[3GScottishUser]

OK - we all know how dreadful 3UK have been so far.

The limitations have been well documented.

Appallling offshore customer service, no Internet access, call dropping when 3 has to switch to their roaming partner (02 UK). They have also had major problems maintaining decent call reliability in my experience. Add to the above the handset problems. NEC's that were just pathetic, Motorola's that were barely useful, LG's that were the subject of Watchdog reports and the quirky Nokia 7600 that they had to give away with a year's service for £5 - £0/month to get anyone to take it!

ThreePay has been a disaster. NEC e313/e616's that have now been dumped and unlikely to provide 3 UK with any revenue return.

Contract has also been a big problem. Battery munching handsets that are way out of fashion in terms of size and performance have struggled to keep up with classy GSM kit and phones are now a big fashion accessory. Only the very budget conscious could justify the kind of utility rubbish that 3UK have offered recently.

Things are changing though. 3UK now have the Nokia 66XX series at reasonable prices, the SonyEricsson K608i and the Motorola A/e1000. These are good handsets (as has been proven on other networks) but 3 still have to give them away and offer service for a far lower price to gain acceptance. (Nokia 6680 on 3 is now available with 8 months free line rental on T/T600 on an 18 month contract from CPW).

The question is can 3UK compete? They are playing the price card to the full and some of the handsets they now offer are similar to those on other networks. (They still appear to be majoring on junk at silly headline cashback monthly rates to attract business). Has their reputation been damaged by the previous drawbacks? They could solve the CS and Internet access issues instantly if they wanted to. Harder to solve the problem of the call dropping as they need to switch to 02 where their own service is unavailable (and that is over a large part of the UK).

Can 3 UK hack it and survive?

What will it take?

Comments?

[maven]

I used to work for Communications Direct, one of those annoying companies who call you up pretending to be from your network provider and try to get you to sign up for a new contract with 3.

We were given a list of 'answers' to give people who objected to 3, such as....


"They use Indian callcentres don't they?"

(our standard reply)"Yes but just about all the networks do that now"
(as if that's a good reply!)

"I've heard their customer service is terrible"

"Yes it was, but it's improved a lot"
(yeah right, in who's opinion?")

"Aren't their handsets big and clumpy?"

"Well some of them are but you need to take into account the technology"

"Won't I drop a call if I go from a 3 to a 2.5G area?"

"That's unlikely as 3 have greatly increased their coverage recently"


In other words, you can't polish a turd.....

[3GScottishUser]

That is very true.

Having taken out a new Vodafone contract after having 3 for 2 years its like night and day.

Once you know hwat the 3 service is like and have chosen to move and pay for a decent service one is bewildered why any new telco entrant would be so niave as to offer the type of service 3UK have chosen to.

[bsrjl1]

Harder to solve the problem of the call dropping as they need to switch to 02 where their own service is unavailable (and that is over a large part of the UK).

If ISHO hasn't started being rolled out, it will be very soon - certainly in the southern NEC network. Guess it will take them some time to implement & optimise over the whole network but it will be a very welcome improvement.