i know there's a lot of talk of just how poor 3 are, but how wrong can you go with for 500 minutes and 100 texts a month for £17 (inc. insurance).

are 3 really that bad to warrant this a bad offer?

The coverage ain't that good.. Video Messaging is amongst the worst I've dabbled with..

I'll keep my £17 ta :D

Most of the phones they offer you at a knock down price arent much cop either. The LG one, for example...I know 5 people wove had them, and all 5 of them have had to have it replaced more than once due to various faults. Plus every phone they offer seems to be either ugly, or massive, or ugly and massive.

There's a bit of a link between companies who spend a large proportion of their budget on advertising, and companies who are less interested in the quality of their service (cf 118118)

Well I've been on 3 since the beginning of November and had very little problem. Yes I've had a few call drop but no more than I had before on T-Mobile. Yes I've had a couple of times when I've not been able to get a line despite having signel to do so (obviously the network was busy) but this also happened on T-Mobile. I have one of the LG phones and I have had this freeze on me a few times I just reset it by taking the battery out and it clears it.

One the plus side I get 500 minutes and 100 text a month for £30 when I was paying £21 for 150 minutes and no text on T-Mobile. I've had a better signal in lots of place where I didn't get a signal at all on T-Mobile. I've got the first 3 months at half price and £50 cash back after 6 months. I think it has been worth it so far.

I will agree that their customer service leaves a little to be desired but then so do many now that they are mainly in India, but to be honest I've had worse customer service from Tesco and they are in Scotland. I would say if you aren't using your phone for business i.e. just chat to friends etc and it's not the end of the world if you can't make a call for a few minutes go for it I did and haven't regretted it so far.

Personally, I wouldn't touch 3 with a bargepole...

You don't get any "rollover" if you don't use up all your minutes one month...

You only get a month to use those minutes (not quite the same point as the one I just made, above)

Just as Virgin "piggy-back" on the t-mobile network's transmission babd, the 3 network "piggy-backs" on the o2 network (which may account for the high rate of call drop that people who use 3 seem to experience)

My best mate bought a 3 phone, thinking it was a bargain...
it cost her an arm and a leg, she is woth Virgin mobile now.

If your mates/ family are mostly on one particular network, you may be better going for that network... calls between phones on the same network work out cheaper than calls between different networks

Otherwise, Virgin do a flat rate (something like 75p for the first three minutes of calls in a day, to Virgin mobiles and Land-line numbers.. Then just 5 or 10p a minute thereafter, whether on pay as you go, or a pay monthly tarriff) or the Vodafone network; they do "smartstep" which works out to a broadly similar sort of cost between Voda mobiles and land-lines. It's worth investigating what other tariffs are available, on contract and on PAYG. (phone shops often have "daily special offers" It is a good idea to check up what the shop is offering deals on, at the time.

A phone salesman put me wise to certain companies' "naughty" selling-methods... (3, I'm looking in YOUR direction!) He explained to me that they give you hugely cheap / massively discounted phones, and then whack you around the head when you succumb to buying these absurdly cheap mobiles, hitting you with extortionate call charges.

PT

Originally posted by Plain Talker

A phone salesman put me wise to certain companies' "naughty" selling-methods... (3, I'm looking in YOUR direction!) He explained to me that they give you hugely cheap / massively discounted phones, and then whack you around the head when you succumb to buying these absurdly cheap mobiles, hitting you with extortionate call charges.

PT [/B]

well with 500 minutes a month, it's to be expected as they've gotta make their money somehow, so just keep to the limit.

Originally posted by Leigh
well with 500 minutes a month, it's to be expected as they've gotta make their money somehow, so just keep to the limit.

But does this 500 minutes per month include calls to other mobile networks? I pay £10 per month to top up my mobile, and for that I get 300 free texts and 100 minutes off-peak to landlines or other o2 phones.

Originally posted by Patchy
But does this 500 minutes per month include calls to other mobile networks? I pay £10 per month to top up my mobile, and for that I get 300 free texts and 100 minutes off-peak to landlines or other o2 phones.

It includes all other networks and landlines with the exception of non geographic number such as 0845 and 0870.