[getti]

3, the UK's leading mobile media company, is shaking up the mobile market yet again with the launch of a revolutionary service that, for the first time, pays customers to receive calls and texts.

The new pay-as-you-go price service from 3 - called 'WePay' - will see customers rewarded with a cash credit for calls and texts they receive. So with 5p per minute for calls received and 2p per text received, it really does pay to be popular on 3.

For info on pricing and how it works check out Today On 3G (http://www.todayon3g.co.uk)

[3GScottishUser]

This looks good on the surface but its a price rise by stealth!!
From 3's Press release:

"WePay prices

The new WePay top-ups are easy to understand, all-cash vouchers available in £10, £15 and £20 denominations, with no expiry date.

5p per minute cash credit for each minute of calls received
2p per text for texts received
10p a minute to call a 3 mobile anytime
30p a minute to other networks anytime
15p a minute to landlines and non-geographic numbers anytime
10p per text to any network
25p for a picture message to any network
50p per video message to any network"

From 3's Price Guide - Previous cash Top-Up Rates

10p a minute to call a 3 mobile anytime
10p a minute to landlines numbers anytime
20p a minute to other UK Mobile Networks
10p per text to any network
25p for a picture message to any network
50p per video message to any network

So they have increased the cost of MAKING calls on Wepay by 50% compared to the previous cash top-up prices. 15p/min to landlines and 30p/min to other networks. So it looks like take with one hand and give a little back with the other.

Is WePay a good deal?

You get £6.00 credit back if you receive 100 minutes of inbound calls and receive 50 texts. OK But if you make a similar amount of outbound calls to other networks and landlines it will have cost you 10p/min more for the calls to x/net mobiles and 5p/min more to landlines. Split it 50/50 and that means that you would be paying £5.00 more for calls to mobiles and £2.50 for calls to landlines.

Total extra cost £7.50

Amount of WePay Credit £6.00

More Expensive by £1.50!!

Not a good deal at all!

[Ben]

Interesting idea... I can see this raising more than a few eyebrows over at the other operators as finally an operator trumps the interconnect farse.

The price increases are, of course, also interesting - but as the topups have no expiry I'd argue that you simply need never top up, if enough people call and text you it'll keep you coasting along just fine.

As with all such deals, for some people this will be the holy grail, for others a non-starter.

[3GScottishUser]

Slight of hand really. One could easily get carried away with the hype but look behind the rosey bloom to find the thorns.

For PAYG customers this is a great step backwards. AT 15p/min to call landlines and 30p/min to call x/net it's a very substantial price increase that will not be compensated for by received credit for most users. I hope they dont stich up their existing ThreePay customers with this by discontinuing the cash only Three-Pay top up option.

Listening to the radio it has been mentioned that this scheme could be abused by people using employers phones to gain credits..... bad idea. This will really focus attention on 3's interconnect charges which are the highest in the UK and so far exempt from regulation as they are a 3G only network. OFCOM will probably be on their tail as a result of this move and other networks might react by exposing the true cost of calling 3 or even remove 3 calls from inclusive bundled minutes. Worth watching.

[solo12002]

I" hope they dont stich up their existing ThreePay customers with this by discontinuing the cash only Three-Pay top up option."

I agree with this comment. Just as you thought Three were moving forward they go back.

I hate to think this is replacing the new non 30 day top ups they brought out a few months ago, if it is I go to another network. this is a price rise and dam all else other than one.

[3GScottishUser]

I suspect they will replace the cash top-up option with 'WePay'. They have said that all existing customers can 'benefit' and I doubt if that means there will be an option.

We will see what happens after the 1st February. Expect a message telling you that you now get paid for incoming calls when you buy a top-up and if that happens you know your call charges have been hyped by 50%.

[timothythetim]

I normally have masses of free unused mintues on my contract so it would be good if I knew somone I could call and then they could effectively get paid for using up my free minutes.
It's certainly and interesting way of doing things.

[3GScottishUser]

On the other hand, if your kid has a 'WePay' mobile they might be tempted to use your landline to call it to get incoming call credits! Employers could face similar problems.

It has been happening in Italy where its been on the market for a while!

[miffed]

I normally have masses of free unused mintues on my contract so it would be good if I knew somone I could call and then they could effectively get paid for using up my free minutes.
It's certainly and interesting way of doing things.


I was was just thinking the same - Especially on some of the the "minute heavy" tarrifs that are available :rolleyes: So if you have a kid with a phone on this account , and a Contract phone with with lots of more minutes than you need , you could effectively "charge" your kid's phone with those minutes

I suspect this will be open to huge abuse though (I spend half my life receiving calls I don't want ! ) there must be some way of getting the most from this :cool:

All of a sudden , those idiots trying to sell you things become interesting too , worth having a chat with them for a few hours :D

[Ben]

All of a sudden , those idiots trying to sell you things become interesting too , worth having a chat with them for a few hours :D
Hadn't thought of that! That'd be hillarious :D "Hey! Sure I'm interested... oh, hang on a minute, the doorbell just went, but I'll be right back!" *places phone in a drawer*.

[Ben]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/01/25/wepay_readers/


Reg readers have been quick to rubbish 3 UK's claim that its "free call" offer is a "revolutionary" scheme.

Earlier today we reported how 3 is to introduced a new PAYG service - called "WePay" - which sees punters rack up cash credits each time someone calls or texts them, which can then be redeemed each time they buy a new top-up voucher.

The 3G operator - which has some 3.2m punters in the UK - went on to describe WePay as a "revolutionary concept".

But is it? According to emails we've received so far, it ain't revolutionary at all.

So far we've had reports from readers that cellcos have run similar schemes in Portugal and Sweden. But our favourite comes from a reader in Romania.

"Something similar was offered by [major cellco] here, in Romania, for a student-oriented service. What happened was that students signed up for the service and then put up classified ads offering non-existent apartments, cars or other merchandise at too-good-to-be-true prices, asking to be called on their mobiles. As far as I know, [major cellco] had to withdraw the offer."

Ho hum.

Not to worry though... I'm sure Three have thought this through.

[solo12002]

" Not to worry though... I'm sure Three have thought this through"

Just like what they have done with the rest of their services!

[miffed]

If anyone wants to discuss this in detail , please call me on my threepay number :rolleyes:

[3GScottishUser]

It's a licence for kids to rob their parents!!!

At the call rates it'll have a tough time and will attract the lowest spenders in the country. Good old Hutchison, they know how to drive down the market and as per their last attepmt (ThrePay time restriceted top-up's) and will probably gain little from this triumph of marketing over product.

Another desparate attempt to acquire the most gullable customers in the UK.

[Ben]

I'm informed that Orange offered this in one of their territories back in 2000, but like all the other examples it had to be promptly removed. Someone must've stumbled upon an old memo or something and had the brainwave 'lets do it on Threepay!'

I'm still cautiously optimistic that the ramifications will, in the end, be good.

[3g-g]

I'm tempted to go get a 3 SIM just to see how much money I could make on it. Say for example you had a company paid mobile and your own 3 pre-pay number. You could spend the week calling your mobile, making the money, and then having enough extra credit to do you for your weekend, all at the works expense! Brilliant.

I tell ya, I'd love to be at one of Three's brainstorming meetings when they come up with these ideas. Does some VP just say, yeah, great, let's get that out there now without thinking?! I suppose at the end of the day 3 still make the dosh from people calling into their network... I'm interested to see how long this offer lasts!

[3GScottishUser]

"Say for example you had a company paid mobile and your own 3 pre-pay number. You could spend the week calling your mobile, making the money, and then having enough extra credit to do you for your weekend, all at the works expense! Brilliant."

The very reason why it's a potential for disaster!!!

A nightmare for parents and employers which is wide open to abuse by those who dont pay the bills to rack up the inbound calls from phones they dont pay for. I suspect 3 will become the network of distain very quickly if the promote this tacky scheme.

Someone worked out that you can gain credit by calling from a BT landline at weekends when its only 4p/min to call a 3 mobile. You would get 1p/min credit profit from 3 in that case or 60p/hour, or £33.60 if you left a BT line connected for the full weekend. You'd have to spend that on 3 in terms of credit of course and you would'nt be able to use the phone at weekends!!! Just proves how ridiculous the thing is!!! A scammer's charter which I suspect will be exactly the profile that will be attracted by such hairbrained prospects!

Oh dear!!

[Ben]

Three will require each customer to by a topup voucher equivalent to the value of free credit they wish to unlock, and will only have 30 days to claim that free credit followed by 30 days to use it.

So, you could have earned £10 in free credit... but have to buy £10 more to use it! That's more than a little crazy... anyway, basically it's a glorified implementation of Tesco Clubcard :) It's an interesting tariff, and almost impossible to compare to tariffs offered by other operators as I very much doubt anyone I know could guestimate the amount of incoming calls and texts they receive vs the amount they make/send.

[Hands0n]

" ........... and almost impossible to compare to tariffs offered by other operators ......"

Hmmmm, this does wonders for tariffs in the spirit of transparency. I keep going over this thread and trying to comprehend what the possible benefit to me would be. The amount of confusion and mistrust that is generated by this [in me] would lead me to walk away from Threepay and either go Contract (is that what they really want?) or seek out another mobile operator that is much clearer and understandable.

[@NickyColman]

I must say Three are being extremely agressive once again. This sort of action is likely to cause a severe reaction from the other four networks and could result in serious alienation from the other four.

[3g-g]

The only thing I can see the other networks doing is making an example of the offer, showing it up for how difficult it is to understand. The simple way the other 4 can combat Three is reduce their PAYG costs. Make them cheaper than 3 without the added worry to the customer thinking "Am I making any money from this?". The other 4 can make it nice and simple, this is how much your calls are, this is what you get free. Off you go. Not, how much do I need to top up, how fast do I need to use it, how many calls do I need to recieve to make this worthwhile, how much have I made, have I left the oven on, shall I buy Take That tour tickets...

[Hands0n]

The sheer obscurity of the WePay proposition puts me right off. Groucho Marx can best and most succinctly sum up my thoughts on WePay



Clear? Huh! Why a 4-year-old child could understand this report. Run out and find me a 4-year-old child. I can't make head or tail out of it.

Citation: Duck Soup, 1933


Nuff said :D

[solo12002]

Networks are still missing the point. What most users what are clear to understand price plans at a fair price.

One has to question what it costs the networks to have things like Vodafone STC, O2 and Orange and now T-Mobile rewards spend so much get so much back and now Three wepay.

Wake up networks let us all have easy to understand price place and cheaper call rates that way uses will use thir mobiles more not less, lets put a end ot dearer charges for calling other networks and roaming.

Its crap in Northern Ireland, go anywere near the border area and your mobile will switch to a network in the south, make a call and you are charged roaming rates, the dam silly point of this is,out of the foure networks in the south, Vodeafone, O2 and three are three out of the four!