3 Mobile Broadband
Review
In a nutshell: 3 Mobile offer the cheapest mobile broadband
service in the UK, starting at £7.50 per month, and offering
a massive 15GB
for just £15 per month. Maximum speeds are now 7.2
Mbps. The USB modem is now available free on all except the 1 month
contract. Download speeds are faster than T-Mobile,
and similar to Vodafone. 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.
Best buy: Broadband
Lite 1GB (£7.50 per month); or 15GB
Broadband (£15 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. 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: white or black. They can even be personalised using
"skins".
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!]

3 Mobile Broadband
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 183 reviews: 
Reviewed by Simon from uk on
1st Sep 2010
Tried one of their new dongles on payg and it was okay. So took
out a contract. Again okay for the first 2 weeks and terrible ever
since. I have spoken to 3 a few times and get the feeling they are
just trying to stall me and fob me off with maintenance. When I
first got a dongle I was told that I am very close to the mast and
another is nearby so things should be good for me. I checked online
and the mast is a stones throw away on top of a high rise block
of flats and beams down right into my window where my laptop is.
I was also told that there would be a few days maintenance at the
end of september. When I called about the drop in service they told
me there was maintenance work which started on the 17th of august
and was due to finish on the 31st. So today should be better right?
Wrong. Just as bad. 3 say its more maintenance and they dont know
how long it will take. It doesn't matter because I won't be hanging
around to find out. Small claims court if I have to. Don't fall
for the hype, this is rubbish and 3 are a joke.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Tom E from UK on
31st Aug 2010
Absolutely rubbish. Ive had my huawei dongle for about 2/3 years
and its always always dropped out and even in a strong signal area,
has rubbish speeds. The money i pay on this could go towards decent
broadband! Stay clear! ...and isnt it funny how all the 5 star reviews
seem to be selling the same deal, 3 insiders at work... i think
so, dont listen to them!
Rating: 
Reviewed by ted lay from ireland on
31st Aug 2010
we have used 3 for more than a year after giving up tyhe eircom
landline. 3 has been brilliant the service superb even if we phone
Bombay, thought they only had one gentleman in dublin oh dear, okay
video's are a bit of a pain stop go but the rest of the time no
complaint, well done 3 and thanks by the way we use it at home in
the caravan and sometimes in the car
Rating: 
Reviewed by james from uk on
31st Aug 2010
i got a laptop and dongle from 3 on an 18 month deal last april.the
signal is rubbish i dont wanna speak to people in india and want
something cheaper.does anyone know who i write tp to terminate my
contract ?
Rating: 
Reviewed by Mark from uk on 29th
Aug 2010
Just had eight attempts at a download before giving in. My story
is like so many others - got a contract, all good at first while
the chance to cancel was there, lousy since, 3 hard work to deal
with and I am close to the mast. 3 need to sort their act out quickly
or I'll be another one going through the courts to get out of my
contract. Terrible network.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Grimwald the Grim from UK
on 28th Aug 2010
Just bought 3 mobile broadband on a 5Gig SIM only deal. SIM arrived
but I can't get the network to recognise it - it's probably not
activated. My issue is I can't contact 3 to get activated because
their IVR can't cope if they haven't activated the SIM. This is
beginning to look like Catch 22. Bless 3, probably the world's least
contactable network.
Rating: 
Reviewed by R Lockey from England on
28th Aug 2010
worked well a year ago but has gotten steadily worse,actually having
trouble submitting this review as the modem keeps crashing(flashing
green)The sad thing is we are supposed to be in a very good area.I
would change to Orange but they are a terrible company.3 are ok
at taking your money but you can get stuffed if you want a service.I
would advise anyone considering using dongles at home, get a landline.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Paul Mattingley from England
on 27th Aug 2010
3 have been outstanding as a high speed data provider(Mobile Broadband).It
is all down to the area that i live in where i guess the coverage
is very good. I get 3G to HSDPA speed and 5GB allowance for £15
per month. I disagree with Paul, I have used Vodafone for MBroaband
and the service was appaling, speeds were rubbish etc. As there
is no contention ratio it all depends on the coverage and amount
of users on at any one time. Go 3 :O)
Rating: 
Reviewed by Graham from UK on
27th Aug 2010
I have spoken to 3 about the issue previously mentioned of decent
speeds for the first two weeks and awful since. I made it clear
that I wish to cancel without any fees or penalties, otherwise I
instigate legal proceedings to be rid of any contractual obligation.
Lo and behold, within an hour I can download at over 200 kb/sec
and that's at my end. The speed it leaves the mast at was around
1.5 mb/sec. Not bad at all but not really surprising since I am
close to the mast and it isn't a peak time. Funny how that reappeared
for the first time in over a week when I have just threatened to
take them to court. I haven't had speeds anywhere near that until
I spoke with them. Coincidence? Hmmm I think not. Hopefully they'll
keep it up over the bank holiday weekend. I fully expect it to drop
soon and when it does, I'll repeat my request once again. If it
isn't accepted, court it is.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Graham from UK on
27th Aug 2010
I wanted to do some downloading late last night but couldn't because
3 had dropped the signal to 3g just after the peak time had died
down. I think I'm set for a 3g bank holiday weekend. I wouldn't
be surprised if I don't see a high speed connection again until
next week. It's the next day and still on 3g. I am close to the
mast too. I'm in the first month of a contract. Things were pretty
good for the first 2 weeks, fast when you would expect it to be
and not so fast at other times. Now it's much slower and I can't
help but think it's because my chance to return it and get out of
the contract has passed. But I shall be speaking to 3 next week
if it doesn't improve dramatically. I'll tell them straight - release
me from my contract or I take you to court and write to Watchdog
and Ofcom. I would prefer to do it the quick and simple way. Something
tells me 3 would prefer to make it a longer, more messy and protracted
affair. That's fine but I won't let them get the better of me and
neither should you if you aren't happy. And it sounds like plenty
are not happy with 3.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Alex P from uk on
26th Aug 2010
I have to agree with Robert about 3 being oversubscribed. I don't
know about O2. 3 have no qualms whatsoever about selling you a package
in an area which already has network capacity issues. The only way
around this is new legislation which limits the number of users
in a particular area in accordance with the network capacity for
that area. This won't solve the problem completely as the service
is mobile, but it should help considerably. But it won't happen
and 3 won't responsibly police themselves without being forced to.
They're not that type of company. They're more stack 'em high, sell
'em cheap and to hell with the consequences. The other problem is
that 3 sit behind the excuse of 'It's mobile broadband and service
can vary considerably according to various factors.' - or words
to that effect. It's no more than a catch-all excuse which because
of its wording hides a multitude of sins. To summarise, none of
the networks are performing particularly well, but you only have
to look at a selection of reviews to find that the most negative,
in both volume and content, are definitely for 3.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Paul from UK on 26th
Aug 2010
Been getting really slow speeds for ages now and at all different
times of the day and night. What complete rubbish about being near
a mast. I am 300 metres from the mast where I live and I have clear
line of sight to it. Yet my speeds are ridiculously slow and is
being throttled by 3. I could be much faster speeds if few people
are using it, but I won't because of the block put on it by those
annoying people at 3. There is a software app called netmeter which
picks it up. Your speeds won't be high regardless of where and when
if 3 are putting slowing it down. Another way of knowing is to run
two downloads concurrently. See how your speed doubles when you
start the second download? Three will have set a maximum speed per
download but you can run two for double speed. Maybe 3 at a time
for treble speed, which still wouldn't be fast.u You're only going
to get a decent speed where there are more sheep than people. Anywhere
else and you're going to suffer, especially with 3 who have terrible
customer services and are very difficult to deal with. Did anyone
else see how they milked the YouGov ratings for all they were worth.
No idea how they got top ranking but they don't have it anymore.
Orange have it now.
Rating: 
Reviewed by michael from uk london on
24th Aug 2010
i live in cental london and get very good fast speeds with 3 mobile
broadband !! i use have tmobile broadband and it was a very bad
servis very slow and keeps loseing signal ! if you live in a good
3 network signal area i would say go for it 100%
Rating: 
Reviewed by DANIEL from UK on
24th Aug 2010
The list of moaning reviews below have irritated me to the point
that I must speak out.I use 3 mobile internet day in day out and
experience a range of speeds and service levels. BIG DEAL! HSDPA
networks use radiowaves which are affected by many uncontrollable
factors. They are blocked by buildings esp. those with foil insulation
in many new houses. Distance from the mast. Network traffic and
demand. Before slagging off the network for their lack of signal
think about where you locate your USB MODEM. HSDPA networks are
an emerging technology and speeds will only continue to increase.
In the meantime networks need to be managed to provide a service
for all. The three network also handles voice calls on their 3G
network (unlike other networks that can use GSM or other bands)
so at peak times which do you think takes priority on 3 network,
Voice calls or data? Voice obviously. So data connections are throttled
or even dumped at peak times. It isn't a conspiracy to rip people
off it is called network traffic managment. To say 3 Network are
the only provider to do this is misleading and untrue. ALL networks
manage their traffic in this way to provide everyone with a fair
service. However, 3 are not totally innocent, to market this tech
as broadband is misleading but if you signed a contract then you
should have done some research about signal strength and expected
realistic speeds. If you did and it was missold then fair enough
you criticism is warranted. If you just expect to sit in your reinforced
concrete, foil insulated home 4 miles from a mast in a urban area
and expect a full HSDPA 7.2 mbps signal then you have misunderstood
the technology. # sitefinder gives you mast locations and strength.
It is in the public domain and people fought to get it! use it to
find your local mast, stick your usb modem on a window nearest the
mast direction with a usb extension and you are laughing, except
at peak times - on any 3.5g network - NOT JUST 3 network so be fair
and realistic in your reviews.
Rating: 
Reviewed by krips from UK on
24th Aug 2010
Got 3 mobile broad band used for 10 days i loved it and when there
was a real need of internet it ditched me, when i went to there
shop they checked something on internet and told me that there is
some work going on in the mast near my place but it will be done
by 19th Aug... its not working at all not even slow... than i called
them again on 21st and the same thing but date changed to 3rd sept
now.... not sure what they are doing...
Rating: 
Reviewed by Paul Murphy from Northern
Ireland on 20th Aug 2010
3 is so frustrating, it is so slow - im paying £15 a month for a
dispicable service (in fact im throwing £15 a month down the drain).
Does anyone know how to go about cancelling this contract? Avoid
like the plauge
Rating: 
Reviewed by Robert from UK on
19th Aug 2010
3 sells itself as the cheapest and most generous mobile broadband
provider in the UK. However, that's all nice if you are in an area
with a three tower. Otherwise, you're reduced to mobile broadband
speed and it's very, very unreliable. In an attempt to keep my custom
they dropped their £15.00 a month package to £5. So if you fancy
a reduction and you get good service, now you know. Otherwise, be
happy with better service (if less allowance) on the likes of Orange,
Vodafone and T-Mobile. O2 has similar issues incidentally, it's
network is currently over subscribed for mobile broadband.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Gavin from Ireland on
15th Aug 2010
Stay well clear.. Unless you fancy trying to sort out your problems
(and you will have plenty of them)an hour long chat with Apu the
shopkeeper from the Simpsons..
Rating: 
Reviewed by Manish from India on
14th Aug 2010
Its good
Rating: 
Reviewed by spike from uk on
11th Aug 2010
Pants. 1 hour per day good, the rest pants. When i need it its not
there.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Ali from UK on 10th
Aug 2010
Yesterday I tried Vodafone Pay as You Go as it was the cheapest
of the lot (24.99squid including 3Gb credit!!) but to my dismay
I could only get GPRS in the lounge which was crippingly slow (max
5kbps but on average was below 1kbps!!) and when I did have 3G in
my room (loft) it was still max bps!!! And worst of all they have
no return policy so being desperate, despite the many bad reviews
I decided to try the 3 Pay as You Go Mobile Broadband service, as
I noticed there's a 3 tower near my house. So far I've been getting
3G+ and average 20Mb and even streamed BBC iPlayer!!! So bottom
line if you're near a 3 tower give it a go, if not well do your
homework and find out which network tower is nearest to your house
at www.sitefinder.ofcom.org.uk
Rating: 
Reviewed by paul killeen from uk on
10th Aug 2010
3 mobile is getting worse
Rating: 
Reviewed by Edyta from Ireland on
7th Aug 2010
Unfortunately I am not happy with 3 mobile service.It looks like
since 2 months my internet usage is flying.Last month I got message
from 3 that within 2 weeks I exceeded allowance usage(15GB) when
my monthly average usage is 6-7 GB. There is some system error which
3 mobile customer service doesn't wanna investigate.I called them
8 times and they have always the same answer.Finally they sent me
requested usage statement and I noticed cases for example 8sessions(sesion
by sesion)to have the same usage of Mb.It doesnt make sense at all
cause each session cannot be exactly the same.It's impossible cause
I am not downloding anything,just searching the webistes 3 hours
daily.As I mentioned I called them 8 times already,sent some emails
and no effect.Nobody wants to investigate it.I am on the 12 months
contract,have left 6months and I am really afraid to use the internet.As
whenever you exceed the usage of 15 GB they charge you for addidtional
usage 5 cents per additional MB.For example my monthly plan is 20
euro and for July I am forced to pay 70 euro.They have customer
service in India so you cannot complain in the shop-try to call
India,you get no help. So guys just want to warn you,do not listen
to anybody,the 3 mobile internet service is really bad and believe
me once you have some problems with them it's not gonna be resolved.!!
Rating: 
Reviewed by Dave from UK on 4th
Aug 2010
So much better than Vodafone, that's for sure... But still nowhere
need advertised speeds.
Rating: 
Reviewed by mark Jones from England
on 3rd Aug 2010
For julie. I had the same problems with my connection lasting for
about 30 seconds. On your computer, click start and then computer.
it should have your modem stored there. Right click on the modem
and select "connect". It won't stop it from disconnecting but I
manage to get at least an hours use which is alot better than 30
seconds.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Joseph Dixon from UK on
29th Jul 2010
After using Vodafone for 2 year I'm so happy I have changed to three.
Vofafone was ok for about a year then 3g would come and go as it
pleased. Leaving me with useless GPRS for weeks on end. When 3G
was available a got 1.6mbs download and 0.5mbs upload. Gaming was
a no go with pings of around 200ms. Also 5GB a month for £25 was
limiting. Now I'm with three I get 5mbs download and 1.5mbs upload.
Gaming is also ok as pings are now normally under 100ms. All this
in a rural location in Cumbria. And the 15GB a month for £15 is
great.
Rating: 
Reviewed by nic from uk on 29th
Jul 2010
Terriable customer service and poor signal, could not never get
connected!!!
Rating: 
Reviewed by Sally from UK on
29th Jul 2010
I tried to get 3 to call me using a "call back" link from their
website (when it eventually loaded on my horrendously slow mobile
broadband) - needless to say they didn't call - and I ended up going
into my local 3 shop (don't belive the opening times quoted on 3's
website by the way) to avoid the expensive customer service phone
calls. I wanted to cancel - the shop staff were superb, and I used
their phone to speak to customer services - but have now negotiated
a new better dongle f.o.c. and a cut in monthly fee (for the same
amount of data). Not sure if it'll help (seeing as how the nearest
mast to where I want to use it has had a known fault since mid May)
but they've got 14 days to prove themselves. I'm not holding my
breath!
Rating: 
Reviewed by Julie from uk on
28th Jul 2010
Well it's a few hours later now and the problem has got even worse.
A connection now lasts for about 30 seconds and it takes between
5 and 15 attempts to get another when that goes. I won't be speaking
to customer services again, what's the point of listening to more
lies? I've had to write this on microsoft word then copy and paste
it across and hope it sends during an active connection. Oh and
the signal is all over the place - one minute it's one bar then
shoots up to the maximum, then down to 3, then back to one etc.
Please stop fiddling with my signal, please put something honest
and useful on the website, please stop lying and misleading customers
and please sort it out. I haven't asked you to apologise because
I know that saying sorry is beneath you. The most data you can buy
on contract or PAYG with all of the other networks is 3 gigabytes
per month. 3 will sell you 15 for 15 pounds. That is why it's rubbish.
Too many customers with large allowances clogging a system which
cannot cope. It's not their fault, they see an appealing offer and
go for it. The fault lies with 3 and ofcom for letting them do it.
Three would have to have several times more masts than any other
network at the very least to be able to provide an equivalent level
of service. They don't and they never will. It explains why customer
dissatisfaction is so high. This company is irresponsible, dishonest
and rotten to the core. Avoid at all costs. ARGH WHAT IS IT WITH
THESE PEOPLE?
Rating: 
Reviewed by Julie from uk on
28th Jul 2010
I keep having to disconnect and unplug the modem, then plug it back
in and wait for it to install and pick up a signal. This is just
to get another two minutes of internet before it happens again.
This makes browsing a pretty miserable experience and it's been
this way since saturday. 3 don't have an explanation, it's just
the usual blaming the computer, dongle or anything else they think
they can get away with. What is it with these people?
Rating: 
Reviewed by TerryMcShinty from England
on 27th Jul 2010
Ive had one for 18 months, overall the signal is good, and download
speeds are quick. Im mainly watching streamed porn videos, and they
load quickly. Only now and then does it disconnect by itself, but
i just manually reconnect.
Rating: 
Reviewed by HY from Uk on 27th
Jul 2010
3 is rubbish now! My internet mobile broadband keeps dropping everyday
at every time that I use the service. Since 3 has upgraded their
IT infrastructure to take on board more customers the service is
now 100% faulty - I can not use their internet anymore! Stay clear
of 3 and be warned!
Rating: 
Reviewed by Lisa from UK on 27th
Jul 2010
I have posted before saying I've been disconnected every 10-20 secs
continously for over 3 weeks and that 3 Mobile promised "engineering
works" would be completed on 22 Jul. It is now 27 July and I have
now had ZERO access to the internet for 24 hours+. (Am typing this
on wordpad and will paste as a review WHEN I can get onto the internet
by another service provider). I would like to warn anyone considering
using this diabolical service to go elsewhere. 3 Mobile suggested
I go to another location and assured me I would get connected then.
I told them I'm not using a laptop but a desktop with a dongle,
so can't go elsewhere BUT, if mantenance work was truly the reason
for my lack of connection, how would going elsewhere solve the problem?!
The "customer service" woman today ignored everything I said. Just
total silence. This is the second time this has happened. They want
you to hang up. I was not ranting or being rude, so there was no
excuse. They now say maintenanc e work will be finished in 2 days
max. Yeah, right! I pointed out that 3 Mobile are are breaking the
law as it's breach of contract to take a customer's money without
providing the service paid for. I told them their license can be
revoked by the government. I told them I would post an online review
and suggest all the people who have had similar problems sign a
petition to give to the government. (The government's website has
a page where a petition can be started for people to sign). Why
should 3Mobile get away with breach of contract? Why should they
be allowed to advertise a service they cannot provide to try and
attract more unsuspecting customers to rip off? Some people say
we only give reviews for bad service, i.e. they must be ok some
of the time. Well I've been with them for 18 months. At best, the
service was mediocre. Very slow connection. Impossible to view UTube
video clips. Impossible to do much at all. Only reason I have a
mobile dongle is because I'm going overseas and cannot get stuck
with a contract for a non mobile service. But even for mobile broadband,
3 Mobile at best is not good and not what is advertised. Barely
useable. Plus it's a frequent occurrence for them to claim maintenance
work, when they cannot provide the service they charge for. So,
why not show our discontent by signing a government peition and
also by individually contact Watchdog, because if they get enough
complaints they check into things and hold these companies accountable.
Complaints can be sent online throught the BBC website. So as long
as a person can get online, it's simple and fast. So, come on guys,
let's revolt! Let's make 3 Mobile accountable.... Update: Having
had no internet access whatsoever for 24 hours, within 10 minutes
of my call ending, I had access! Still cut out frequently, but access
nonetheless. Coincidence?! I wonder.... The one star was forced
on me. They deserve minus one thousand stars!
Rating: 
Reviewed by Disgusted from UK on
26th Jul 2010
An ad I've just seen on Google from 3: 15GB Mobile Broadband from
£15 pm Enjoy landline speeds 24/7 at 3. What a crock of you know
what and talk about misleading, nevermind blatantly untrue. 3 cannot
be trusted and this is just further evidence of that. One star scores
are the most common and that tells the real story. I'm sure we would
all give nought as a score if we could.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Jay from UK on 26th
Jul 2010
It was good for the first month. Then the speed started to deteriorate.
Evenings are especially bad - to the point that you cannot actually
use it. Glad I'm on a rolling contract - just submitted cancellation
request. What is interesting though is that a number of friends
reported similar pattern - fine for the first few weeks, then sharp
decrease. Customer service, when they speak English, not of much
use. I'd say think twice before signing for long contract, better
test drive it for a few weeks first.
Rating: 
Reviewed by N. S. from UK on
26th Jul 2010
Signal keeps dropping completely over the past few days and this
happens every few minutes. The modem needs to be unplugged then
plugged back in. Just another in a very long line of hiccups and
problems with 3 - poor speeds, hanging connections, connection terminations,
poor latency and throttling, which is the deliberate slowing down
of connections during the busiest times. 3 are the only UK network
to throttle speeds. And then there's the dreaded customer services.
It's well documented online how bad they are. Arguably the worst
of any UK service provider. Roll on August 16th when I have my day
in court and fully expect my contract to be terminated. The only
way to ensure you won't suffer the worst service imaginable is to
choose any other network. I believe 3 will never get their act together.
In this day and age, companies are bending over backwards for customer
feedback so they can improve. Have you ever seen a questionnaire
from 3 on how they can improve? Me neither and if ever a company
needed a major overhaul and rapid reform, it's 3. Avoid!
Rating: 
Reviewed by Simon from UK on
25th Jul 2010
Good coverage in my area Good Support, and they called me back to
check ok. Speed varies between 1.5meg and 2.2meg. Only problem is
the 3 dongle model MF627. Crashed my PC many times. I advise you
all to get a Zoom 7.2 meg tri band dongle Network free, so can use
any SIM card. Works with XP to Windows 7 and never crashes computer,
also can be plugged into any usb port, without software install
again.
Rating: 
Reviewed by andy from UK on 23rd
Jul 2010
No-one mentioned that If I am on a contract with 3 I cant use wifi
or connect to the router at home. Therefore when I ran out of my
15 GB I had to pay at a arate of 10P a MB which is extortion. I
used £10 just browsing for a holiday for less than an hour. I refuse
to pay anymore and so it is going in the cupboard until my next
usage start. [Reply by Paul from UK on 29th Jul 2010: Andy - what
are you talking about? Of course you can. What device are you using?]
Rating: 
Reviewed by Lisa from UK on 22nd
Jul 2010
Have had a mobile dongle with 3G for 18 months. Supposedly in good
area for signals. At best, it's not good. For weeks now it cuts
out every 10-20 secs. Told it was maintenance work. Would be finished
Jul 22. It is now JUL 22 and as antipated it is as DIRE as ever.
I wasted several pounds speaking to useless people. All they do
is LIE. If you dont accept that YOU are to blame and its your computer,
you are told its maintenance work. Had just bought a new voucher
but was getting no service, so they gave me a "free" top up and
thought I should be grateful. If I paid £10 but have been unable
to use my connection, how is giving me that money back something
to be grateful for!!!! The reason these firms get away with it is
because there are NO good alternatives. I have checked them all.
It seems no mobile internet using a dongle has good reviews. I wish
I could give them the score they deserve - MINUS 1000. Instead I
am forced to rate them with 1 star, for what is ABYSMAL treatment.
When I tried to explain the problems the Indian lady at the joke
called customer service held the phone away and didnt listen. When
I finished I said "hello", and nothing! I therefore hung up, only
to be called back by this pathetic apology for a customer service
person asking why I ended the call. I said you held the phone away
and were not listening. She said oh I just wanted you to say what
you had to say. Yeah right. Insults on top of abysmal lack of service.
I would advise everyone to steer well clear of this apology for
a broadband provider. And shame on our government for not revoking
their license. Needless to say, I was cut off several times while
typing this.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Karen Taylor from uk on
21st Jul 2010
Bargain basement minus the bargain. Terrible and customer services
are a joke.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Kate from united kingdom
on 21st Jul 2010
After a very upsetting 28 minutes to cancel the rolling contract,
for a 3 dongle, which was used only for three weeks, i now have
a massive bill of 56.43. it requires a 30 day notice for cancellation,
a stupid 0843 to ring at 5p / minute. 19.99 to purchase the dongle
in June, 21.43 for the current month (no internet used) inc VAT
and admin charge, and 15.00 for the 30 day notice period!!!!! The
internet connection was very poor, maybe down to my area, no signal
one minute(crucial moments of course) & having to re-load page constantly.
I spent at least 5 minutes of this phonecall today, to cancel, crying
& trying to re-compose myself to answer his questions....this on
top of the stress of a house move has been totally unneccesary...my
advice "don't touch them with a barge pole" Oh and by the way, they
are giving my time to think about cancelling....so it is still not
cancelled even after this phonecall !!!!!
Rating: 
Reviewed by Neil from UK on 21st
Jul 2010
26 minutes to load a youtube video that lasts for 3 mins and 14
secs. This was at 10am on tuesday. That's been the norm for weeks
now. Pathetic. Can only agree with the majority of others. Three
are a disgrace!
Rating: 
Reviewed by Smith from Staffs, UK on
21st Jul 2010
Well, I checked my coverage, it says it works indoors and outdoors.
I don't count having my laptop and dongle halfway out the window
as the only way of getting signal 'indoors'.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Dan from UK on 20th
Jul 2010
First of all I have full 3g (HSDPA) signal in my area. Awful speeds,
I wonder why they bother call it broadband? It more like a dial
up connection in terms of speed. Even images take ages to load!
Speeds varies from 10-20kb/s and the ping is awful if anyone considering
playing online games with it.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Rachel from UK S/E on
20th Jul 2010
I've been with three nice nov now when my mum moved into rented
accomodation. Talk talk messed up moving the phoneline and were
were without net. I was seaching for jobs in essex so needed the
net urgently as I was due to move the end of the month. Don'tt get
me wrong it isn't like have normal BB but for a temporary fix it
does the trick. I now live in Essex and the sig isn't as good(I
used to get full all the time) part of this is to do with the laptop
(I take it to my mums and can sit in next to their pc - they get
full sig I get one bar less than them using the same stick) I don't
want to get a landline at the moment as i get loads of free mins
on my mobile. the pay monthly 30 day rolling £15 monthly for 5 gig
is spot on for me and my boyfriend. Looking at the map we shouldn't
get very good indoor signal but it really isn't too bad just depends
what room i'm in. Only downside is calls from 3 india trying to
sell me mobile phones!! you can get removed but you have to csll
and press option whatever to be removed but you can always give
a false no i guess. Just remeber you never get people writing about
this sort of thing to say well done - only to complain when it goes
wrong!!
Rating: 
Reviewed by Kirsty from Uk on
20th Jul 2010
I have been with 3 since november 09. Up until janurary 10, it was
great, no problems. I havent been able to use my internet for 6
months. 3 came up with the 1st excuse, its your pc, i told them
my pc is fine, its your signal. The 2nd excuse, its because theres
an upgrade in your area and wont get completed till 31st april.
May comes, still no signal. 3rd excuse this mass needs a new part,
i should get signal in a week. Week and a half comes and goes no
signal. Im tied into a 24 month contract, i got the laptop deal.
Because of this they refuse to let me out of the contract. Customer
services are awful, they just havent got a clue. Avoid 3 at all
costs. Im defo gonna take this higher! If i cud id give them -10
stars.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Simon from Derby uk on
18th Jul 2010
3 mobile broadband 15gb £15 per Month. Supposedly in a very good
connection area. Signal shows 3G always. Problems: Pages slow to
load. Can not view full screen videos (you tube) Signal keeps breaking,
have to reload pages often. Very poor customer service. The store
staff have got a 'so what' attitude.. they could not care less!
And they call centre is somewhere in Timbucktu where you cna not
understand them, and they can not understand you. Was ok for the
first week or so, now i have had it too long to return and i am
fixed to a painful 18 month contract... Will never use mobile broadband
again, not worth it! Simply pay the extra for landlines and be happy!
AVOID 3 AT ALL COSTS!
Rating: 
Reviewed by Alberto from Italy on
17th Jul 2010
The only thing I want to say is that never sign a contract with
3 !!!! No matter it is long term or even one month rolling contract.
I had a very very bad experience with 3 mobile broadband. I signed
a 3 mobile dongle with one month rolling contract. After 3 months,
I want to cancel it so I gave them a call. It took me almost one
hour to be able to convince them that I want to cancel it! And afterwards,
they still took money from my bank account for the next month! Are
they really too stupid to understand my require?
Rating: 
Reviewed by Laura from UK on
16th Jul 2010
I tried one of 3's new PAYG dongles. The service was okay for the
first 3 days, nothing special. Then it dropped like a stone, became
erratic, unstable and extremely slow. Having read reviews here and
elsewhere, I'm now convinced that 3 put me on a 'special' speed
for those 3 days so that I wouldn't be able to claim a refund if
I had bought in the shop. However, I bought it online and still
had sufficient time to claim a refund, which I did. After 3 days
the speeds were regularly throttled. This was picked up by NetMeter.
3 claimed the dongle was damaged and I wasn't entitled to a refund.
I knew it wasn't damaged in any way, it was just them trying it
on. I made it clear to 3 they would be hearing from Trading Standards
if I didn't receive a refund. Needless to say, that did the trick.
So Adam, in your review dated 3rd July. To be frank, you're spouting
rubbish. Maybe you should spend your time as a Three employee more
constructively - ie. doing your bit to see that customers aren't
misled, ripped off and treated with utter contempt - instead of
popping up on here and compiling fictional reviews blaming something
else to get your employers off the hook. It doesn't wash and never
will. I've since switched to Vodafone. No speed issues in 2 weeks,
no throttling, no terminations, no hanging, great customer and online
support. To put it simply, it runs rings round the pathetic service
from 3 in every way.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Rishenda Hirst from UK on
14th Jul 2010
I moved to the UK from Spain and had to wait for my landline to
be connected. I saw an ad for 3 broadband PAYG and it seemed a good
deal. I went to the 3 store and the sales person told me the pay
as you go was just like my PAYG mobile phone and to get the deal
I just needed to set up a Direct Debit and then after a month if
I no longer wanted to pay by this method to just cancel the direct
debit and then if I wished to use the dongle just top up as I did
with my mobile phone. After a month I had a landline and decided
to have broadband via this method. I did as the salesman told me
and cancelled the direct Debit and assumed that was it. since then
I have received bills month after month for a service i no longer
use nor want. i phoned and was told i must cancel the contract 30
days before and so was still being charged. i told the woman to
cancel the contract immediately and paid up to date, She assured
me it was cancelled and I would receive no more bills. I returned
from holiday last week and low and behold there was another bill
from 3. I have now telephoned 3 times to be told she did not pass
on the info to the correct dept. Everyone I speak to says they can
see I requested cancellation but will have to speak to their manager
and will call me back to tell me the contract is cancelled and I
do not owe any money but no one ever calls me back so i have to
phone once again and relay my story over and over again. This is
driving me mad!!!!! Can anyone help me PLEASE?????!!!! My phone
nad dongle worked really well so I have no issues with that just
the false promises.
Rating: 
Reviewed by D.F from UK on 13th
Jul 2010
I really cannot see why there are so many negative reviews here.
I have been in the past on PAYG with 3; And had NO problems with
them at all. (Light use away from home braodband). Speed was constant
and pretty fast. I have now moved over to a contract with them,
and again, NO problems what-so-ever. Have had NO problems with there
'customer services' also. Perhaps some of the moaners leaving Neg'
reviews are using them (3 dongle) as a main internet connection
?. Something i do not think they are ment to be. Anyway, to some
up; EXCELLENT ALL ROUND. A++++++++++
Rating: 
Reviewed by Lin from UK on 13th
Jul 2010
Bought a Huawei stick just over a year ago and have to say i had
no complaints with connection or speed UNTIL i bought a new laptop
with Windows 7......i tried all upgrades without success only to
finally be told that apparently the dongle i have isn't compatable
with Windows 7, and the only option is to buy another one. So i
asked .. are they saying everytime a new operating system is brought
out we have to upgrade the dongles ??? Surprisingly no-one could
reply to that !
Rating: 
Reviewed by Simon B. from Wolverhampton,
UK on 13th Jul 2010
On the whole I'm very happy with 3. I'm lucky enough to receive
very good download speeds (regularly exceeding 3.5 - 4 mb/s) which
seems to be quite high compared to some people. If it were not for
occasional problems with disconnections I would give them 5 stars.
Rating: 
Reviewed by claire from england on
12th Jul 2010
For 8 days my connection has cut out after 10 to 20 secs. Read reviews
below. My service is as diabolical as everyone else's. 5-10 kps
speeds at best WHEN it is working. Wanted to update people on just
how pathetic this compnay is. I phoned them last week and asked
for a refund, because I had just bought a top up voucher and they
did it begruddingly. But what help is a refund if you can't get
on the internet! So today, after reading lots of reviews, I phoned
them again. Long story short. The people in customer service actually
behaved nicely, after I explained that being without service for
more than two weeks was unacceptable and after I made it clear I
didnt believe any of their BS. I explained that if a company expected
to cut off service for 2 weeks, they should expect not to have many
customers waiting when service resumed, with the exception of those
on contracts who couldnt go anywhere. I tried to see if they could
indeed make an exception and make my service better, by telling
them I would have no choice other than to go to another supplier.
Bottom line is, they said nothing could be done. It is the decision
makers of this company that are the problem. They know the majority
are on contracts and they do as they please. They obviously don't
give a hoot about mobile users who are free to go elsewhere. I agree
we should all contact Watchdog and other consumer organisations
as this firm acts like they have a captive market and their thinking
is neanderthal, IMO. Again, would like to give zero stars and begrudge
being forced into giving one. They are way below zero in their service.
I would warn everyone to steer clear of them and heed the warnings
of other posters.
Rating: 
Reviewed by amy from england on
12th Jul 2010
I use a mobile dongle on a desktop pc. At best the service is slow
but steady. Recently had a week of being cut off every 20 seconds
24.7. Spoke to 3Mobile after 4 days of this. Informed it will continue
for at least 3 wks. It has cut me off non stop every 20 seconds
for a week now. When I asked for a refund was given a £10 top up.
BUT...what am I supposed to do during the 3 wks with virtually no
internet access. They clearly do not care about customers at all.
Rating: 
Reviewed by KB from UK Gillingham Dorset
on 11th Jul 2010
I am a mile from 3 mast and the coverage map suggests that the signal
should be good for outdoor use but I might struggle indoors. Happily
it seems to work fine indoors (ZTE MF122 Dongle). Curious thing
is the little indicator panel that pops up often says I have no
signal? However, when browsing, Ive never been cut off or had to
refresh a page. Even at its slowest a new page typically appears
in under 10 seconds (3 to 4 seconds being the norm - often faster).
I can only conclude (and concur with other reports) that the ZTE
Dongle is a good device.
Rating: 
Reviewed by a r from usa on 10th
Jul 2010
The mobile broadband is awful. I use i for my school and so many
assignments have been late because i cannot no connect to the inernet.
I have good service three to four bars So i do not know why it is
no good. i am very unhappy wih it and do not recommend it to anyone
it is a waste of $60 a month!
Rating: 
Reviewed by Nuflow from England on
9th Jul 2010
I have had 3 mobile broadband for approx 6 months now. I have spent
most of this time on the phone to their support dept as initially
service was good (although this was only a few weeks). Then reception
was poor (for no apparent reason) and if I had internet access it
was too slow to use ie 5 minutes to load a page. Eventually they
agreed to check the dongle, then the router. This has taken so long,
I have moved house - 6 weeks ago and informed them at the time.
I have been chasing my repaired/replacement router to now be told
by 3 that they have sent the replacement router to my old address
as the initial problem was recorded at this address, even though
I informed they I'd moved and also put a letter in with the router
I returned!!
Rating: 
Reviewed by Dom from UK on 9th
Jul 2010
I bought a 3 dongle because I spend a lot of time in Ireland and
was able to use my allowance in either UK or RoI. The stick itself
(HUAWEI) was terrible, I never managed to get a consistent signal,
so when my contract was due up, I rang to cancel. The cancellation
department offered me a rate reduction and a free ZTE stick, which
they promised was much better. This was true, the new stick was
far better, but then 2 weeks after the start of the new contract,
they informed me that rather than being able to use my allowance
in either country, I would be charged £1.25/MB in RoI. When I rang
to query this, I was told that I couldn't cancel the contract as
I had signed up for 24 months - even though they had changed the
terms and conditions. I am now stuck with a stick which is beyond
useless.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Adam from Uk on 3rd
Jul 2010
For many people who say they always get no service...its not actually
the faulf of the network, its the dongle its self, i had the standard
dongle from 3 and i too always seemed to get no service, it was
rare that i could infact get on the net at all..i have just bought
the new ZTE dongle from the 3 store and it works fine..im using
it as i write this. i currently have full signal and the speeds
are good..my advice is take your HUAWEI modem and throw it in the
bin and get the new ZTE. it worked for me, maybe it will for you
too!
Rating: 
Reviewed by Rochelle from London on
4th Jul 2010
I havent been able to connect for months. Have spent hours on the
phone to the 'technical team' to resolve the matter but customer
service very poor. I have no choice but to complete the 24 month
contract. I cant wait to say a lovely GOODBYE! I Wouldn't take a
contract from them if it were free!!
Rating: 
Reviewed by Parker from England on
1st Jul 2010
My girlfriend has 3 Mobile broadband, she's paying £15 per month
for 15GB, and it has to be the worst thing going! I installed the
software onto my laptop (as this wouldn't work with my girlfriends
Windows XP sp1), which took around 10 - 15 minutes. the dongle takes
forever to find a signal and when it does, it still takes ages to
load a simple web page, like the Google home page (and that's with
an excellent signal). I would steer well clear of this network if
you value your sanity and your hair. Unless you'd prefer to be bald!
Rating: 
Reviewed by John from UK on 30th
Jun 2010
Ten reasons why you should avoid 3: 1) Terrible speeds for many
customers. The saying goes you get what you pay for. Not quite true
with 3. The cheapest, but speeds are abysmal for many customers.
It's been this way for over 2 years now and this is reflected in
other reviews going back that far. Vodafone will build another mast
if there is a speed issue in a particular area. 3 will probably
lie and deny there's a problem. Speaking to 3 about speed is like
running into a brick wall. 2) Customer Services are awful. Unsupportive,
difficult to deal with and misleading. The latter refers to an inherent
problem at 3 when it comes to admitting there is a problem or accepting
responsibility for it. 3) Overseas Customer Services. Customer Services
are based in India. 3 are the only mobile broadband network not
to have a UK call centre. 4) Credited calls. It's common practice
within the service industry to have a provision to credit customers
who have to make a call for a problem that is not their fault. All
of the other networks will credit the cost of a call in this instance.
All except 3. And they have no plans to introduce this - I asked
and that's what they told me. 5) No website support or notification
of problems or upgrades. You're going to have to speak to customer
services and that's not a good thing. Vodafone have a support forum.
Keep dreaming if you want that from 3. 6) Awards. The major networks
- 02, Orange and Vodafone have all been recognised in at least one
form or another as providers of a quality service and all have received
awards. 3 have never received an award. You'd know if they had as
it would be plastered all over the website and advertisements. 3
love promoting themselves, despite being awful and being recognised
as awful by so many of their customers. Irony is rife at 3. 7) A
quick look at various sites like this will soon provide evidence
that 3 are the poorest rated mobile broadband provider in the UK,
as voted by customers. 8) Again, looking at various sites it's clear
that the most critical reviews, in both tone and the sheer numbers,
is 3. By some margin. 9) 3 are not a major network. They haven't
been around as long as the major networks and do not have the attitude
towards customers that the major networks have. If providers were
football clubs, the major networks would be Premier League clubs
and 3 would be a Sunday pub team. 10) Price. 3 are the cheapest
and this is the root of the problem. The attractiveness of being
the cheapest is crippling a network that cannot cope and a company
who clearly don't care. If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys, so
the saying goes. Comparing 3 to monkeys is unfair on monkeys. As
with all reviews, this is an opinion. However, all of the points
here have been made many many times before in customer reviews.
If you don't believe, take a look for yourself :) Hundreds of dissatisfied
customers can't all be wrong. Do the sensible thing and give this
awful company an extremely wide berth.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Julie from UK on
30th Jun 2010
I have the top package (cant even remember, or be bothered to).
I am on my fourth dongle and second SIM for this broadband. Like
the other, the speed varies erraticaly and the connection drops
circa 20-30 times a day. I work from home, so am experiencing it
all day. Customer services are useless. Every time it fails they
do the same thing. Once the guy made me do all sorts of things to
my PC, which now blue screens on boot up, and prompts to ask me
if if I want to use XP OS ??!! WTF?? After all the changes, he just
said "I'll send you a new dongle" and basically hung up - leaving
me and my PC screwed. Avoid - at all costs. Shocking.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Will from UK on 29th
Jun 2010
I was talked into this 15GB deal for £15 by a salesperson and singed
a 2 year contract. I must say this has come to be the biggest mistake
ever. After not even a month of use I realised my account balance
is £90, already gone over the 15 GB limed. The salesperson convinced
me it’s currently the best deal available, that turns out
not to be true. The broadband speed is pathetic and not at all what
is advertised. There customer service in India will take years off
your life. They really should change their name to 3 rip-offs. My
advices do not ever get involve with this company or even think
of getting the 15GB deal. If you already in a contract and want
to get out stop your debit order and take them to court!
Rating: 
Reviewed by jay from ireland on
29th Jun 2010
i must say 3 are the cheapest service in ireland at the moment 20GB
for 35euro a month on 3pay.other networks vodafone o2 meteor have
5GB for 20-25 euro complete rip off.altough o2s network is the fastest
4.50mb/s most the time its 5GB usage is useless..vodafone must be
the worst ive ever used and will never go near their network yet
again no more than 0.60mb/s on their 3G network even at 4am in the
morning!!and the mad thing is vf use the exact same mast as 3 where
i live and the signal is dire from them while with 3 i get 5/5bars
in my house speeds always 1mb/s + in lots of locations 3 seem to
be the fastest..i live in a small town of 6,000 people whoever has
broadand has DSL..to all the neagtive comments mobile broadband
is only intended to be used if you are really stuck for internet
access not to replace DSL it is not broadband its a mobile network
and the upto 7.2mbps speed is shared around the whole area so the
more people using their 3 dongles in the same location as you the
slower it will get the 7.2mbps is a lie no-one will ever achieve
that only if you are the only person on the mast and if your standing
right next to it the further you get away from it the slower..over
all in my exact location and the cell tower i use it performs great
really happy with 3
Rating: 
Reviewed by Robbie from UK on
28th Jun 2010
I keep reading how bad this is at peak times. It's true it is bad.
Really bad and not just at peak times. Pages take an age to load
and connections stop or cut out at all different times. I was browsing
in the early hours of this morning at around 2am and had to wait
ages for pages to load and kept getting errors as firefox timed
out. And customer services are a joke and a waste of time. You won't
find any of this in the fancy literature but it's obvious from all
the bad reviews that 3 are useless. Avoid this company like the
plague.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Paul from UK on 27th
Jun 2010
They cut my connection off saying I had no allowance left and needed
to top up. I had just bought a 40 pound top up to watch the england
game that had 3 GIGS in it! When I phoned them they said the servers
for sorting out your allowances are down for up to 2 hours wonder
if anyone else had this? I had only used 200MB and my allowance
was still showing on site. SUSPICIOUS TO SAY THE LEAST
Rating: 
Reviewed by A from england on
27th Jun 2010
Absolute piece of junk. It almost never works and when it does it
is for no obvious reason at all. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling
god knows how many times, I use it in the same place in my house
where I have had fastest connection speed when it does work (so
it can't be that there's 'no service' as it constantly says). I've
tried unplugging it, changing the settings, restarting, I've trawled
tons of sites looking for solutions and all I find are hundreds
of similarly frustrated and ripped-off customers. 3 are an absolute
waste of time. You may be thinking of using them because they are
cheap, but ask yourself WHY they are cheap? because they're selling
a service that does not work. if you cannot connect, you cannot
use your data allowance and you are costing 3 nothing at all.
Rating: 
Reviewed by searth from united kingdom
on 25th Jun 2010
well i'm "between" houses at the moment, my current house has no
phoneline or internet connectability so i am forced to use internet
broadband, we had heard 3 is the best and after looking around we
noticed 3 is the cheapest, however i'm currently using my internet
to play online games (world of warcraft) for a few months the only
problem i've had is some frequent disconnecting, but recetly i've
been suffering latancy of up to 28k ms.. that's rediculous.. is
there a reason why my internet is now lagging heavily?
Rating: 
Reviewed by Winston from UK on
25th Jun 2010
Pay As You Go for mobile dongle should really mean pay as you go
as in mobile phone. Would anyone be happy if a £15 top up for mobile
phone in PAYG lasts only for one month and one has to top up again
to make a few calls in the next 30 days ? I will not get a mobile
broadband dongle as long as this rip off tariff is being miss-sold,
as I am already on cable broadband although I could do with a mobile
dongle for occasional use when out of my house.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Wes from UK on 25th
Jun 2010
Very good. I consistantly see speeds of 2.5Mbps (download) and between
300Kbps-1Mbps upload. I live about a kilometer from the three basestation
in a town of about 10,000.
Rating: 
Reviewed by bridget from uk on
22nd Jun 2010
well where do i start i got my mobile with 3 in june 2009 along
with my mobile broadband...since then ive had to have my phone fixed
3 times and then i refused and after many calls and conversations
(me being rather angry at times as they areall completly thick and
have no idea wats goin on) then convinced them to replace my phone...im
constantly having problems with my broadband too and finally got
them to replace it last month and they sent the new one to the wrong
address...luckily i was able to retrieve it...when i rang up to
complain at one point the next day coincidently my phone and broad
band was not working at all which resulted in me phoning again to
get it fixed which took a whole week!!! again my broadband is playing
up but i have no energy to call them up any more but when i do like
always i will be asking for compensation which i always get so i
do recommed others make sure they are reimbursed for their inconveniences..def
would NOT reccommend to any one this company are a rip off!!!!!!
Rating: 
Reviewed by Andy P from Norwich UK on
21st Jun 2010
Pathetic.
Rating: 
Reviewed by sam from Hong kong on
21st Jun 2010
I also have 24 months of contract with 3g. It was said that it connects
form 2 mb to 7 mb but it even dosen't reach a speed of 200 kb, what
a net work.Never buy any thing form this network.I hate 3g .What
can I do guys?My rating for this network is 000000000.
Rating: 
Reviewed by David Hipkiss from UK on
21st Jun 2010
Absolutely rubbish speeds - up to 7Mbps (what a joke!) - test your
own speeds using 3 recommended site: speedtest.bbmax.co.uk
Rating: 
Reviewed by Lisa R from UK on
17th Jun 2010
Same as Pete a few reviews down. It seems like every day at around
4pm 3 deliberately slow the speed right down and then it picks up
after midnight. It's the same story with the signal strength. It
increases during this time. Seems like the better the strength the
worse the speed. Sounds a bit fishy if you ask me. And it isn't
very good the rest of the time either. I gave up on customer services
a long time ago and I notice they still haven't improved. I know
from previous experience that a call can get you a better speed
for anything between a few hours and a few days, but I really can't
bring myself to have to speak to them again. They drive me up the
wall. Very difficult to deal with. I have just downloaded a pdf
file that I wanted to read. The size of the file is 2.3 megabytes
and it took over 4 minutes to download. A few times it just stopped.
It has been really bad since before xmas last year and it wasn't
great then. I am 19 months into a 24 month contract and the highest
speed I have ever seen was last xmas day afternoon when I got 250
kilobytes a second. Three are screwing us and it's a disgrace. So
is the fact that the regulator doesn't act. There is no way on this
earth I am ever going to touch them again. This can't be allowed
to continue. It's getting worse and worse with time.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Jizer from England on
16th Jun 2010
Well, here I am again! My 3 Mobile connection went off-line completely
last Friday, 11th June 2010. The day after I had a forty minute(!)
conversation with a 3 rep in India - lovely girl, but clueless -
who had me doing all sorts of things, e.g., uninstalling and reinstalling
the software and plugging the USB modem into different ports and
different computers etc., all without result. I told her it wasn't
my computer system or the modem itself but something to do with
the 3 network. This morning, Wednesday, 16th June 2010, my 3 connection
suddenly mysteriously restored itself and has been working ever
since - although I had no internet access via 3 for FIVE DAYS! -
without a "heads up" or warning of potential disruption. I call
this shockingly poor service! I've now ordered a Vodofone "Top up
and go" modem from Maplins for £24.99 with 3GB of data included.
I've had it with 3 which surely must be one of the worst telecommunications
companies in the country. Don't give 3 your business.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Slip Digby from UK on
14th Jun 2010
Made the mistake of not checking out reviews before signing up with
3. Live in Manchester but get terrible signal strength - which is
prone to disconnecting on a regular basis. Certainly won't be renewing
with the contract runs out. Customer services are also pretty useless.
Rating: 
Reviewed by John from uk on 13th
Jun 2010
The more time that goes by since 3 did their upgrade, the slower
and more unreliable it gets. The reviews praising 3 look very suspect
to me. Most reviewers seem to share the same poor experiences that
I do. What is it with these people? Why are they so bad?
Rating: 
Reviewed by Pete from UK on 13th
Jun 2010
I haven't seen a speed that exceeds dial-up for weeks. But this
is an honest review from someone who doesn't work for Three. The
last speed I saw was around 5 - 12 KB per second. This is very slow
and simply not good enough. It's also worth pointing out that my
signal strength was the full five bars. This is a classic sign that
Three are manipulating connections because they can't cope and can't
improve. Terrible company, terrible service. Do not touch with a
barge pole.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Marc from uk on 12th
Jun 2010
i ordered a mobile dongle from 3 without looking at the reviews
first. i started getting worried about what i saw bad connection
slow internet speeds. When my dongle arrived i tested it because
i was going to send it straight back. i'm so glad i didn't it is
amazing faster then my home broadband so have cancelled that. i
play alot of world of warcraft and it streams that no problem even
when there is 40 players in a raid. all i can say to people thinking
of joining 3 go ahead because the upgrade they have done is amazing
and the deal i have is 15gb 15 month very good deal. keep it up
3!!!!!!!!
Rating: 
Reviewed by Sunjay from UK on
11th Jun 2010
I am very suprise with some of the 3 network issues. I just done
a mobile broadband speed best on my mobile phone with a speedtest
app and the average download speed is about is between 2 to 3 mbps.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Stephen from Northern Ireland
on 9th Jun 2010
Signed up for 3 Mobile Broadband in Jan 2010 cos I was told by various
sources that they had the best network in the UK. The UK maybe,
Northern Ireland no way!! I live on the east coast and as yet I
am still to receive a signal. I can only use it in some of the larger
towns and cities and they are few and far between. So far the only
benefit this has been to me is the free netbook which I use on my
home wireless broadband. I had originally intended to do away with
the home broadband in favour of mobile but it looks like I'm going
to have to stick with it for the duration until the network providers
decide that Northern Ireland IS a developed country and provide
the appropriate services.
Rating: 
Reviewed by John from Ireland on
9th Jun 2010
I'm using 3 mobile broadband here in Ireland and I'm in total agreement
with all of these reviews from the UK customers. Its the most appalling
excuse for broadband ever. I literally cannot use it for more than
2 minutes without itself disconnecting and reconnecting (sometimes
it won't even do this). Stay well clear of this patethic excuse
of a product. 3 have obviously hired a load of schoolboys to maintain
their network and it certainly shows.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Orange from UK on
6th Jun 2010
Really pleased with the mobile bb. I use the dongle in conjunction
with a Huawei D100 Wi-Fi router to ensure I have the best signal
possible (this is upstairs above the clutter (houses)) and then
use the D100 to distribute it around my home using Wi-Fi. Unless
you live next to a UMTS site, I think this is the best way to ensure
you get the most out of the kit. Download speeds around 1-1.5M.
Rating: 
Reviewed by David K from UK on
3rd Jun 2010
As a '3' mobile customer, I was offered a dongle with 1gb of monthly
usage for only £5 per month. I thought "OK, even if it is terrible,
it's only £90 to find it out". Well, I don't find it to be terrible
at all. Without a modem in my house, this was the cheapest option
available to me. I have always achieved a HSDPA connection, I've
never lost a connection, and broadbandspeedchecker says I'm getting
2420kbps pretty much every day I check. (That's a fine speed for
a Cumbrian...). I've had the odd look on youtube (just to test -
I don't want to exceed 1gb so don't make a habit of it), and every
time I've clicked on a video it has buffered twice as fast as 'real
time'. I'm honestly very satisfied with 3 mobile broadband. I only
use the internet for news, betting, emailing and looking the odd
thing up on wikipedia, and it suits my needs perfectly. I do have
join the posters below though on the customer service front. "3"
don't want you to speak until your spoken to. Diabolical at times
trying to get a problem solved.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Paul Tait from UK on
3rd Jun 2010
Apparently 3 have completed the upgrade for my area. During the
upgrade which took weeks despite 3 continually quoting 2 days, there
was no high speed signal just a 3g signal with a constant speed
around 40 kb per second. Not very good at all. It wasn't great before
the upgrade either but better than it is now. Since the upgrade
the high speed signal has returned and speed is always lower than
that when I am online. Normally around 10 kb per second. This is
incredibly slow and means that pages of just text take ages to load.
If you want to see pictures, you're in for a long wait. Forget video.
It's typical of 3 to go backwards. When I called they told me it
must be my computer or where I live or the weather. It isn't my
computer, it isn't where I live and it isn't the weather. It's YOU
and your inability to provide a decent service. Stop lying and stop
misleading people. I noticed your latest ad promoting yourselves
in the form of a movie poster. I saw how you gave yourself 10 out
of 10, but didn't name who had awarded you that score. How ironic
that you give yourselves a score of 10/10 while most of your customers
are giving you the lowest possible score and ripping you to pieces
in customer reviews. Mobile broadband is far from the finished article
and for it to work successfully, it needs a strong, resourceful,
competent and customer-focused network to provide it. 3 are about
as opposite to that as it's possible to be. The policy of cheap
pricing (irresponsibly in my opinion) is backfiring big time. First
of all you embarked on a huge (and expensive) advertising campaign
to get noticed. All along you have been the cheapest to secure a
large market share. And now - now we have a network that cannot
cope with demand, is not customer focused, cannot deliver permanent
connections that don't hang, cannot deliver anything like the speeds
they advertise and is the poorest performing network according to
online customer review sites. In one of the more dubious-looking
5 star reviews, it was claimed that 3 are 100 times better than
Orange or Vodafone. Surely that's impossible? Being equally as bad
would be some feat, nevermind any worse. I'll finish with a quote
from a more realistic review - Avoid Hutchison Telecom at all costs.
Rating: 
Reviewed by David Hipkiss from UK on
3rd Jun 2010
125kbps average download speed - I bet they are not advertising
this speed! When I complain, just like one of the earlier reviewers,
my speed increases (2000kbps) for a day or 2 and then returns to
125kbps - they must be able to "program" speed improvements, but
they have a limited timescale - just like the traveller who does
a good job on a new drive-way, only for it to deteriorate in no
time at all! Virgin Media fix line broadband for me in the future.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Chelsea from UK on
2nd Jun 2010
I need some advice. 3 mobile!!!!!! RUBBISH!!!! Problem after problem
with everything! 1. So far they have cost me £150 in bank charges
after taking money out of my account on the wrong dates, even after
phone calls of rectifying. Also double the amount been taken in
1 month and reversing money on my account on 4 occasions!! 2. NO
coverage!!! The only advice I was given from a customer service
rep was to pay more money get better gadgets!!! I was sold the best
I expect the best!! 3. Laptop not fit for purpose ... No longer
any sound .. so slow ... Again I was offered a better deal but to
shell out more money!!! 4. 2 complaint letters that have been ignored.
Each have been between the 10 working day response they say they
will reply!!! STILL NOTHING I am at the end of my tether and do
not know what steps to take next. Can anyone help me please. I don't
want to just cancel before I get the money they owe me and been
left with a pile of debt for cancelling my contract. Any help would
be totally appreciated. Thanks
Rating: 
Reviewed by Graham Milner from Sussex
UK on 1st Jun 2010
Apalling connection speed. Always lose signal strength when completing
something important. I never have more than 2 bars signal. Bitterly
regret signing up. Will never ever use 3 again. Useless Bangladesh
/ India call centre.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Mr M. from England on
1st Jun 2010
EXTREMELY slow, Poor value, Poor customer service - Avoid Hutchison
Telecom at all costs.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Daryll from UK on
1st Jun 2010
PEOPLE you have to read this, i have been having problems for two
months now, the s-l-o-w-e-s-t service, always disconnecting, i must
have called customer service at least 20-30 times during this time,
yesterday i called and completely fed them some rubbish about meeting
some chap who lives in the same street and who has perfect connection
etc and that i wasn't happy and wanted the same.. it was a complete
lie! but get this.. WITHIN minutes my connection was back up and
running again. i really think 3 can control peoples speeds!!! it
cannot be a coincidence, surely??
Rating: 
Reviewed by Jizer from UK on
31st May 2010
I live in Falmouth, Cornwall and have used 3 Mobile for about two
years. Hereabouts it seemed adequate until about six weeks ago when
I started to get very slow broadband speeds (never was fast) and
disconnections irrespective of the time of day. The modem also reports
that it is connected to the internet when it isn't, or, at least,
when it fails to allow any transfer of data across the web from
me or to me. Ver, very, very annoying. From adequate 3 Mobile has
become very poor! The only thing I can say about it is that it is
cheap (but not cheerful).
Rating: 
Reviewed by Charlotte Moorhouse from
uk on 28th May 2010
I got a 3 dongle contract and it has worked since i got it but when
i got in contact with them they said they would send me the address
by e-mail so i could send it back but as i couldn't get on the internet
they said there was no other way to do it by the time i got through
to them it was gone the 14 day period now they are trying to chage
me £290 to cancel my contract which i think is outstanding as it
was there fault.I can-not believe the customer service is so unhelpful
and some of the people i try to speak to is difficult as they are
in a different country than the uk.
Rating: 
Reviewed by P. George Stewart from UK
on 27th May 2010
I'm another chump who bought a 3 PAYG dongle. It's fully as bad
as these reviews are saying - really, really, unbelievably, appallingly
awful. The price is decent, sure, and the tech is decent - at around
3 am it's pretty fast. The interface and the website stuff is decent
too. But the service? At the times you need it most (e.g. when you
get home from work and want to use the internet) it just crawls.
Basically you can forget about any streaming stuff like BBC or YouTube.
Don't go anywhere near this dreadful so-called "broadband" service.
Seriously, if you could give it negative stars I would give it -3.
Grrrrr.
Rating: 
Reviewed by philip from UK on
27th May 2010
I'm in Uk for 2 months on business and needed broadband for travelling.
I spent £40 on a 3 month dongle and it is near useless. it disconnects
more than it connects and takes about 20 30 mins to connect each
time. It will probably disconnect by the time I write this note
completely useless :-(
Rating: 
Reviewed by Doug Oxley from UK on
27th May 2010
I am on a paygo and find it totally pathetic however the few days
before the next 30 day payment is to be made the speed picks up
and you get HSPDA connection then after paying for another month
max 24 hours later its useless again until you get near to your
next payment date then it starts to work well again this must surely
be deliberate. Other times when I have been out of the country for
1 or 2 weeks not using that months subscription when I log into
IE it always takes me to 3 website saying I have no allowance, left
when checking my data allowance it shows the allowance I had the
last time I used 3, and cant connect to anything unless I top up
again. This is a ripoff.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Kim from UK on 26th
May 2010
Ok, the wording of this review will be a bit more measured than
some of the more strident comments here - but the bottom line is
about the same. I'm an existing Vodafone mobile broadband customer
with just over two months to go before the expiry of the two-year
minimum contract period. Six days ago - with eyes wide open as regards
all the adverse reviews about 3 Mobile - I ordered a dongle from
3 Mobile, again on a two-year contract, at the current offer price
of £15 per month for 15GB a month. I have been testing it today
and the two previous days. As far as I can figure from www.sitefinder.ofcom.org.uk,
my nearest Vodafone and 3 masts are within 100 yards or so of each
other (you know how the darned things often tend to cluster together
where there's a convenient location), and the straight-line distance
from my house is a bit over half a mile. I believe that both basestations
are 3.6 Megabit speed (or is it 3.2, not sure). The maximum download
speed I would expect is around 2.8 Mbps. The main point of my review
is that I've been able to carry out direct, side-by-side comparisons
of 3 and Vodafone, and the result for me was that Vodafone won.
Performance was monitored and measured using the real-time graph
and Rates Recorder features of Hootech's NetMeter product (highly
recommended, by the way). During yesterday afternoon, Vodafone chugged
along at speeds seldom dropping below 1Mbps and often going above
2Mps whereas 3 spent most of its time at around the 500Kbps mark,
with occasional forays up to and above 1 Mbps. The most conspicuous
feature of 3's behaviour (with NetMeter's graph and recorded rates
data, it stuck out like a sore thumb) was that, at a few seconds
after 6 p.m., the real-time rate for some downloads I was running
dropped like a stone from around 500 Kbps to 32Kbps, and stayed
down there until I gave up several minutes later. As midnight approached,
I tried these downloads again, and again saw 32 Kbps, but curiously,
a few seconds after midnight the rate went back up to what it had
been before 6 p.m. Is this evidence of traffic shaping, I wonder,
with throttled downloads between 6 p.m. and midnight? Interestingly,
ordinary browsing didn't seem to be affected, but as soon as I stopped
browsing and let the downloads run, the rate settled back into the
32K speed range. In nearly two years with Vodafone, I've never seen
anything like that before. To give a little credit where it's due,
I did see one period of several minutes with sustained download
speeds of around 2.5Mbps - but that was at 3 a.m. this morning.
Go figure. Also to 3's credit, I note that their online records
of usage seem to upate in near real-time, or at least the usage
during any one connection session seems to be recognised as soon
as the session is terminated. This is in sharp contrast to Vodafone's
rather clunky usage tracking mechanism. I am aware that 3 may have
7.2Mbps coverage in my locality within the next month or so whereas
Vodafone don't have any such plans for here any time soon, but notwithstanding
that, I feel more comfortable staying with what I know. Therefore
I've cancelled the contract with 3 today (still well within the
cooling-off period), and have negotiated a contract extension with
Vodafone at a discount of better than 40% on the price for the original
two-year term.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Andy Todd from UK on
26th May 2010
How the heck do they get away with being so bad? Terrible service,
awful speeds, stress-inducing customer services, no website support
that is of any use, no callbacks or email replies. You can't even
top up with a voucher without waiting ages for it to register or
make the dreaded call to customer services in the hope that this
time you might get the truth or some useful assistance. Spending
20 minutes going round the houses only to be told that they don't
do top ups over the phone is not useful or helpful. I have never
written a review before, but I felt I had to say something. At first,
I was quite surprised by the number of bad reviews, but then I realised
that I shouldn't be surprised at all. And it't the same story on
other sites too. 3 are terrible and the reviews reinforce that point.
I can check my emails and search basic things much quicker with
my phone which is on Orange than I can with this so-called mobile
broadband from 3. I'm sick of them and will never have anything
to do with them again. But I want more than that. I want them gone
forever from the mobile communications market. They are an insult
to customers and shouldn't be permitted to hold a licence. This
is a developed nation, apparently, and it's the 21st century. So
why are we having to put up with a neanderthal company and their
caveman attitude to customers? If you take all the poor reviews
and take away the one star awarded as there is no option for zero,
then the average score would be below one and would either read
as nothing or be rounded up to just one star. That says it all really.
Awful!
Rating: 
Reviewed by Pete from uk on 26th
May 2010
181 reconnections... in one hour :( I was so fed up of the "ding"
sound that I turned down the speakers :( What a piece of junk. I
threw it at the wall and whacked it over the desk then I chucked
the bits of modem away out of frustration! Utter waste of money.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Stuart from UK on
25th May 2010
Dave is correct, they wouldn't have a leg to stand on in court.But
better still would be if all dissatisfied customers wrote to BBC
Watchdog.If enough people write to them, they'll do a piece on 3
and how awful they are. And with some luck, they will highlight
how the so-called regulator, OFCOM, lets them get away with it.
I wouldn't be surprised at all if 3 are messing around with connections.
Last night, my speed never increased above 15kps at various times
between 6.30pm and 1am. This is not acceptable and why I will go
to court if necessary. For those not familiar with speeds - a download
at running at 15kps equates to a speed that is just over a quarter
of the old dial-up speed. This is slow in anyones's book. Except
3 of course. Speed at 9am was around 5-10 kps. 5kps represents 1/10
of dial-up speed or 1/1440 of the advertised speed for my area (7.2
mps) In percentage terms this is 0.069 percent. That's not even
0.1 percent. Scandalous!
Rating: 
Reviewed by Margriet from UK on
24th May 2010
I have had three for 1,5 year now and it always worked fine untilI
signed up for a new contract (15 Gb). At first, excellent..then
since about 2 weeks I have either no connection, a very slow one,
or automatic disconnection. I am working at home and fully depending
on the three internet connection at and am absolutely frustrated
to tears. I haven't been able to work and have been on the phone
with the helpdesk for HOURS. No explanation, nothing is done, and
all they say is that I should register download and upload speeds
for them, which is mostly not possible because of the bad connection.
DO NOT get involved!! Can we not together start a law case against
this company? This is nothing but SWINDLE.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Shaun from UK on
24th May 2010
What can I say...its been quite rubbish more or less the whole time
i've had it Always slow speeds being the problem. Rang/emailed lots
and to be fair they've always got back in touch but without being
funny i'd much prefer a UK based call centre. Seen some AD on telly
recently saying about some 3 Accelerator thing they are now using,
I hope it does the trick as i'm on the verge of pulling out of my
contract and trying a different one.
Rating: 
Reviewed by dave from therave on
23rd May 2010
All you people stuck in contracts need to realise that 3 are breaking
the contract by not providing anything near the service your paying
them for. You can at least get it free until it's fixed or even
cancelled. Get on the phone and stop being shafted! Explain your
persistent problem with the service they are providing you with.
Tell them about other times you've had to ring them up. Give them
reasonable chance to fix it if it isn't fixed ring back up and tell
them all this again and that you have given them ample opportunity
to provide you with the service your paying for, they arn't doing
this so the contract is invalid and you would like to cease doing
business with them. Keep a log of your problems and any correspondance
with them to prove you gave them chance, they wouldn't have a leg
to stand on in court.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Nick from UK on 23rd
May 2010
The trouble with 3 mobile broadband is that its not consistent.
There are periods when I've had advertised speeds, but then you
get days when the speed drops to well below dialup speed. They seem
to emphasise that the speed you get depends on the signal, but that
cannot be the case. It must be that their network is way over subscribed
and I suspect they can adjust peoples access speed, so new users
probably get a better speed initially.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Peter from UK on
23rd May 2010
I have a macbook pro running snow leopard, I have the latest pay
and go dongle and it works very well, I live in the South west of
England and I have had a better connection with three than what
I had with Vodafone. I did find I had to make sure I deleted the
Vodafone software and go into the network settings and remove all
the Vodafone related connections before the three dongle worked
properly.
Rating: 
Reviewed by oddy from england on
22nd May 2010
tryed this on my tmobile modem and it worked, what a star
Rating: 
Reviewed by Keith from UK on
19th May 2010
I have found 3 mobile broadband to offer a terrible service. It
simply won't stay connected to the network for more than a minute
or two at a time. 3 keep saying that there is a problem with the
network and that they will have fixed it within 2 weeks but every
two weeks i get another phone call saying that it is not fixed and
will be done in the next to weeks. The only positive is that they
are not charging me for the service that they are unable to offer.
Their customer service people are a joke and have no idea what is
happening and the network is a waste of time.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Neil from Scotland on
19th May 2010
Always get a signal and mostly a good one too. The only problem
i had with 3 is when I startded my contract they put me on the wrong
price plan. The higher one and trying to sort it out with customer
service was impossible. It was their fault but I was going round
in circles with people giving me phone numbers that would put me
back throught to them and they didn't know why. Basicly the product
is good but if you have problems you may have a hard time resolving
them. Was going to give it 4 stars but changed it to 3 when remebering
the trouble i had at the start. Which nearly two years later i'm
still on the wrong price plan. In fact it's down to 2.
Rating: 
Reviewed by David from South Wales on
18th May 2010
When I first took out a 24 month contract in the summer of 2009,
I could not have asked for anything better than the service 3 provided.
Come the Winter though and the servce had degraded faster than Jensen
Button on the home straight at Silverstone. Multiple calls to India
resulted in being told that there was an upgrade going on on one
of the cells and everyone in the area had to use a more distant
cell so connections could be expected to degrade. Well, I thought
I would give them the benefit of the doubt so I decided to be patient.
It is now Summer 2010 and wow, the ability to connect to 3 is even
worse. Glorious sunshine, blue skys and a lousy broadband connection
which gives me at least two minutes of surfing fun before the dreaded
"No Service". It really is pathetic. Please somebody at 3, please
please sort it out for the love of sanity.
Rating: 
Reviewed by cathy from n.ireland on
18th May 2010
i tried to download a movie last night and 3 mobile charged me 15
pounds usage. How can this be possible
Rating: 
Reviewed by sam from UK on 16th
May 2010
3 mobile broadband has been nothing but trouble right from the start!
I would advice everyone AGAINST it because you'll just be wasting
your money and you'll be getting yourself into alot of hassle I
can't even get internet connection longer than 5 minutes these days
and then it comes up with all sorts of error messages I got a replacement
dongle but still having same trouble their support team isn't much
help either DON'T EVER GET 3 BROADBAND!
Rating: 
Reviewed by Kate from UK on 16th
May 2010
Be very wary of the positive reviews for 3. The reality for most
customers is diabolical speeds, hanging connections and many times
where a connection isn't possible at all. The reality for all customers
is terrible customer services based overseas (the only UK network
to do this), no website support, no apologies or notification of
upgrades. Nothing that aids the customer. Here's a prediction for
you all: Three's reputation worsens. Vodafone sniff around considering
a takeover. Vodafone eventually do take over Three. Service quality
increases and so does cost. If you're considering Three mobile broadband,
be very sure it works well in your area - in other words, you're
in an area with few other users and a good signal. Unlikely... If
you aren't... then avoid!
Rating: 
Reviewed by Shubham from Bakshi on
13th May 2010
It is the worst network in UK. I am in London and I am getting extremely
bad signal the download speed goes as low as 5kB/s. When I called
the customer service they said they could not find the problem and
could do nothing!!I would be lucky if I post this message whithout
having to reconnect again!!!
Rating: 
Reviewed by Katerina from UK on
11th May 2010
Hi, first sorry for my English, it is not my first language. I was
with Three with 18 months and must admit never had Tech. problems
with it. I would like to share my experience with "Three" Mobile
Broadband provider, Cancellation Department in particular. Today
I just had very bad expirience with Three Company. I phoned them,
because I wanted to chnage my Monthly Broadband contract for Pay
as You go system. I have been kept on the line for over an hour.
When I was transferred to Cancellation Department, I mentioned many
times, that I the reason I phoneis that I just want to chnage my
contract. However Adviser just seemed to ignore me and offered me
a new Monthly Contract. I explained politely 6 times, that I do
not wish another monthly Contrct and I would like just to switch
on Pay as You go. Each time, when I explained, what I do not really
need new Monthly Contract, Adviser agreed with me, said it is ok
and asked to wait couple of minutes while She will proceed new changes,
and I was waiting another 10-15 minutes in silence; after a pause
, when adviser were back, She said: "Ok, I know you want Pay as
You go, but we will put you on Monthly Contract for now. We also
going to send you new Broadband on Monthly Contract basis. We will
post it with next 3 days...etc". Then again I had to thank them
and explain politely, that all I want is simply to be switched to
Pay as You go. It repeated aproximately 6 times. I found it very
offensive, uncomfortable and ignorant experience. It ended up, that
Adviser just said me that they going to post me new Broadband and
put me on a new Montly Contracr, wich I can cancel with 14 days,
if I want to. I gave up, because I didn't want it to be endless.
It was very unpleasant pressure, lie ( while I was waiting for her
to proceed changes Adviser seemes just was waiting, and after sometime
offered me a new deal again and again). I wasted my time, I never
got what I really wanted. In fact all I got is headache and upset.
Sorry , that I had to write all this. I never wrote any comlain
letters before. But I really was unsatisfied today with my experience.
Hope it will help to make Comany services better. Kind regards,
Katerina
Rating: 
Reviewed by Chris McCloskey from UK
on 11th May 2010
Love it... You lot should stop complaining and try t-mobile or orange.
Three is 100X better than both companys. I had nothing but problems
a few years back but everything is perfect now. They are making
it better.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Peter anonymous from UK
on 11th May 2010
3 Broadband has been nothing but a nightmare for me a cheap zte
dongle that didnt work and the amount of time wasted trying to get
a replacement twice.. Lack of signal in areas where there was supposed
to be one. Then at the end of my 2 year contract they tell me I
have to give a months notice this was duly done and guess what contract
NOT cancelled and I find my self on a new tarriff which I didnt
agree to after all I did cancel. All I can say is tread very carefully
if you have a broadband deal with 3.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Andrew from UK on
10th May 2010
Got 3G mobile Broadband. Confirmed connectivity in my address was
good. But, the connectivity is extremely poor. Support is not great
either. Offer very typical suggestions and questions like upper
floors give better connectivity, what operating system are you using
and so on. I use a pretty new laptop (Dell-Intel i3 processor).
After reminders they have stopped responding.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Ash from UK on 8th
May 2010
I disagree with most people here, while three may not be the best
experience ever you only have to go to other companies such as t
mobile to realize that three is a lot better for mobile broadband.
Yesterday I bought a T mobile dongle after using three for six months,
main reason is that I'm spending a lot of money on three a month
and can't have a landline at my current location, the 15 pounds
for a months "unlimited" internet seemed a good idea. The bad fact
about t mobile though is that they lie, their internet is very limited.
You can't access twitter and youtube because they are blocked by
their so called over 18 content lock. To unblock them you need to
pay 2 quid by a credit card. Also I live in an urbanized area, I
get the three network pretty well but the t mobile keeps shifting
into GPRS which is ridiculously slow and pointless as I might as
well plug my orange phone in and use the GPRS on that. Three internet
doesn't have any limits bar paying for what you use (no stupid fair
usage policy), half decent signal (in my area anyway) and last but
not least no crazy fascist content blocker. Price of mbb credit
does need to come though in general, £15 for 3 gb is ridiculous
by any company.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Ian from UK on 6th
May 2010
Can only echo what the majority say on here. Its utter garbage,
and support is non existent. Dont touch it. not if like me, you
like having some semblance of sanity
Rating: 
Reviewed by Frank from England on
6th May 2010
Yes 3 mobile sucks. When it works here (and I am only 400 metres
from the transmitter) it is good but now spends most of the time
saying I am connected when nothing happens. Customer Services (?)
in India is helpful and do ring back. I eventually got a Tech guy
who rand back to say they had fixed the transmitter. Oh no they
haven't! 3 need to get Customer Services relocated to England so
that the people you talk to can actually try the damn thing on site.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Ashley Sheridan from United
Kingdom on 5th May 2010
I just recently purchased a 3 monthly contract and dongle, and am
I sure regretting it. The customer service is condescending (at
one point I was told to restart my computer to "restart the web
settings", I mean seriously, there's no such thing by that name
on any computer system I've ever used) I get frequent disconnects,
extremely high latency and very slow speeds. I also get the occassional
web page that now refuses to load, because their dumbass service
gets stuck on a particular file that the page needs. I tried speaking
to them about it and was fobbed off with the answer that it was
due to their 'upgrading' the network and that it couldn't be resolved
for another month. It's criminal that they can offer a service that
hardly works and certainly doesn't work as advertised.
Rating: 
Reviewed by sandy from sheffield,uk
on 5th May 2010
I have been trying to top up a 3 PAYG voucher for the last 4 weeks
& all their website,MY3 keeps telling me is that the top up service
is unavailable,& to contact them by phone or call into a 3 shop,to
top up. Is this a ploy to get us to sign up for a contract? If i
ever do sign up for a contract, it will NOT be with this dreadful
company.I just hope i can top up this voucher before the 90 day
expiry period.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Graham from UK on
5th May 2010
I've had a 3 broadband dongle for a couple of years now and echoing
some of the other reviews here it has been rock solid until abou
3 weeks ago. Now it drops connection, or says it's connected but
actually not, or sits there thinking about it for a minute before
the connection starts allowing data to flow. Normally I only use
it at work (Central London - perfect signal aparently). I tried
using it at home a couple of days ago and hay presto it was rock
solid there. Next day back in the office and it was back to it old
ways again. I filled in a support form on the three web site (I
know - lazy, but I coulnd't cope with 30 mins on the phone to Mumbai
being told how to reboot my laptop). As yet I've not had a response.
Yesterday I decided enough was enough and ordered an Orange dongle.
I phoned 3 to cancel and had a 20 minute argument with the retentions
department who was trying to tell me that all my problems were down
to my 2 year old dongle being incompattible with the upgraded network
(which maybe has some credence to it). Unfortunately I would have
to sign up to a new contract in order to try out an up-to-date dongle.
He breifly let slip that it might be an overcrowded cell that was
the probelem, but then quickly reverted to the incompattible hardware
line. I declined his kind offer of another 12 months with them and
will be seeing how it goes with Orange.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Mike from England on
5th May 2010
Like Ray, Adrian and others, recently my broadband frequently disconnects.
I'm guessing like others that it's to do with the upgrade and hopefully
normal service will resume soon.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Ray from Merseyside on
1st May 2010
Since yesterday I've been getting disconnected constantly, and surfing
speed is at a snail's pace. It's not usually this bad. I can usually
stay connected for a few hours at a time. It may be due to some
sort of maintenance being done by 3.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Daniel from UK on
30th Apr 2010
I managed to connect to the internet today and email a file that
was 3mb in size. When the message 'Email sent successfully' appeared
on my screen, I started shaking uncontrollably and sobbing, I've
dreamed about this day for almost a year now, my body went into
a state of anaphylactic shock, I passed out and slumped off my chair
onto the floor. I came around 2 hours later lying in a pool of my
own tears. In the one year I've had this broadband, this is the
first email i've been able to send that is over 1mb in size (Still
VERY small) If you're thinking about getting a contract with 3,
for the love of all that is good, Don't. God please, don't do it.
imagine drowning in a ocean of syrup, surrounded by sharks in the
shape of the 3 logo, with a very polite Asian man whispering in
your ear that everything's going to be ok, over and over again...
that is what it's like being with this companys broadband.
Rating: 
Reviewed by des from chesterfield ,uk
on 30th Apr 2010
i stopped using my PAYG 3 dongle last august, because it wouldn't
connect anymore. then last month i thought i would give it a try,so
i topped it up with £10 (1GB)& was really surprised at how well
it was working. i've bought another £10 voucher, & for the last
week i've been trying to top it up. their top up website (my3) doesn't
seem to be working, i just hope they don't try to charge me for
trying to access their top up service whilst my voucher is expired.
same old 3!.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Adrian from London-UK. on
30th Apr 2010
I am on a £15 for 15gb's on a 18 month contract. I have this dongle
for about a year. At the start coverage was good. I was connected
all day, everyday with no problems - then the dreaded 'network upgrade'
began, the service as been hideous. I live in south London, and
according to 3mobile I live in an area of good coverage. They say
this without any sense of irony whatsoever whilst on the telephone,
and as I am unable to get a connection! The Customer Service in
India appears to work upon the principle of 'denial', and that of
the assertion that 'the customer is always wrong.' And that sums-up
3mobile's official response to legitimate reports that there are
very real problems with their products - the implication being that
3mobile is not providing the services it claims to do, and is therefore
in violation of their own contracts, that we, the fee paying public
are required to sign. Today, the dongle connects and disconnects
with a monotonous regularity. Sometimes the signal is so weak that
no connection is possible, at other times the 3mobile connection
manager (the square thing that shows the connection status and quality
of signal) often reads that there is a connection, when infact none
exists. It is also difficult to watch videos on Youtube, as the
download time is so slow. This has been the case since around Xmas
2009. So bad is the connection, that I have been forced to purchase
an areial booster, which is attached to the dongle. The idea is
that this area focuses and therefore boost the 3mobile signal. The
strange thing about this is this. Despite showing an increased signal
strength at times, it also suddenly, and without explanation, loses
the signal completely. The same problems exist, EVEN with an improved
signal strength where I live. 3mobile have nothing to say about
this - other than the mantra that I am in a good signal area - and
that the problems I am experiencing with their products are somehow
created by myself, or some other outside agency. As I write, I have
been cut-off three times and had to wait for reconnection. The signal
has dropped and recovered numerous times. Prior to Xmas 2009, the
signal was fine for me (without an areial booster), and I am very
happy with the price I pay. At the moment, even with an areial booster
(which usually work very well with a dongle), coverage is barely
holding on. I hope that 3mobile will read these reports and act
on them.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Peter from South Wales on
28th Apr 2010
I've been on a Three contract since November and to be honest it
was absolute rubbish until about six weeks ago but then it started
to work perfectly,I don't know what they did but it worked.Just
hope I don't put the mockers on it by writing this.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Georgia from United Kingdom
on 28th Apr 2010
Three mobile broadband absolutely sucks!!!!!!! Payed £40 a month
for a service that hasnt worked for over 12 months. I constantly
ring up to sort it when i get through to a call centre in India
where the people dont have a clue and dont seem to understand that
im slightly annoyed for paying for something that does NOT work!!!
WORST COMPANY EVER!!!! DO NOT GET A MOBILE BROADBAND WITH THEM!!
Rating: 
Reviewed by chrismc from england on
28th Apr 2010
same here for the last few weeks ive constant disconects frezze
screen on my online games wich i must say is so annoying ive contact
3 they sent me a link wich does nt help but for 2yrs now ive gbigged
this network up told my mates wich now they have 3 aswell maybe
i should of kept quite lol maybe they stealing my signal na not
realy i think the volcano may be to blame with the ash clouds also
i did trace on my line appertanly its somthink to do with london
as i time out there
Rating: 
Reviewed by Robert from London on
27th Apr 2010
I WAS HAPPY WITH THREE FOR ABOUT 4 WEEKS, THEN JUST ONCE GETS DISCONNECTED,
THEN 2 TIMES, THEN 3,4,5,6,7,8,9 AND NOW AFTER FEW MINUTES IT'S
JUST NOT LOADING PAGE - WHAT A PAIN !!! BETTER GET DISCONNECTED
SO YOU KNOW THEIR MOBILE INTERNET IS RUBBISH, BUT NO! ONLY YOU GET
IS: LOAD FEW PAGES AND IT STOPS ! I HAVE 3 COMPUTER (2PC + MAC)
SAME PROBLEM ON ALL OF THEM, AVOID THIS NETWORK LIKE PLAGUE !!!
Rating: 
Reviewed by sean from uk on 27th
Apr 2010
3 customer services are totally rubbish.i tried topping up my internet
broadband on 3 website as directed and each of the 21 times i clicked
i was told i had been unsuccessful. So imagine my horror when 2
days letter the freaks had charged 315 quid for absolutely nothing.yes
its true..my bank did refund me but these freaks tried to do me
for 315 notes,and customer service are condescending, stupid and
live in Chennai.good luck
Rating: 
Reviewed by Felicity from UK on
26th Apr 2010
I posted a favourable review on here last year, not because I work
for 3 - if I did I would push expensive long term contracts not
the prepaid starter kits - but because I was very happy with the
service and wanted to spread the word about the dongles with the
prepaid allowance. The service improved after the upgrade late last
year, but has been bad for the last few weeks. It was interesting
to see that other people have had the same problem - repeated disconnections.
This happens both with the new software and Windows XP and an old
dongle under Firefox.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Daniel from UK on
25th Apr 2010
If I set up a business selling Laptops, and they only turned on
5% of the time. I would be thrown into Jail.. How this company can
get away with this, I just don't know, it's made me lose faith in
humanity. I would quite happily brutally murder the UK CEO of 3
who don't even seem to care or want to sort out this GODAWFUL service.
I HATE THIS COMPANY WITH A PASSION. i'm a poor self employed designer,
and this mobile broadband makes me unable to send files a COUPLE
OF MEGS in size. it's completely hindering me making ANY money,
and i have to go to an internet cafe to send files. it's a joke.
if you're thinking about getting 3 broadband, please, don't you'd
have a better experience ripping off your own face with a pair of
plyers, and facebutting a pile of salt
Rating: 
Reviewed by Lee Wilson from England
on 25th Apr 2010
If I had any hair I'd pull it out... arrghhhhhh. I've had a 3 broadband
dongle for a year, the first 11 months although slow would manage
a constant link. However the last month has been horrendous to say
the least. The last few days alone I could not manage more than
3 minutes without the signal dropping out. I spent more time disconnecting
and reconnecting than I did browsing online. Despite the bar indicator
showing full bars for no apparent reason my signal would disconnect
/ die. I am on pay as you go, so have just decided to call it a
day. I had already tried vodaphone and t-mobile which would not
even connect in my location (between bath and bristol). Today I
have just purchased an orange dongle and wow - what a refreshing
change - constant 3g signal. My 3 broadband dongle is now for sale
on ebay. Good riddence!
Rating: 
Reviewed by Vitor from UK on
23rd Apr 2010
I have it for 1 year and 3 months. Worked OK till like December,
then exactly when they supposedly went on the improvements of the
network the quality started declining. Since early March now it
had been awful, with me just being able to log in and have smooth
performance early in the morning. But last 10 days came to impossible,
I can't stay connected more then 5 minutes even at 6 am. And most
of the times I just open a webpage and when try to open the second
page it disconnects. Not to mention that its totally down between
4 pm and 2 am. I had enough, with my contract ending I already ordered
virgin media 20 Mbps cable connection to see how it goes.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Stephen from UK on
23rd Apr 2010
I live in an HSDPA (high speed access) area and I haven't seen anything
other than a 3G signal for 5 weeks now. Of course Three have tried
blaming anything they can without admitting it's their problem which
it is. I have written to them asking to be immediately released
from my contract without any penalties. The alternative is I take
them to court and reject any out of court settlement offers. I made
this plain in the letter. It's up to them but I'm not accepting
this shocking service anymore.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Annie from UK on
22nd Apr 2010
I've had 3 Mobile Broadband for over a year now, and, just like
the other reviewers below, in the last two or three weeks the connection
has been nothing but erratic. I click on connect, and am told I'm
connected, but when I try to open any webpage, be it in IE or Firefox,
there's no access to the internet, and this is proven when I try
to tracert or ping a website - no gateway. Just what is the problem?
Rating: 
Reviewed by Sandra from UK on
22nd Apr 2010
Had mine for over almost 2 years and it's worked pretty much all
over the UK - until the last week - when 3 'improvements to the
service' seem to have brought down the system. Despite assurances
from Customer Services that the outages would be for a max of 4
hours - I'm now into my 5th day without access!! Not good enough
Rating: 
Reviewed by Dan from Worcester UK on
20th Apr 2010
Had it for four months, amazing till the last three days, now its
terrible, no more iplayer for me, in fact it takes a age to even
connect to facebook or email... maybe its the volcano, prob not
tho :-)
Rating: 
Reviewed by Olly from South Wales, uk
on 16th Apr 2010
3G Pay-As-You-Go Dongle is possibly my worst internet access experience
ever. Their ppgb (pounds per gigabyte) is an absolute con. The dongle
has maximum signal in my area but the damn thing just disconnects
and reconnects as it damn well pleases ..... really funny when I'm
listening to an online radio station or putting my final bid in
on eBay. The software is abysmal! signal strength tab on different
tab to usage tab but no how much left info tab. You have to log
on to their site to check your balance - only if the dongle is in
a good mood and lets you though. Stupid setup. Awful service, back
to a landline contract for me.
Rating: 
Reviewed by eileen from uk on
14th Apr 2010
love it
Rating: 
Reviewed by Mark Smith from Scotland
on 13th Apr 2010
Such a rip off it's amazing they haven't been investigated by trade
and standards!
Rating: 
Reviewed by Adam from UK on 11th
Apr 2010
I purchased a 3 pay as you go dongle about a month ago, and I've
had nothing but problems with it up to now. All I ever seem to receive
is the 'No service' or 'No network' message and even when I do finally
get it connected, it isn't long before it loses the signal and falls
off again! Then you've got the problem of reconnecting it, which
is often like fighting a losing battle. I checked my coverage and
it's supposed to be fine according to their checker. It's An absolute
waste of money in my opinion. If you want the internet, go to a
proper internet provider, don't get mobile broadband.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Mike from England, London
on 8th Apr 2010
3 is the worst provider of mobile broadband I could possible envisage.
Totally useless. For faster speeds, more reliability and a better
all round experience, use a carrier pigeon!
Rating: 
Reviewed by Jimmy from Ireland on
7th Apr 2010
3 mobile is a joke. Indeed all mobile broadband providers are a
joke. I know some providers allow you to switch from paying say
E20/month irrespective of usage to paying for what you use only.
I intend to switch, Once i switch i might post my destruction of
my plug in modem on u - tube.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Pat from UK on 6th
Apr 2010
I got to the point of detesting Three customer services a long time
ago. Technical questions usually result in a factory reset of the
phone or broadband connection which typically resolves nothing in
the long term. Account related enquiries are long winded and painful
usually because they have to follow their telephone script and deviation
from it results in panic! The quality of the broadband connection
is totally arbitrary. I have sat in the same place more than a few
times and seen totally different performance which suggests that
Three are either incompetent and use third rate network technology,
or worse they are throttling the available bandwidth based on cost
to them! I have recently been using a MiFi device on a 7GB contract
which has proven to be interesting. After some digging on the Internet
I discovered that in someone's infinite wisdom it has been configured
to disconnect every half hour! The only way to solve this was to
download a firmware patch from the manufacturer and turn on all
those useful features that allow the configuration and management
of the broadband device. Its now usable albeit at times the performance
continues to be terrible.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Lindsay from UK on
5th Apr 2010
I don't usually write reviews but feel like we all need to speak
out about the rubbish service from 3 in the hope that someone will
actually listen. I have 3 broadband and at best it is absolutely
rubbish. It regularly looses signal and I constantly have to try
a few times before it will even connect because I get the 'no network'
message. I regularly try to load a page and it can take anything
up to 10 minutes for it to appear only for the connection then to
be lost. On two occasions I have had no network for a week and when
I contact 3 customer services they inform me that it will be back
on within 48 hours, 48 hours later when it still isn't on I ring
back again and they tell me it will be back on within 48 hours and
that they are working on improving the network so I should then
see an improvement. The service is an absolute disgrace and even
after the week of no network it is no better. I have not met one
person yet who has had a good thing to say about 3 broadband. Anyone
looking to get broadband DO NOT GO WITH 3 even if it means paying
a little bit more at least you will get something that works. Just
wish there was something less than 1 star rating on here because
I wouldn't give it any at all.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Jay Scott from Uk on
5th Apr 2010
I am currently using the 3gb 1 month rolling contract for £15, today
I noticed they are now offering 5gb for the same price and contract
so I phoned up to see if I can get that too. I was offered 5 or
15gb still only £15 on 1 month rolling contract, of course I took
the latter. This offer has been available for about a month to anyone
threatening to leave or looking for a better deal. Now I wouldn't
go as far as to say my connection is great, usually short of 50%,
but 15gb for 15 quid with no lengthy tie in? Go on then, i'll have
a bit of that . . I'd be a numpty not to.
Rating: 
Reviewed by rabyburns from scotland
on 4th Apr 2010
works better than T-Mobile, which i thought was impossible..
Rating: 
Reviewed by 24 month contract from UK
on 4th Apr 2010
Since my last post on 30 Sept 2009 the service improved considerably
thus I've generally been pretty happy with it, so apart from a few
weeks last autumn it's generally been quite good. However, a couple
of days ago it downloaded new connection software and it's been
a nightmare ever since, constantly dropping connections and very
dificult to get connected again. Anyone else had problems with the
new software??
Rating: 
Reviewed by sam from UK on 30th
Mar 2010
well I am in shock something has happened guys. I have just called
three as just like you I am locked in for another 12 months of a
24 month contract on the laptop deal to cancel was even prepared
to pay to stop begrudgingly. 3 months ago I contacted them and the
said I had to pay to cancel today they have said because I am in
a area with no coverage on the online map they will cancel the contract
straight away no penalities and to cancel my dd. I dont know if
the 12 months has anything to do with it or it shows that I have
not used it but hey get on that phone and give it a try. I am now
on virgin (tmobile) and its great.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Steve from UK on
30th Mar 2010
At last my two year contract is nearly up! You can see my other
comments on this blog (last one October 2009) in which I berated
3 Mobile. I think I was one of the first persons to get this product
and review it on here. Unfortunately my opinion has little changed
in all that time. As I stated earlier in my previous post's on here,
the good reviews are almost certainly vested interests from 3 talking
up their book. Mobile Broadband is a fantastic idea in principle
but clearly due to lack of infrastructure investment it fails miserably
in practice. Over contested bandwidth, lack of avenue for resolution
of complaints, an apathy on the part of consumer watchdogs to actually
take legal action against 3 for their awful service leave me feeling
thoroughly depressed with this whole experience. In conclusion,
I would still advise against using 3 Mobile Broadband and accept
that this kind of Internet connection, in the UK at least, will
get worse before it get's better due to massive underinvestment
and a couldn't care less attitude my under policed corporations
so sadly typical in this country.
Rating: 
Reviewed by ANGRY from UK on
29th Mar 2010
took almost 5 hours to get a good connection just to read my email.
Rating: 
Reviewed by FED UP from UK on
26th Mar 2010
rubbish service from a rubbish provider, enough said
Rating: 
Reviewed by Anthony from England on
23rd Mar 2010
3 is useless and while im on here has anybody any ideas on what
has happend to the free txts that u used to get wen u topt up ur
broadband ? I ask my 3store but there adamant that u still get them
,but mine disappeard 2mths ago ......
Rating: 
Reviewed by Irate Customer from Swansea
UK on 18th Mar 2010
cant write a review as i keep getting disconnected, would be a very
bad one
Rating: 
Reviewed by Martin Sellers from UK on
17th Mar 2010
I can't prove anything, but these glowing reviews look very much
like the work of Three employees. Have you noticed they all give
a full name and all have immaculate spelling? Of all the mobile
broadband review sites out there that provide average scores, Three
rank the lowest on every single one. Orange and Vodafone proudly
show their awards on their respective sites. These are industry
awards given as recognition of a good service. Three don't do this
because they have never won any awards and are not likely to. Three
made an announcement last year warning customers that the service
is geared to emails and basic browsing, rather than streaming and
downloading. Why are they still selling 15GB packages then? Greed,
of course. James is absolutely right a few reviews down. Three manipulate
your service that you have paid for. And they do it poorly, which
is typical Three. They don't have the infrastructure to support
their current customer base, by a long way evidently. However, they
are of course relentlessly looking to add new customers at every
available opportunity. You still want Three mobile broadband? You
must be mad. And if anybody from Three is reading this - when are
you going to pull your finger out, do your job and provide the paying
customer with a service that can be regularly used without constant
issues? When are your customer services going to actually assist
the paying customer rather than hinder and irritate them? You're
a disgraceful company with an appalling level of contempt for your
customers. It's no surprise whatsoever that so many are turning
to the small claims court to rid themselves of useless contracts.
And finally, if you don't like the nature of my review and others,
improve the service. It's not rocket science. You're light years
behind the major networks in every way.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Mark from Wales, UK on
16th Mar 2010
Complete tosh! I was previously with Vodaphone, who dispite having
a poor "fair usage policy" their uptime and speeds were pretty damn
good. I am now emailing customer services at three to complain about
their poor service. I have just finished downloading a 200mb file,
the file took just over an hour to download. However the internet
cut out 11 times during this hour. Which gives an average outage
every 6 minutes. So, if you want your internet to drop signal, cut
you off every 6 minutes. Then reconnect I suggest three is for you!
When it all goes wrong, rest assured that you will be put through
to India.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Matt from England on
16th Mar 2010
Well - I was connecting my Xbox via the laptop and the dongle with
no issues up to about a week ago.... no issues at all. Now the connection
drops every 5 or 10 minutes. Sometimes it connects but has 0 transfer
speed. Watchdog really need to be contacted about the service (or
lack of it) that 3 are providing, its a breach of contract. Apalling.
Letter sent to OFcom, Watchdog and 3, just to let them know......
two weeks ago it would have been 3 or 4 stars.... now I really am
begrudgingly giving this useless equipment 1, wish they had a negative
scale...
Rating: 
Reviewed by Geraldine from Co. Down
on 15th Mar 2010
Steve the same thing is happening to me for the past few weeks...i
have been using it for over 2 years now with few problems until
2 weeks ago, like you im not sure whats happening. Whatever it is
I hope they get it sorted or I will have to cancel contract as it
will be of no use to me. As I live in the country i cant get BT
broadband so this was a life saver for me.
Rating: 
Reviewed by George from UK on
15th Mar 2010
Three Broadband has become almost unusable! I've had it for about
a year and generelly it was very good - until about three weeks
ago. Now it continually disconnects and is very unstable. Three
customer services are hopeless. I am tied into my contract for another
year - I would get out if I could! THREE, PLEASE SORT IT OUT!
Rating: 
Reviewed by FED UP from UK on
14th Mar 2010
I have been using the 3 mobile prepaid dongle since January, so
far the highest speed I have obtained (when I can get a connection)
is .5 Mbps despite having a transmitter around the corner. When
it does work it only works for about 10 mins at a time, but to be
fair once it worked for 55 mins. I cannot understand why Ofcom lets
3 mobile get away with it (maybe they did some kind of deal). My
mate has T-Mobile his speed is an average of 1.6 Mbps and he rarely
gets disconnected. When you complain to 3 mobile they say they are
doing upgrades in my area (the upgrades have been going on for the
last 3 years I have learnt from other users). Come on Ofcom get
your act together and show us you are not as spineless as your actions
suggest.
Rating: 
Reviewed by steve smith from england
on 13th Mar 2010
got 3 mobile broadband and i have had no problem with it and its
very fast
Rating: 
Reviewed by Ste from UK on 11th
Mar 2010
I've had 3 BB for about a year and its been ok. it hardly ever dropped
out, until about 3 weeks ago. Now it hardly ever stays connected.
I can't understand how it has gone from one extreme to another.
Rating: 
Reviewed by james from england on
9th Mar 2010
good as a doorstopper, or a paper weight, not so good at connecting
to the internet. Utter rubbish. Don't get one, I live in a city,
and like everyone else had good data rate til 3 months ago and now
it barely works, keeps disconnecting, every minute, will be cancelling
next month. 3G are a disgrace.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Dave Austen from England
on 8th Mar 2010
I have a great deal with three (15gb /month for £15/month) and when
it came to renewal i really didn't know what to do. My three USB
dongle was problematic, i could not get a signal in my house and
the service was pretty poor - but from what i read, this seems to
apply to other networks too. After much deliberation i eventually
renewed my contract and got a MiFi - now this is the best move i
could have made. I now can get mobile BB everywhere in my house
and best of all my speeds are around 2-3 Mb/s down and 1.5Mb/s up
- sometimes hitting 4MB/s down! Really looking forward to using
this when we go camping as i can connect all my wireless devices
to it. I think the improvement is pretty good - to the point i have
actually done a windows update using it and experienced no issues
at all. Well done Three, nice to see the improvement and for once
it's nice to have some good words to say about your service.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Marc from Wales on
7th Mar 2010
3 mobile broadband are a disgrace. I spend 90% of my internet time
conecting and disconecting. Im gutted i gave it one star because
its not even worth that.
Rating: 
Reviewed by annoyed from wales on
6th Mar 2010
I have found 3 mobile broadband absolutely useless. I got it as
part of a "free" laptop contract which was a very expensive mistake.
The coverage is terrible, and slow and unreliable once you do get
a signal. Customer service is terrible.I would not recommend it
to anyone.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Des from uk on 3rd
Mar 2010
got sweet talked in2 a 24month contract with 3.has 2 b the worst
thing i have ever said yes 2.my dongle has not worked properly since
i got it 2 weeks ago.indian call centre was a waste of time.pc world
an the 3 mobile shop in my town all a waste of time.they all talk
2 me as if its me with the problem.rely on mobile broadband 4 my
job.have lost a lot money already.i now have 2 spend 5 hours a nite
using my sky broadband 2 finish my working day.if u want ur life
ruined then go with 3,they r the best at it.shame i have 2 give
it 1 star.
Rating: 
Reviewed by Darryl Owen from England
on 3rd Mar 2010
Why is it when i first connect my modem to the internet that i get
transfer rates around 500kbps or even a cool 1500kbps(if i'm extremely
lucky) then within minuets it reduces to such low transfer rates
that i may as well get on public transport and visit the shop personally
(PC World). The fact is that the rates fluctuate so much that it
is becoming unbarable to logon to the internet. To me i am wasting
my money. I have been a loyal customer and am currently in my second
mobile internet contyract but losing patience fast with 3. Excuses
which always point to coverage areas, although as i type this email(losing
connection from time to time)I am suppose to be in a good, No Very
Good coverage area (Aldershot)but that does not seem to be the case.
stopped typing frustrations nearly out!!
Rating: 
Reviewed by Ash Robertson from UK on
2nd Mar 2010
i am appalled at the service i have received from three and it has
resulted in them having to pay bank charges for because of countless
mistakes that they have made. and this rubbish about hdspa covering
91% of the uk is a load of tosh. it is slow and unreliable. and
even tho ive put one star i had no choice but i wouldnt even give
it that
Rating:
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