[gorilla]

:eek:
Yes it's a shocker. I'm sure a number of you have now slipped into shock, but I thought long and hard about it. So hard I've even taken out an 18 month contract :o

Currently with O2, so why did I ditch them?
O2 are crap. Poor coverage, no 3g, uncompetitive tariffs, no mobile data (well I mean they offer it, but it's sooooo expensive), poor CS. Their over all package is, I'm not sure how to describe it, but it's not eye catching. It's voice and text (as the yanks would say) period.

So it was now time to go elsewhere and get something extra for my monthly direct debit. Of ocurse, I like many have been waiting patiently for the rise of the consumer friendly data tariff. Much to my dismay the giants of world mobile networks awoke from their slumber with nothing more than a gentle ruse. So Orange and Vodafone were a no go. I woudn't have fancied them anyway with their branding. T-mobile are not an option as they have yet to bring 3g to the vast majority of Northern Ireland and are not in the Republic at all. Thus my option of going to virgin, while interesting, didn't really have a chance.

So I was left with three. I was with them previously and had a mostly good year; left them to get a better handset.
So off to their website I went looking for an E65 and x-series silver. Stumbled across their 'live chat' option which I used and a nice chap offered me a free bluetooth headset code if I was to take out a contract today (yesterday ;)). I decided that as I would be getting free skype and a wifi handset that I would be able to make do with the Direct Text 950 tariff at £25 per month + £5 for x-series. Submitted my order via quidco (http://www.quidco.com) (a cashback site) and within a couple of minutes had two emails confirming my order. I'm expecting delivery of my handset tomorrow, but as I'm not at home (and they wont deliver elsewhere!) there's only a slim chance (GF hanging around waiting for it :D what else are they for?) that I'll actually get it tomorrow.

Just to add that it's the draw of x-series that made my mind up. That and three have the best 3g coverage in the province and the roaming agreements they have with other '3' networks.

If all goes to plan, then I will be a new 3fanboy to counter all you cynics! That'd be you HandsOn, 3GSU, Miffed and co :p

Of course I've got a 14 day money back guarantee, should it all go belly up!

[3g-g]

I think in terms of 3G services, coverage and cost you probably can't beat Three in N.I., if they're offering you everything you want at the cost you want then why not eh? I'm sure you're more than aware of their CS issues, but if you've no need to call them then there's no problem. With their agreement with three.ie, where it'll cost you the same for everything in the Republic you're onto a winner, you'll need to be showing Three in a good light from now on! ;)

Good luck.

[gorilla]

You've hit the nail on the head 3g-g, if it aint broke...no need to ring CS.

[Hands0n]

You've hit the nail on the head 3g-g, if it aint broke...no need to ring CS.

And that has always been my one and only substantial gripe with 3. Their CS sucks, period. The rest of the package is generally very good - could do more with the Data but they're coming around, albeit as slow as a very slow thing.

I could go back to 3 tomorrow - but for their Indian Call Centre. I simply do not have it in me to knowingly enter into an agreement with 3 while the spectre of that shambles hangs over me should anything go wrong. I'm far too conservative to put myself in that particular space.

But given your circumstances I would have made exactly the same decision - my choices where I live/work/play appear to be infinitely more open than yours. Which is a shame really, but good for 3 for getting stuck in there :)

[solo12002]

" I've gone and done it"

I cant say I have as iIhave a work 02 mobile, but Three is the network I will go for, for all the reasons stated above and for the one I forgot no T-mobile in the south.

[gorilla]

I'll keep you posted on how I'm getting on. They do look to have pretty good 3g coverage here, so I'll be giving that a thorough test.
I see that there is no firmware update for the E65 yet, so there goes my idea of getting rid of the 3 firmare immediately.

[3GScottishUser]

Just remember that if you make or receive a call or use the phone to take any photos your 14 day trial does not apply!!

Yikes!!

Good Luck!!

[solo12002]

gorilla

Thanks.

As I wonder did you get your wee mobile as part of the £40.000 pounds increase in office costs that few name :rolleyes:less ppl got ?

LOL

[gorilla]

Ha ha, no I didn't. I wouldn't want a work phone. Just imagine people could call you after 4pm!

[solo12002]

LOL after 4? thats early.

I just turn mine off lol

[gorilla]

Well to be honest I work pretty hard these days (I can hear the violins in the background, can't you?).

Anyway, phones arrived and on the charge. I think this GF is a keeper, I've her well trained already, not like you married lot ;)

[solo12002]

whos married lol!

[gorilla]

Had the phone for a couple of days now. And it's nice, very nice. A lot slimmer than the N80, but about the same size, if you know what I mean!
A strong 3g signal in the house, all over the house, even in the places where O2 fails to reach or even tease you. Signal never flickers. Me thinks it's broke, so I wander around some more. Make some phone calls, browse the internet on my phone using 3g. I mean who'd have thought they'd invent that! All works fine. I know, I'll use skype. Surprisingly good quality. Even to a landline over skype out (which I thought wasn't supposed to work, but I have a +44 number as a skype contact and it rang that). So phone works, network is good, so I ring 333 i.e. CS to port my number. The dreaded call to Mumbai. 1 minute later I have a port date. 1 minute. Surely that can't be right. When I rang O2 there was 15 different options, have you checked online etc, then a 5 minute wait. I just rang 333 entered the 'other' option and the phone was answered. I understood the operator, more importantly he understood me. Simple.

All in all I'm happy. The phone was delivered when it was supposed to be and I got my free bluetooth headset. If I feel like it I might review the E65 as I don't think there is one on here. It's pretty much as you'd expect. Just like the N80 but faster. I know that's hard to believe LOL.

[3g-g]

If I feel like it I might review the E65 as I don't think there is one on here. It's pretty much as you'd expect. Just like the N80 but faster. I know that's hard to believe LOL.

Glad to hear that everything has gone smoothly! And fee free to get a review and some pictures up, we'd all like to be nosey, I mean, read the review! ;)

[Hands0n]

Nice one Gorilla - good to read that you've had such a success story with 3 already. I'm intrigued at the Mumbai response - do fill us in a bit more with your experience of the CS as time goes by. The cynic in me says you found a "good 'un" but hope springs eternal that they've somehow and eventually turned a corner in that respect. Gawd knows they desperately need to!!

[paulbds]

Just following on from an earlier thread - -thats excatly why I went to 3 - -Seamless coverage from North to South Ireland - -word of warning tho' If yoou not in a 3 are ain the South - -you will get charged the hight rate. You MUST be in a 3.ie area to get the 3 lke home tarrif.
I went for the X Series Silver tarrif but after 30 minutes went back and upraded to the Gold as they were offring a free Slingbox. Works great but battery life - -ouich!
I migrated from T-Mobile
Paul

[solo12002]

LOL I can see it now a little room for all the NI users of three. So far theres THREE of us lol

[gorilla]

Ok, so I've had my phone a few days now. Not played with it properly yet (working hard for a change!) and as my numbers' not ported yet I leave it at home during the day.

After my initial 'wow' I have to say that I still like it, a lot. That said I love the N80 and this is for all intents and purposes, an upgraded N80. Well in design anyway.

Let's start with the sales package and the only thing missing was a proper headset. A Nokia HS-5 (http://shop.nokia.co.uk/invt/0276576&bklist=icat,4,shop,accessories,headsets) is just not exceptable, given that this is marketed as a business phone. In this day and age a bluetooth headset should come as standard. (it's just as well 3 sent me one!).

The E65 is 3 branded and as such comes in a 3 box and includes a 512mb micro SD card.

(Does anyone actually care about the sales package?)

Right, the E65. Nice, lovely keypad, good screen, excellent slider (me thinks N95 owners would be jealous).

As it's S60v3 it's pretty much as you'd expect. Quicker than the N80, but from what I hear from N95 owners, it's not that quick. Still I'm happy with it. I should have unbranded it when I received it, but as there is no firmware updates yet, I thought I would leave it with the 3 firmware. I have to admit (much to my horror) that I like the way 3 have it set up. It's, how does it go, it just works.
Dedicated 3 launcher button (although I can change that to whatever I want), your gateway to orb, slingbox, skype etc the X-series apps. It comes preloaded with all the X-series apps as well, so need to worry about downloading and installing them yourself.

It's got a camera on the back for basic photography and the usual video etc. Quality is fine. Although I've yet to test it down the pub!
I've not tested the music player. Pretty crap review really!

I wont be using it to listen to music and watch videos etc so I'm not that bothered about those aspects. I believe it only has a mono loud speaker which will disappoint most, but it is quite loud.
I'll be buying a 2gb card for it in the next week or so, so I'll give it a proper run out then.

That's about as far as I've got! I haven't set truphone up yet, nor have I tried the inbuilt email programme (I'll stick to profimail). Texting, phoning, browsing is all standard fare and works well. I have no complaints about the handset yet. Battery life seems to be good, I have skype running all day (and night) and using wlan periodically I get about 3 days. Enough for me.

On a final note I will conclude by saying that it's everything you'd expect from a S60v3 phone, but it has good form factor and a strong battery.

[gorilla]

Now, having concluded the E65 bit I have to gush about 3 now.:D

Oh how I've missed you. Your free content, lovely friendly browsing experience around My 3 and 'services', why oh why aren't they all like this?
Funny TV clips, film trailers, etc all stream fantastically well. I have to admit, at that quality I could watch mobile tv. I get £5 of downloads a month which I'll use on music tracks and videos.
The 3 package is great. There I've said it. X-series is a must and for a fiver is pretty good value. Ok, so it's only a gig, but this will easily supplement my home broadband, although I can see that being eaten up by podcasts, streaming radio, email, :eek:**** is a gig going to be enough?????

I have set up mobizines (not that anyone on here works for them or promotes it!;)) and I have to say that it is brilliant. For the life of me I can't remember why I didn't use it before. Was it a lack of titles? Anyway, I've subscribed to loads, stuck in a load of RSS feeds and highly recommend to everyone.

If you've any questions, fire away, although I'll be better served to answer most of them next week when I'm using the phone full time.

[gorilla]

Just an update.

My number successfully ported yesterday. So far so good!

[fairywishes]

Hellooooooooo :0)
I read your posts with much i interest having been with vodafone for years i wanted a lg shine u970 (3g version x-series compatible) so had to go to 3 :0) which worried me a little re coverage.

Well I have gone and done it too and am now understandable confused trying to work my way around the phone i simply pulled it out the box stuck in the new sim charged it up and then 18 hours later decided to have a fiddle i immediatley called 333 to port my number supplying the guy with the pac code which all seemed to go fine apart from his constantly calling me by the wrong sirname even when i corrected the appletree to appleton he still called me appletree lol... so a little concerned about that he did however give me a port date 7th Aug so fingers crossed my call took 5 mins :0(

Here are the questions i hope you can help me with as a new 3 customer who previously had a motorola v3 hence never went on the web with my phone i am eager to use this new planet 3. Currently i only have the basic package 200 mins + 100 text and £5 free download credit i was wanting to pay the extra £5 i was told about in the 3 shop for the unlimmited internet use and tv use on the phone but i'm not sure how to upgrade this and am wondering if its £5 for the unlimmited internet and £5 for the unlimmited tv extra or is it £5 for both and how i go abouts adding this to my account?
I'm presuming the phone once switched on did automatically registers so i don't need to do anything extra on that score but not sur ehow to do the other.

Any advise given on how to do the above and also on how to understand the workings of the free £5 download thingy what i can use it on and also on not making any mistakes going over the unlimmited 1GB thingy once i get it would be much appreciated. If watching the tv on my phone apart from sucking my phones battery life does this also add to the ammount you download and should i beware?
And is there anyway of avoiding going over my limmit..

Help lol i am so new to all this 3 planet

[fairywishes]

I won't be using the phone that much for video calling infact prob not at all and whilst at home i will only be using it for collecting texts etc and not for the internet can ijust ask i have noticed the signal at the top of my phone is appaling just 1-2 bars in comparrison to vodafones full 5 bars. also it says 3 in a square at the top right and not 3g it also shows the R in a small square which i presume the book says roaming??? What does this mean? I thought you only roam when in a foreign country

[3GScottishUser]

Welcome to Talk3g.co.uk.

Sounds like your phone may have roamed onto the Orange GSM network. It's designed to do this when there is no 3G coverage from 3's own transmitters.

If you are roaming you won't get all of the 3 services but you will get voice and text of cousre and some limited data stuff like my 3.

Enjoy your mobile and keep us in touch with how you get on.

PS: Details of the services available in non 3 areas can e found on 3's website.

[3g-g]

Fairywishes, welcome to Talk3G :)

If I recall correctly, you should be able to manage all your added services via Planet 3? I'm not a 100% sure, but I think you can. We have one of the Three Store employees here, so I'm sure once he reads the post he'll be able to clarify it for us all. If you're doing the TV thing I think that's just a monthly cost, it doesn't matter how much data you move, it'll cost the same either way.

As far as your little "R" showing roaming, don't worry about that, if your handset has fallen back onto Orange's 2G network then you'll notice no difference, apart from the inability to make a video call, which you're not going to be doing anyway! You might struggle to do the TV thing as well, but if you're at home then watch the normal TV! ;) Nothing changes cost wise, and once you move about and a 3G signal is present you'll move back onto that.

Have a look about for getti, he's one of the moderators and 3 employee, he'll keep you right with regards to cost and getting the bundles sorted.

Be sure to let us know how you get on.

G

[getti]

hey there

The 'R' means you are roaming on Orange. You get that because 3 use Orange as a backup when you dont have 3G signal and as 3 dont own the Orange masts it lists at roaming.

You can manage your account by using My3 on the phone screen under Planet 3. For the internet use you would need to add on the package called 'Internet Unlimited' for £5.00 a month.

For th TV you can either pay 49p for 1 day's use or £5 for 1 months unlimited viewing but that is nothing to do with your internet bundle so if you want unlimited data and tv thats £10 extra. Also there are no data charges for TV so if you watch TV you can still get your 1gb intetnet use

Sorry for a short reply, its late and only just saw the thread. If you have any questions please feel free to ask and il try and help out as much as i can (or are allowed too lol)

[3g-g]

See, told you he'd be about at one point! :)

[3GScottishUser]

You have to do some serious digging to find out what is available on a 3 handset when roaming on Orange 2G.

3 used to have a helpful phone guide which showed what was available in both their 3G coverage areas and outwith but it appears to have vanished form their website now.

Mobile TV and other data services don't work too well with 2G (that's why they introduced 3G) so to sample the full capabilities of the handset you will have to use it in an area where you can get 3's own coverage.

Happy exploring!

[fairywishes]

thanks so much for all your replies and for letting me know about the whole orange and roaming thingy i was a little worried :0)

Well after a few days of using my new three phone which i love I unfortunatley have no 3g signal in my house (not that i need it in the house) and I only manage to get between 1-2 bars of signal at all with the roaming icon.
Its been like that for a week However i have noticed yesterday and once today when i switched the phone on and even occasionally througout the day the signal has suddenly changed from G roaming to suddenly showing 3G and with either 1 bar or then no signal at all and it then flipps back to 3 roaming again with 1-2 bars of signal. Having said that just now i clipped it open and its showing 3-4 bars of signal which is really weird is something happening with 3 are they working on their coverage or something?

Anyway I had a fiddle with the phone and planet3 as advised whilst out and about at the weekend when getting a 3g signal obviously paranoid about making a mistake and clicking something by accident and somehow costing myself a fortume :0) I fiddled with planet3 and was very impressed but somehow i don't know how managed to download a ringtone i was being so carefull too so I was so fed up i tried to stop it but it was to late :0( typically it was not even a ringtone i think anyone would choose to buy lol either it was the one from bullseye lmao.......... :0( :0(

So now i am paranoid about looking at planet 3 and keep checking my3 usage to make surei have not been charged anything else just incase i make the same mistake again and download something else i have no idea how i did it was was just looking around on the section that said free to browse and was looking in the download a ringtone and picture for £2.49 section and all of a sudden it said i was downloading :0( Oh no...
I've not been into planet3 since. I'm sure it said they ask you before you download so why that didn't happen i have no idea. :0( All I know is a speaker suddenly appeared on my screen and the music played and it said downloading :0(

Anyway advise given on how to avoid this happening again would be much appreiciated maybe its the scroll wheel on the 3g U970 shine i don't know.

I have £2.51 left to play with on my free downloads but dare not lol incase i happen to make another mistake so i'm leaving the credit there just incase :0(

[fairywishes]

I meant to also add when i put my postcode into the coverage checker box at the three website it says pink video now does this mean it should be 3G

[Ben]

A reddy orange is 3G now, a pinker colour is planned in 3+ months.

[fairywishes]

Hi i was doing a coverage checker on the three website didn't think to do a coverage checker on orange too :0)

[Ronin47]

did you ever get truphone over 3g up and running mate ?

[hecatae]

truphone fails to work for me over x-series silver and gold.

[gorilla]

did you ever get truphone over 3g up and running mate ?

truphone is a great app and one that saves me a load of minutes every month especially as it's free to use at the minute.


truphone fails to work for me over x-series silver and gold.

truphone works great for me over wi-fi and 3g. Have you got the latest (http://www.truphone.com/blog/blog.tru?entry=truphone_upgrade_recommended_for_al l) version?
I'm on xseries silver with an E65.

[Ronin47]

truphone is a great app and one that saves me a load of minutes every month especially as it's free to use at the minute.

thats uk landlines only aint it ?

[gorilla]

Yeah, uk landlines and 40 countries worldwide (http://www.truphone.com/more_info/what_does_it_cost.tru#free_countries) or other truphone users or gtalk people.

[hecatae]

truphone started working over 3g for me this weekend. Fring and Gizmovoip as well

[Ben]

Good stuff. Anything change for that to happen, or is it just suddenly 'allowed'?

[hecatae]

downgraded from Xseries Gold to Xseries Silver, and wasnt in my local cell reception area.