[3GScottishUser]

3 has launched a consumer ad campaign in which it promotes its £15 tariff by comparing its value minutes and texts offer to the other networks.

The full page press ads have the strapline 'you deserve better', and promote the 3 tariff for £15 plus free phone with 250 minutes and 50 texts or 75 minutes and 600 texts.

The network lists the other networks, claiming Vodafone is 'not even close', Orange is 'way off the mark', O2 has 'no luck on the phone front', T-Mobile is 'not quite flexible enough' and Virgin is 'better than some but we still won'. 3 then asks consumers to 'challenge us to beat your bill'.

http://www.mobiletoday.co.uk/content/16515.asp?men=1&sub=6

Comment: There is no doubt that these deals are good value when compared with other offerings and PAYG deals but I suspect they will only attract low spending credit worthy customers who have little interest in 3G services. (I have a couple of friends who have opted for this deal who fall into that catagory). Still a Nokia 6288 or a SE k610i with 750 SMS for £15 a month can't be sniffed at!

[miffed]

I thought Three only recently announced they were "dropping" the £15 thing ?

As far as I see it , this only reinforces the theory that Three can only sell phones when they dress them up in "giveaway" guises such as this

Still , I suppose every year there will be a number of skint , text mad teenagers that have turned 18 and are waiting to be lured into their first contract , and can only afford £15 per month

[Hands0n]

At £15 it is a bit of a steal :-) But anyone going over, or buying other product with heamorrage money! None of this is going to bring in the "right kind of Customer" that 3 hankers after. And if their CS is no better then even these £15 kiddies are going to get fed up and move on after the contract period.

I can't help feel that 3 are quite lost when it comes to what to do next. The really need the big business - but it eludes them how to get it. Well, they've close on four years of badwill to undo, and that takes a lot longer to do than to establish in the first place.

My first job as 3's CEO would be to shut down Mumbai, bring the CS back to the UK and make a huge song and dance about it, be brutally honest "We f***ed up!". Set about winning back the disaffected. While that is going on, meet my competition head on - and make a big thing about that too. Show that we're serious about being the UK's number one for product, services and support.

[3GScottishUser]

Whilst this is obviously a steal of a deal the £15 malarky isn't going to attract 3 subscribers that will feast on their content or videocall or do much outwith the allowance included. It's a tariff designed to appeal to folks on a budget and will doubtless convince some low spending credit worthy PAYG customers to get on board.

Fine for short term subscriber numbers but not much of a prospect really. It's a far cry from the principle that the 3G technology will attract hungry downloaders of music and video.

I suspect 3 UK have once again been forced into a corner and the £15/20 price point is what the market allows them. Big question is are there enough £15/20 a month contract customers to replace the dwindling number of 3 UK PAYG subscribers... I doubt it!

Quite sad for them really.

[Ben]

Wow, Three are back to doing comparative adverts? Isn't this harping back, ever so slightly, to their early discounting days (that got their subscriber base numbers off the floor, but at the cost of not having the 'right customers')?

TBH I'm glad to see a return to this approach. Three's ability to put price-pressure on the industry is really what they do best. Their network, coupled with Orange, is surely quite a nice place to be getting such good value for money on calls and texts these days, regardless of the short-sightedness in regards to 3G services.

[3GScottishUser]

Whilst the value is undeniable will £15 and £20 contracts attract the 'quality customers' 3 UK have highlighted as a major problem previously.

Will those on a budget attracted by a cheap deal ever be a prospect for extra revenues?

Is it simply a case that the service has found the level that the market (and customers) think it's worth?

[Hands0n]

I rather think that 3 may have something here. The £15 tariff is a reasonable one for the traditional PAYG'er who regularly stuffs £10 or £20 a month into their handset. Providing that they do not go over their inclusive minutes/texts. After that, as with all unbundled charges, the prices are a bit high.

As for the "quality customer" - again I think that they'll bring in the younger family member whose mum/dad are paying and thus reasonably reliable.

Will this draw the Chavs? I'm not sure, it may well do. But as far as 3 is concerned, all they need for the right quality of customer [surely] is one who pays their agreed monthly fee reliably throughout the contract. Most folk can and will stump up £15 for something like this.

[3GScottishUser]

The Nokia 6120 is now being offered on the £15 a month Talker/Texter deal with a 512MB memory card for free. Fair Nuff...

[gorilla]

I have to say that this is pretty good value and should be flaunted as such (which 3 are doing). Now for those of you who think that we (as consumers) should be paying more or that 3 should be attracting more high spending punters, STOP RIGHT THERE! We are ripped off enough in this country and there is no reason why the networks should continue to promote expensive tariffs, especially if they want customers to spend more on additional extras.

[getti]

I was shocked to see the 6120 on a £15 deal when i went in work today.

A free nokia
series 60 phone
bluetooth
hsdpa
2 megapixel camera
x-series compatable

for £15 a month!.

[Ben]

Now for those of you who think that we (as consumers) should be paying more or that 3 should be attracting more high spending punters, STOP RIGHT THERE! We are ripped off enough in this country and there is no reason why the networks should continue to promote expensive tariffs
We often talk from two angles without making clear distinctions, here.

The first angle is from a business POV. We know that Three needs higher paying customers, and they've commented on the quality of their subscriber base before. In terms of a successful business, there's a worry that, once again, Three is throwing money at the wrong type of customers that will give little or nothing back to the company in the long term.

The second is from a consumer POV. Here, I think, nobody can claim that this tariff isn't one of the best offers on the market today and very good value for money.

[3GScottishUser]

I think it's just coincedence that such a well specified handset is going out on a £15 a month tariff. It's obvious that the price concious customers attracted by that sort of offer will have no interest in using HSDPA with a laptop which is where it makes most sense.

3 probably added the 6120 to the offer range because the line up is pretty barren especially in comparison with the mega selection the other networks can offer (thanks to them having 2G as well).

It's a nice handset but the probability is that most of those customers attracted by the cheap 3 text or voice deals will never make much use of it's potential.

[Ben]

^ That's a good example of a business perspective ;)

[Hands0n]

I'm not sure which phone will sell the most on th £15pcm/18 deal but for sure this Nokia 6120 is a beast. I should think that 3 are getting them at a completely affordable price considering the deal is an 18 month'er. They'll make money on it.

Some customers will start adding X-Series to the handset over the 18 months, no doubt. But the masses will probably just do what confounds the mobile ops the most - use it for Voice and Text only!

[solo12002]

Is it suitable for X-Series Silver I wonder?

Not a bad handset at all, some may even take it and sell it on ebay

[superfakename]

Is there any chance of the 6120 coming out on the re-released video talk 500 plan or is it a question of watch this space??

[getti]

Its a full X-Series handset so if you get Gold you can get Slingplayer, Skype, MSN etc....

Will work on Silver too (not Sling though).

[solo12002]

Cheers Getti

" Its a full X-Series handset"

I have a nokia N73 like, but its pay as you go, if Im taking out contract may as well go for it as its HSPA etc.

Thanks

[getti]

Yup. When HSDPA launches you will get 3.6mb on your phone

[Hands0n]

No apologies for sounding like a stuck record .... but .... at dinner this evening with some friends ..... they were quite scathing about 3's CS and said that even if the service was being given away that they'd not touch it.

Now this really is a crying shame, because I think that 3 are doing very many right things - and have been for simply ages. But they just refuse [corporate denial] to understand the very great damage that their Mumbai CS is doing to them.

Yes, £15 will be a big draw - it is almost tempting to go for it just to have a cheapo Nokia 6120 as a spare - but after the 18 months is up their old attrition rates will be as bad as ever. Which is a real pity.

[3GScottishUser]

HSDPA makes not a jot of difference to applications that are handset displayed. X-Series applications are designed to work over standard 384Kb/s WCDMA which is what 3 UK have employed throughout the UK.

Where HSDPA makes a difference is when a mobile is being used as a modem with a decent sized display like those on a laptop. There is only one show in town presently in the UK for this type of service that's affordable and that is T-Mobile Web'N'Walk professional. They are giving a free USB modem to encourage uptake of this service now.

The £15 a month deal is good value but it is unlikely to generate much interest in X-Series as the budget concious customers being targetted are pretty unlikely to be interested in anything other than the cheap voice and text offer. I have no doubt in 12 months that 3 UK will be blaming 'quality of customers' on the lower ARPU that will undoubtedly result and the Mumbai customer service operation will simply continue to pour petrol on the flames.

The £15 deal is attractive but it puts 3 under more pressure as their monthly revenue per customer will fall, their termination charges are being slashed and the customers they are attracting are the most likely churners due to being the most cost concious.

[Ben]

HSDPA makes not a jot of difference to applications that are handset displayed. X-Series applications are designed to work over standard 384Kb/s WCDMA which is what 3 UK have employed throughout the UK.
I used to think that were the case, but after checking through some (probably accurate) Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hsdpa) information I think it's likely that X-Series users will benefit from both the reduced latency, making data applications and browsing appear to respond quicker, and increased upstream, to 384kbps from just 128kbps, that HSDPA delivers. The latter would really come into play when making any use of the data upstream, whether it be sending emails or using Skype.

The benefits wont be as marked as between GPRS and basic UMTS, but data hungry applications will reap a benefit. Having HSDPA at this price point, while the X-Series add-on does increase the cost of the tariff, could be described as helping to bridge the digital divide in terms of the data experience on mobile phones.

[solo12002]

Im not a fan of having cs overseas. But poor old three why do they allways get knocked no matter what they try.

On vaule thay are currently beating most.Nname another network that offers 500 mins and100 texts for £20 or 250 mins and 50 texts for £15 plus a mobile web access for £5 pounds.

Even if users were only going for the calls and texts, surely they are still better of on three than any other network.

I look forward to seeing how the new roaming charges impact on vodafone passport etc. T-mobile have just incresed their charges on PAYG to 15ppm and Virgin has a min charge of 10p for all calls.

[3GScottishUser]

HSDPA will be of benefit as regards improving the capacity each site can handle but the average user won't see any significant benefit when using handset based applications. Bitrates for the likes of Skype are tiny (Less than 20 Kb/s I would guess), sligbox has to operate at 64Kb/s the same as videocalling and whilst e-mail and photos may be uploaded a little faster this won't make a huge amount of differnce to the 'average' user.

I have no doubt HSDPA will play a role in developing data use on mobiles but presently x-series and other network offerings have to be based on the majority of the handsets capabilities in circulation. HSDPA should bring data prices down and let all of the networks offer more complex data products because of the additional capacity.

Returning to value, it's as always dependent on your usage pattern. The £15 voice proposition can be beat by the likes of Vodafone Stop the Clock if you use your handset mainly off-peak. Another huge factor is the range of handsets. I know many who simply won't bother with the £15 a month deal simply because they want an LG Prada or a cute Samsung E600. The handset often is the primary factor when folks are making a purchace as can be proved by the significant numbers now showing off N95's!

[Hands0n]

Im not a fan of having cs overseas. But poor old three why do they always get knocked no matter what they try.

The trouble with 3's overseas CS is that it has established a firm reputation of being inefficient and downright hostile to Customers who have problems that the scripts do not fit. Anyone who has recourse to call 3's CS is left feeling embittered. So much so, in many cases, that at the earliest opportunity they leave to another operator and willingly pay more!

In all of their short history 3 have persisted with this piece of deadwood hanging around their neck. They keep blaming the "wrong type of customer" instead of looking at what seems to raise the greatest amount of complaint.

It would, after all, only take five minutes scanning any forum that discusses 3 to identify what gets complained of most. Maybe they do this, maybe they don't - the the evidence is that they take no action to correct this very great source of illwill generation.

I really do feel for 3 in many ways; you are right whatever they try gets met with ridicule or mistrust. Even at £15 I would be hesitant to step up and buy if that were to be my only source of mobile comms. I am only contemplating it as a 2nd unit because I really do like their network coverage and capability. But if it were my one and only I would not go near 3. And that view is reflected in any number of people I have mentioned this new offer to. As soon as I make mention that it is 3 doing this £15 deal they lose interest in a flash!!

The most scathing last night was the 18-year old son of a friend - he'd been "burned" by 3's CS and vowed never to use them again, ever! What he said is hardly printable here. They [3] can't afford to lose the goodwill of the younger buyer who has a lifetime of purchasing power ahead of them.

As I said earlier - a very great pity indeed.