[Ben]

http://www.trustedreviews.com/networking/news/2007/08/23/3-Mobile-Broadband-Launches-From-10pm/p1


It will make three options available: 'Broadband Lite' - an entry level package which costs a mere £10pm with a 1GB allowance, 'Broadband Plus' a £15pm deal for 3GB per month and 'Broadband Max' for heavy users which provides up to 7GB for £25pm.
Ok, so we knew this. I can't help but think what terrific value this is, though, and shudder at the thought of how 3's network, or any network for that matter, will handle what I can only presume will be substantial take up - I mean, damn, the students all move into halls in a few weeks!

We already know that things didn't go too well in Ireland. I absolutely hope, however, that the more mature (I think) UK network will cope better. £10/mo go-anywhere broadband is what 3G's all about!

[3GScottishUser]

An even bigger concern is that 3 have announced they are actively pursuing a sharing arrangement for their UK 3G network.

So if it's not working too well in Ireland where they have exclusive use of their bandwidth how will it fare in the UK if they open their network up to others for voice/text and data use?

My opinion is that 3 UK are simply attempting to get whatever they can now as growth appears to have slowed to a crawl and revenues are on the slide and will continue to be affected by new restrictions on roaming charges and temination fee cuts.

Might be good value for a while for those who get on-board early?

[Ben]

I'm not sure as to how network sharing agreements work, but I'd imagine if they were to share another UK networks 3G infrastructure (which sounds crazy coming from the one network that had a head start) then they'd have to pay the going rate for all this 'extra' traffic they're going to generate.

This data offering is going to win Three a lot of fans. Lets see what they do with them.

[Hands0n]

This is terriffic news for the non-permanent user (college/uni students, rented accommodation etc.). I truly hope that 3's Customer support infrastructure can deliver or there will be trouble ahead!

[miffed]

This is terriffic news for the non-permanent user (college/uni students, rented accommodation etc.). I truly hope that 3's Customer support infrastructure can deliver or there will be trouble ahead!

mmm , yes - I wonder if Three's CS will be up to the job ?

( I think we all know the answer to that one ! )

[3GScottishUser]

3 have had to provide a months credit to their Irish customers because of the shambles of the service!!

See below.... does not inspire confidence.....

See here: http://www.three.ie/service_message.htm

Service update

We are continuing work on FTP access, VPN, NetMeeting and certain streaming sites and expect to have a fix in place soon. Microsoft Outlook is not currently compatible with3's service, however all mainstream web-based emails are working normally.

We are offering 3DataModem and 3Datacard customers one month's free line rental in recognition of the inconvenience caused by the network upgrade. For more information call 083 333 3333.

Further service problems are described here: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=649742

[Ben]

Eh? No Microsoft Outlook? It's just an email program, so how the hell does that work? No POP3? No IMAP? *confused*

[gorilla]

maybe it's 3mail? I'd be very surprised if it didn't allow pop3 or imap as we can do that already on our handsets. Not looked into it, so that is me wildly speculating!

Edit: Just read the digital spy link and I don't know what the hell they're doing!