do not need it, I do not want it. She kept going on and on, not cancelling it and pushing so hard to change my mind. The conversation finally ended with me saying NO for the umpteenth time, I WANT TO CANCEL MY ACCOUNT NOW. 6 weeks later when I find they have taken more money and are about to bill me again I call to find she has made a note on my account saying that I had agreed to give my dongle to someone else and continue paying myself. WHAT!! This could not have been more ridiculous. The man then went on to say that they would could only cancel from 30 days from that day. I said no, I cancelled 6 weeks ago, I am not cancelling today. This went back and forth many times with him saying sorry there is nothing ha can do, he agrees the lady was wrong and I was right but I still had to pay. After arguing he then stepped down a little and said they could cancel immediately from that day rather than a further 30 days. I said no, i am not cancelling today I cancelled 6 weeks ago. He was now adament there was nothing more to be done. I would have to pay for their error. After more arguing He finally said he could actually cancel from the day I had cancelled it, they would send out a letter with the readjusted fees on it. POINTS TO REMEMBER ABOUT 3: 1.When you cancel they will go to absolutely any lengths to scam you out of more money. if they managed to make all of the outgoing customers pay an extra month they would make a tidy sum. 2.They will lie about what can and cant be done. You must be persistent and push for what is right. It may take many hours of pushing back at them. 'oh we cant do that' 20 mins later 'oh yes we can do that, i was just lying the first time to try to squeeze more money out of you.
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Reviewed by Andrew from Uk on 15th Sep 2011
I've had my 3 dongle for nearly 2 years now and I must say i'm very impresed. I always get a good signal and touch wood it's never let me down. I have noticed over the past couple of months it has got quite slow. I tried Paul Tait's tip bit it doesn't seem to stay on the 921600 setting, it always defaults back. Any help there would be nice. I haven't had any reason to call their customer service help line so can't really comment on that. Although I think I may give them a call regarding the speed of it now. Anyway overall I am very happy with it and wouldn't hesitate getting anouther from 3 if anything ever happened to this one.
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Reviewed by Jane from UK on 12th Sep 2011
Like many people I thought 3 mobile broadband was great when I got it in 2008. Since May this year however I have not been able to stay on line for more than a few minutes before I have to log off and on again. Repeated chats with staff in India have got me nowhere and I have been led to believe that this problem is unique to me. It is only by reading all these reviews that I realise they have been kidding me. Eventually, after many calls my monthly payments were stopped until September. I was told that the 'Mast was being upgraded' and all would then be well. So far not true. Really frustrating particularly as it stops me doing any transaction on line. Can't shop or check my on line bank accounts. If I go into the local 3 shop they havn't a clue and couldn't really care less. I spend quite a bit of time in a local internet cafe.
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Reviewed by Tom from Ireland on 11th Sep 2011
Nothing good to say about them other than thesales girl is nice. Do NOT call their helpdesk (India). It took me anhour to egt my system back to 'normal' after their 'help'. Tried to watch and listen to the NFL game today. Video wouldn't stream at all and audio would stream for 3 secs and buffer for 30. )I timed it.) Skype? Connection drops after a couple of seconds. Maybe nobody is any better. I don't know. I do believe with those who maintain that they are oversubscribed in relation to avaiable capacity.
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Reviewed by JSM from UK on 10th Sep 2011
I'm coming up to 2 years with 3 Mobile Broadband and on the whole have found their network to be excellent. Maybe I'm lucky but I'm surprised to see SO MANY negative reviews. I've lived in two Cambridge addresses and it's been great there as well as spending weekends in the Midlands where it has also been great. I consistently get between 2 and 3 Meg download speeds which is enough for me. I'm constantly on BBC IPlayer and Youtube and as long as I don't watch in HD the buffering is fine. The only gripe I really had was with the hardware supplied. I got the silver Mifi Wireless router which was a real faff with the 3 button start up and which eventually died after 15 months. However, when it did work it was great, I was even playing COD Black Ops on it through my PS3. I'm due for an upgrade so I may well continue on if they can offer me the new fancy E586 MiFi Router for free. At this price, (£15.99 for 15GB), it's bargain broadband considering that fixed line broadband costs around £30 per month (including line rental for a landline no-one wants). And in the 20 months I've never (thankfully from the comments) had to call Customer Services. But that's just me...
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Reviewed by Chris from UK on 9th Sep 2011
Just got a contract with 3 no signal in my house, back garden or front garden I have to walk to the local pub to get a bar and if you think im over exaggerating I really am not.
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Reviewed by Raj from UK on 9th Sep 2011
Is not great, in service, policies, connection in every aspect.
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Reviewed by Russell from UK on 5th Sep 2011
When started using mobile internet from Three, i thought that this was a miracle - internet as fast as landline I had a that time but about 5 month ago, things were getting worse day by day. In the evening hours you won't be able to get even youtube streaming... hours of conversations with second line technical support... all waste of time... It feels like they increased their customer base significantly but forgot to increase capacity on their station. Very big disappointment. Back to landline.
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Reviewed by Chris R from UK on 5th Sep 2011
Where do I begin? The biggest pile of bunk ever created , the worst money grabbing company I have ever dealt with. Yes you guessed it - its the 3 mobile dongle! Have regularly - this is usually daily - download speeds of - 2.5 kb/sec - yes thats 2.5 KB!!!! - google chrome - 5 days - yes 5days to download - right to save a passage resembling War and Peace in size - a quick summary 24 month contract since June 2010 - maybe over 100 calls to the call centre - im serious - changed dongles, no good - at one point was being charged for 2 dongles - and got accused of lying by their complaints team about only having one dongle - sent other one back of course otherwise pay £50 - srevice has been cancelled by 3 numerous times by mistake - constant buffering on streaming - youtube a distant memory - was with Sky dial up for 3 years - not ONE SINGLE PROBLEM! - wanted to cancel contract for months now but they keep demanding their rip off money!! I cancelled a phone contract with them and they rang me everyday twice a day for weeks - after I told them never to call again - was actually thinking of calling the police for phone harrasment!! I am not joking LISTEN GOOD PEOPLE - AVOID 3 IN ALL ITS HIDEOUS INCANTATIONS - KEEP AWAY THEY ARE THE BIGGEST CROOKS I HAVE EVER HAD THE MISFORTUNE AND STUPIDITY TO SIGN UP TO - PLEASE!! Would love to start major complaint to them - but of course a waste of time.............. Can I give them -1000000 stars please??
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Reviewed by Philip H from Great Britain on 3rd Sep 2011
Tried a T-Mobile dongle. 1 GB data downloading and 7.2? Mbs speed not quite good enough for my needs. Just got a Three mobile dongle (E353) and after my PC got over a uncooperative hissy fit (with assistance from a very helpful Three customer technical services) it now works just fine. Much faster (not quite sure of speed but much faster then the T-Mobile) and all that lovely 12GB of data to play with). We are currently having a typical Lake District rain shower at this moment (about a inch of rain). This usually wipes out the Sky sat signal but the Three Signal seems okay.
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Reviewed by Peter from UK on 3rd Sep 2011
Had much the same problem with my zte 112 dongle worked fine for about 4 months then has spent the last month keep dropping connections it got so bad that i took it back to currys they checked it and said there is no problem with it they also checked the laptop to see if i had a conflict causing the problem that also was fine, no charge for there service, have read the reports on this forum so i thought i will try to contact 3, so i emailed them the next day they phoned me,i explained the fault they asked for the model number of the unit, and said they have a known fault so they will send me there up to date modem, no charges for unit or postage, the following day the new unit turned up, plugged the unit in and placed the new software in and all is well works very fast and no connection drops either, the customer service dept: said they will also give me a call a few days after i have the unit to make sure all is running fine, I must admit with the service i have had from them i can not fault them i would recommend them. Well done 3. one happy customer
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Reviewed by Alan from Northern Ireland on 1st Sep 2011
You can now set your speed to 7200000 which is much faster that 921600 in the configuration screen. Try this for increasing your speed.
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Reviewed by Jack from uk on 1st Sep 2011
I have to agree with Nuno and 3 are a nightmare to deal with
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Reviewed by Robert Briggs from UK on 29th Aug 2011
Signed up for 3 mobile broadband with a free gift Samsung laptop. Only problem is they send out faulty lap tops then replace them with... you guessed it faulty laptops. Its a trick, a scam, a deception! They are being really difficult about letting me cancel, all this for a contract worth around £380, its bonkers long term business planning given I have at least 35 working years of mobile broadband use ahead of me. DON'T THEY WANT THE RETURN BUSINESS?
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Reviewed by Nuno from UK on 28th Aug 2011
I am really fed up with 3 Mobile Broadland dongle. It cuts out so often that you end up wasting the GBs in incomplete downloads. Maybe it is 3 Network's deliberate ploy to make you use up your allocated tariffs quickly. So you have to top more often - Making 3 earn even more money without delivering the goods.
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Reviewed by James from UK on 27th Aug 2011
3 mobile broadband is, overall, disappointing. When it works it works fine - 1-2mbps download and 1mbps upload. The problem is it only works 60-70% of the time. So only get 3 if you can manage without stable reliable internet access. It seems to work well when it's a bright clear day... Don't be guided by the signal readout on the mifi device - even with a full signal (including H), the connection still disappears intermittently. I have been using 3 mobile broadband for 2 months now and haven't used any other mobile broadband service. I will be sticking to fixed line broadband in the future.
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Reviewed by Matthew from UK on 22nd Aug 2011
Have a 3 contract and both mobile dongle and MiFi and have had no connections issues and with speeds hitting 150kbps on mobile dongle and just under 300kbps on MiFi must say the mobile dongle and MiFi dongle really comes to my rescue when BT Broadband stops working which at the moment is every other day :-( Though, I understand a majority of 3 customers will have connection problems and this might be PC or signal related, 8/10 times I'm always using the HDSPA network, low signal areas will only manage 3G but for basic internet tasks, the dongle and MiFi are hard to beat and with the new ALL YOU CAN EAT DATA on contract phones, comes in handy when you spend most of the day on Android Market hehe. Thumbs up 3!
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Reviewed by skippy from uk on 19th Aug 2011
When i first signed up with 3 a couple of years ago I thought i had died and gone to heaven.. great customer service, reliable and quick internet and a good deal all round. I had previously been with BT, Orange and vodafone and All were appalling for one reason or another. BT tried to charge me a years line rental despite cancelling in the first week, Orange ripped me off and Voda corporate scumbags.. well don't get me started!! Anyway , back to 3, i was happy until i bought a MIFI device which wasn't fit for the purpose it was sold for. After several hours trying to explain to a script reading customer service person that the device wasn't sensitive enough to get a decent signal (despite their coverage maps claims)I accepted a 'new' (actually, a recon) replacement device. What a surprise.. just as hopeless! Worse than this, I renewed my phone contract and thought I had a good deal until I got a huge bill for 3 to 3 calls which were supposed to be free as before. It took a bit of working out what these charges were for and several hours of arguing with a manager before getting the free calls reinstated and the ridiculous bill cancelled. I then had to cancel my direct debit to pay that months bill and then try to reinstate the direct debit. This was another nightmare as the automated bill payment wouldn't work and I had refuse to pay my bill unless they would take payment via a real person. As for mobile internet, It was significantly improved around August last year in the areas that I travel in (Warwickshire/Oxfordshire) but has now become totally unreliable as described by other users here. My connection (when I can get one) is Ok until my dongle switches to HSPA. It then becomes totally useless. I wonder if there is an honest company left in this jungle of corporate crooks? Rip off Britain is a den of thieves and crooks and our government is there to protect their interests at our expense. Actually, Peavey and Audio Technica are good honest companies and support their excellent products but it seems they are old school and not the norm.
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Reviewed by rich from uk on 17th Aug 2011
absolute garbage ... for last 3-4 months connection hold s for around 2 mins then you have to reconnect ... used it in various area's at all times of day/night and always the same .. dont wast your money,roll on december when my contract ends BTW dont bother with customer services unless you like speaking to an indian reading from a script!
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Reviewed by AJ from UK on 17th Aug 2011
I had a terrible time with the 3 network, it constantly disconnected,couldn't rely upon it to do anything,took it back and the guy said that I could only be refunded £10! totally shocking considering that they said there was a 7 day policy no one explained this fully to me, I was disgusted by their attitude,customer service was disgraceful,shall never look at another 3 shop again!!!
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Reviewed by Rog from Northern Ireland on 16th Aug 2011
have had a dongle from three from march 09 no problems exept for weather the very odd time until yesterday, no service at all, same today, i tried to contact three but no joy there so rang a local three store to ask if it was my dongle or something else, i was told he would check and ring me back in next hour, thats been almost 2 hours ago now, was told a mast was down elsewhere in country though so that could be the case. im hopin it is!! rating as poor purely down to my lack or service for almost 48 hours now!
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Reviewed by Shishu Ali from UK on 16th Aug 2011
I had the same connection problems as most previous posts describe. I tried everything but no luck. As a last resort, I called 3 last week not expecting much based on what others have said here, but to my surprise they were very helpful. I was told that there was a known problem with the E122 dongle and sent out a brand new dongle (the latest HSPA E367 dongle ) the next day all free of charge. All is well now and I am happy, so credit were it's due, thanks Three keep up the good work!!
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Reviewed by david from england on 14th Aug 2011
Hi. I was completely in tune with the comments about:...for 12 months brilliant and since rubbish. But going through the issues with Tiff and Tom from the 3 Store just off Market Sq. in Cambridge they convinced me it wasn't 3 but conflicts through the USB ports on my netbook - something had messed up the software. So, trusting them, I bought the 3 Wifi dongle (Myfi) and the results are just brilliant! Back to the service I originally had and renewed confidence in the 3 Network. Only downside:the Wifi dongle cost £71, but a small price to pay for web/internet freeedom again! Thanks Tiff. Thanks Toma
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Reviewed by David from UK on 14th Aug 2011
Follow up on DNS problems. Just had DNS go to sleep on me and tried changing the DNS server used by 'nslookup' - this didn't make any difference. So the 3 DNS server does not seem to be the source of the problem (at least in this case). Disconnected and then reconnected and now working fine again so possible a second type of problem. However it has been working well for the last few days and so far has far outperformed the Virgin service I had last year.
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Reviewed by Tanya from UK on 11th Aug 2011
Have been with 3 for almost 3 years now and until nearly 4 months ago would have given them 5 stars, i've never had a problem been able to run ps3 wii and laptop at the same time, now i'm lucky if i can get online for more than a minute on the laptop, and nothing else will connect at all sometimes the laptop will connect to hub but very rarely to the internet its driving me crazy my kids are off school for 7 weeks and so far have not been able to do any online gaming, i cant view bills emails wage slips or banking, after spending over £100 and several hours in phone calls (everytime you have to start from scratch)3 eventually sent a new hub still no improvement i live 100 yards away from the nearest mast in a very small town cutomer services just keep fobbing me off and promising its sorted ha ha ha I hate them all !!!!!!!!
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Reviewed by Laura from UK on 10th Aug 2011
I've been on a three mobile broadband contract for 4 years and always found it to work well until last autumn and in the last couple of months it's got even worse. I've been experiencing similar problems to others here - says I'm connected and works fine for a few minutes then can't open any pages even though I'm still connected. Problem seems to be when it switches between UMTS and HSDPA signal. Just rang help desk, who were really helpful and talked me through a load of setting changes on my laptop, and for 5 minutes it worked super fast, but just got off phone to them and it's gone back to its old ways!!
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Reviewed by rees from uk on 10th Aug 2011
just call customer services .99 % of the time there are add on installed which make the browser slow.Add on are eg google toolbar,yahoo toolbar,bing bar.Do browser optimization /tool >interne option >adavance >reset .speed will increase
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Reviewed by David from UK on 9th Aug 2011
Curate's egg - good in parts. Or "little girl who had a little curl" - good is very good but bad is horrid. My main problem seems to be DNS related. I connect, get 5 bars, but cannot connect to any web site or email server because the DNS lookup of the web/mail server address fails. Repeated connect/disconnect cycles don't seem to change anything. The DNS problem seems to be due to and abnormally long delay from the DNS server. Testing using "nslookup" from an "Administrator Command Prompt" under Vista 32 bit if I set retries to 30 and timeout to 30 seconds I will usually get a successful lookup eventually. So the system is there and working but DNS is not responding in a timely manner. This makes the service effectively unusable. I will try the tip shown further down to use an alternative DNS server next time I encounter this problem. I have also upped the maximum speed following another tip found further down. Don't know if this will make a noticeable difference as I suspect that speeds in general are pretty low. Using PAYG with the latest USB dongle; bought it end of July.
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Reviewed by Anne from england on 3rd Aug 2011
terrible terrible service, I was using this on a payg basis when moving until i got `proper` broadband in. Worse than dial up... disconnecting constantly, cannot view video clips, buffering constantly.. avoid
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Reviewed by Helena from England on 1st Aug 2011
I have the same problem as many other people here - the dashboard says I am connected and have a maximum 5 bar signal, and the light on the dongle says I am connected, but I am not, no data transfer can take place. The only way I can actually maintain a connection for more than about a minute is to run something in the background that constantly calls on the connection and keeps it live. But of course, this uses up my data allowance. This has been happening for more than 3 months now, and despite my repeatedly contacting 3, they have done nothing about it. It seems like it is a capacity issue and I am being kicked off when it thinks I am not using the connection so that others may use it, and yet I find it no better in the middle of the night than I do at peak times and despite living in a student area I have seen no improvement in the summer when many of them have gone away. When the thing is actually connected and working I am quite pleased with it. It's not the fastest, but it's good enough for checking emails, etc.
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Reviewed by Nuray from UK on 30th Jul 2011
i had terriable experience with 3..beside bad coverage..i am still living in nightmare with their customer service..i had DD payment for my broadbent and want to cancel. i called them april for cancellation i give them 1 month notice.i have being told by their customer serv adviser they will cancel the account..since april they did not cancelled. i have called them 4 times..each time they convince me they will cancel, each phone call cost me fortune as they charge you. i already pay extra month of service and refusing to pay up to today..i am making formal comline to ofcom as i dont know what to do after get letter from Dept collection agency.. Terriable service..
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Reviewed by Clare from UK on 26th Jul 2011
Oh my word - The last 4 months using 3 mobile BB has been a nightmare. May as well not bother, sick to death of connecting & disconnecting constantly. Can't check my e-mails or even browse for more than about 3 minutes (if i'm lucky). Customer services shocking & just dont get that i'm connected & yes have a full signal bar but no access ffs. It was fine & worked ok up until quite recently so don't know what has happened? Just junk & my contract doesnt expire for eons. Really hacked off big time ith the cowboys & girls that are 3 :-(
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Reviewed by Stuart from uk on 25th Jul 2011
I got pay as you go 3 mobile broadband about a year or so ago. Initially I thought it was brilliant - even working in locations with a very weak signal it ran slowly but was very reliable. I did some really big uploads to Flickr (140 pictures) with no problem at all. Signal was showing as weak, but it just sat there and ran. However.....since last November it's been absolutely useless, I honestly don't think I've been able to stay on line for more than 10 mins. Lost signal in the time it took to type this message. Took at least two reconnections to post the message. I can just about use it to check e mail. I usually have to reconnect two or three times to actualy send a message. Uploading to Flickr is virtually impossible if the set has more than 3 or 4 pictures. I don't know what happens but it's now pretty useless!
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Reviewed by mike from england on 23rd Jul 2011
Don't bother with 3. the price for mobile broadband seems good, but the reception is poor to non-existant. in wales it was non existant and in lincolnshire only worked if i stood on balcony. try to cancel is also a nitemare, with indian call centers claiming great connectivity,and failing to enact cacelations resulting in further charges. then they call (daily)to discuss your account but won't talk unless you give them all your personnal details. AVOID!!!
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Adrian from Scotland on 20th Jul 2011
The down side for me was the 15GB limit as I watch a lot of tv programmes and football online, which used it up fairly quickly. Also, especially watching football, it struggled to cope and a lot of buffering was happening. So I got the landline connected and joined sky broadband and my mum took over the dongle. It's 2 weeks on since I joined sky and the dongle is in the mail back to me and sky is getting cancelled when it arrives. So, after that experience, I now rate the dongle higher than I did at first, so I'm giving it 4/5 instead of the 3/5 I originally rated it at.
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Reviewed by Dan from England on 19th Jul 2011
Connection is very poor with temporary bouts of good speeds, so poor in fact that I see it as a breach of contract as Three simply are not providing what was agreed in exchange for the monthly fee. Resume payment only on condition that network service is adaquate as advertised, namley able to stream high quality video at all times.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Dave from UK on 14th Jul 2011
Mixed feelings about it. I'm getting 2.3mb, was expecting more but it's ok I guess even though I'm in a good coverage area. Am not at all happy with the software. Since installing, my Bluetooth has not worked properly. I'm not now able to connect to the net using my mobile, although obviously if I'm still on 3 I won't need to, but I might want to one day. Even worse, I've just found I can't now Bluetooth photos from my mobile to my laptop. Also the software is unable to cope with the laptop shutting down due to flat battery or me closing the top. I have to take out the modem & close the software & reopen etc, or mostly just restart it. So for those reasons, I'm voting 1
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Reviewed by dallen from UK on 13th Jul 2011
Such poor connection. When I ping after connected, all I get is Request Timed Out. It is as if you are using wifi and everyone else around you is downloading which causes the RTO. Only certain times during the day or night will the connection be stable. Very poor.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Mr Ross from london england on 12th Jul 2011
problem same as everyone else. Lately disconnects after one minute and must reconnect all the time. It used to be much better. Does work quicker though. Is the newer modem better. Is this a way of getting us onto it?
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by John from UK on 11th Jul 2011
I've been having lots of problems and it is very frustrating when 3 lie about the reason why and then claim that the issue is resolved when it clearly isn't.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by B Gray from U K on 6th Jul 2011
Yes I am having the same problem!!! I have been happy for the last 14 mths this is slow sometimes , but sometimes I am in the middle of nowhere and I still get a connection :-) I have spent a number of hours with the Mobai masters technical team and as soon as I can get a web page "we classify this as fixed" and see ya later sunshine. Interesting point was that one tech told me I had been on the internet for 2 x 3 hour sessions "which proves that it works" however the computer was off and the dongle was removed at these times, when asked to explain he said well I was not at your house to see that (why do I now feel like a criminal!) he also said it is impossible to hack and impossible for an internet connection with out the dongle being connected! I can understand that so how can their system show me connected for 3 hours (he said minute amount of download!) when the dongle is out! I just want my old service back!!! I was happy and now I am a criminal!
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by David from England on 5th Jul 2011
I have no complaints. I have found the service reliable. downloads are a bit slow, but I bet other systems have this problem. The times that I have had problems opening the connection, the telephone help service has talked me thru the key strokes inorder to fix it. I pay £15.99 for 15gb per month, and I often don't use alot of it but i like the portability of a dongle. If I have1 gripe it is that I was told in the shop the price would remain the same for the 24 month contract. It does change every year according to what the RPI index is and the Government rate of inflation- so my £15 per month quoted is now £15.99 per month.
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Reviewed by Virginia from United Kingdom on 4th Jul 2011
4th July 2011 -Was very happy with 3 mobile broadband, for about 10 months ...... but then it kept disconnecting every few minutes ........... I rang customer service, they were very nice, the last thing they said was that I should not worry about a thing and they were going to sort everything out for me ............ anyway, sorted it myself, got a new 3 premium dongle, not that fast but .............. good enough for me ! It seems some dongles have a ....... limited timespan !
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Reviewed by Craig from England on 27th Jun 2011
It seems people rate poorly when they havent used the dongle properly or followed steps to resolve problems. Its not necessarily a problem with 3 or the dongle. Been with 3 mobile for nearly 7 years and never had problems with network coverage or internet with them, even in low signal areas. Our landlord recently brought us all 3 mobile broadband dongles while our virgin cable servie was being repaired and they worked brilliantly. Connected within seconds, consistent quick speed around 3-5mbs (better than some landline services from BT & Sky) and never dropped. Would recommend them!
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Reviewed by Rob from England on 26th Jun 2011
3 mobile broadband was never the best for straight speed but now I cannot hold a decent connection at all. Utterly useless! It's been like this for the last 10 days of so. It will connect with full strength with HSPA and then just drop to 3G and then nowt. Cannot connect. My deal is about to expire soon thank goodness. What an utter shower.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by SOAP DODGER from SCOTLAND on 25th Jun 2011
Sorry to read such negative reviews!! Using the new 3 dongle in my caravan in South west Scotland and receiving full bars for most of the time.....loads quickly and although you get a 15GB monthly allowance which for some may be poor it is more than adequate for me - surfing the net every day and checking e-mails and watching you tube and BBC I-PLAYER as well.....so more than pleasred with 3!!! Try it and see how good the new dongle is!!
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