379 Customer Reviews over 10 pages
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- Location
- London
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2020-01-07
- Comments
-
Download speeds are incredibly unpredictable; very occasionally you might get 20mbps, but you usuallyget 0.5-2mpbs. Customer Service will have you move the router around, change Wifi frequency etc., but it does nothing to help the really poor consistency of their services.
What I really don't understand is my mobile provider Smarty use the Three network, and my phone gets far greater download speeds than the router sat in the window. I hotspot more than I use the Router now, which begs the question why bother paying for the service in the first place.
Easy to choose them Relish/Three in the first place due to their quick delivery/set up times, but in the end really not worth the hassle.
- Location
-
- Location
- cronberry,cumnock
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-12-27
- Comments
-
I thought this would solve my BB problems as i live in the countryside.
The signal drops & rises,surely i should be able to get a reliable 20meg d/load speed.Some times it drops to around 3-4 meg d/load.I need to shop around once my contract is up.
- Location
-
- Location
- Bolton
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-12-26
- Comments
-
Mobile broad band worked fine for 16 months then 0.6 to 1.8 gb same location 24 month contract y should I pay for something I am not receiving cowboys
- Location
-
- Location
- Manchester
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-12-15
- Location
-
- Location
- Eastbourne
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-12-14
- Comments
-
Dire. 4 phone calls, 9 people, over an hour and now been told issue will be looked into within 48 hours.
Final person I spoke with had a major attitude problem.
- Location
-
- Location
- Belfast
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-12-11
- Comments
-
These guy's are useless, customer service is ok if u speak Indian/Pakistani. But i am English and have yet to speak to an English employee of 3. Everything is lag lag lag with it no matter where is put it. I wish i never got this cube, yes alexa is ok thats it. Avoid it folks its useless for anything apart from browsing the web, streaming is a nono same as online gaming
- Location
-
- Location
- Gloucester
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-12-10
- Comments
-
Very unreliable and if you plan on using this for online gaming it will perform poorly if anybody else is connected. 2 or 3 streaming devices is enough to faulter three and their broadband.
- Location
-
- Location
- Lancashire
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-12-04
- Comments
-
Have had broadband supply from 3 for 2 months, during that time we have lost signal numerous times, for up to 5 days. Customer service is appalling, do not seem to care, say someone will contact within 2 days, and will try and get signal back within 7. Have never had any problems with previous suppliers. Only have 1 stars because you cannot give none.
- Location
-
- Location
- East London
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-12-01
- Comments
-
Don’t waste your time 1MB... IF YOUR LUCKY
- Location
-
- Location
- London
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-11-21
- Comments
-
Absolutely ****** service, I was told by their website that 4G and 5G are available in my flat and that internet speeds were a minimum of 20Mbs.
Once I received the device it wasn't even receiving 4G, the maximum speed I received was barely 700 Kbs ( emphasis on the K ). After calling customer service, I was answered by an inexperienced technician in a different country that was reading a pre-set script and had absolutely no idea about what he was talking about.
His main recommendation: " Put the device next to the window it will work have a better signal "
Being desperate for Wifi, I opened the window and put the device almost outside which is when I finally reached a speed of 1Mbps ... I decided to cancel the service afterward and was told by the company to send the Hub back by post, they also had the nerve to tell me that If they do not receive the device or if it was damaged I would be charged with a 350£ penalty ( For a ****** Huawei Hub that does not cost more then 20£ )
I DO NOT RECOMMEND AT ALL
- Location
-
- Location
- steyning
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-11-13
- Comments
-
i live in very rural west sussex. My talk talk broadband -fibre, was peaking at about 27mb. Then my price went up out of contract so i switched. I had looked at mobile as i knew the mast was only about 1 mile away and was 4g+ enabled. I am an existing 3 customer so knew i had coverage. I bought the alexa enabled Huwawei AI cube and pay £20 a month. i am getting a connection of around 90mb now. There is a cap of 1TB per month so keep your eye on your usage, you can do all of this on your phone with the app. if you have doubts, simply tether your existing phone to your pc/laptop/firetv stick etc and see if it works before you order the hub. Its excellent, the hub, and has alexa and a nice bass speaker in there so you can pair your devices to it for sound as well.Much better and faster than wired broadband out here in very rural west sussex.
- Location
-
- Location
- London
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-11-12
- Comments
-
Horrible horrible broadband. As a user I have never been so helpless. Three broadband charged me double the bill in one month. When I asked for help on customer care, they made me wait for 40mins and I am kidding. When I went to the store they asked me to call the customer care. Horrible and pathetic service. Never ever opt for this please if you want to stay in peace.
- Location
-
- Location
- Caterham
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-11-08
- Comments
-
Our Three signal is good (looking at other reviews not everyone checks first). We are in a semi rural area so congestion should not be much of a problem. So far internet speeds have averaged 40-50 MBS, fine for 4k streaming. There is a bit of a lag as you start up, most of our speed tests point out this would not be good for gaming. Our previous fibre was not half of this due to distance from the centre. Reliability has not been 100% with a few days of poor service but compared to BT its about the same. Data transfers, especially uploads, have been extremely quick.
Customer service has been challenging at times, you get get the "we want to help you" type of approach but few will understand exactly what you are saying.
We have the Huawei AI cube (more of a cylinder really) which supplies the whole house fairly well. I use an Ethernet cable for the TV which seems much better for stability than wifi. I had a go at range extending but there seems to be an incompatibility with my tp-link plug in system. I have simply moved the antennas on my remote computer.
All in all very happy so far.
- Location
-
- Location
- South Croydon
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-10-30
- Comments
-
We have it for a couple of months. It was okay in the first month and now is extremely slow most of the time (downloading 81Mb software update in 10 minutes) and not reliable (sometimes okay but most of the time have to wait ages to load a page) . When we signed up we were told in the shop that if it will be too slow we can end the contract earlier but customer service told me not possible. Last 2 weeks were the worst and I spent numerous hours to get to the customer service by phone and the connection kept breaking. I would not recommend this as a main home broadband, maybe as a back up or when there is no other options.
Very sad though, used this company for mobile phone for several years but broadband - definitely no!
- Location
-
- Location
- London
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-10-29
- Comments
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This company bought Relish broadband and when I moved house recently I tried to call to cancel the account. I had to call multiple times and wait on hold for over 40 minutes each time, only to be told they couldn't locate my account, despite me giving all the information. They told me to call another number which disconnected no matter what selection I made. I called back. I chatted with advisors online. I called back again. I went to a physical store, where they couldn't do so much as look up my account information. Finally after more than a week of trying to sort it out, I am told I can cancel but I will be charged for an extra month of services, because I didn't cancel one month in advance. What a rip off. Not only that, but the service was unreliable and pages took a long time to load. I liked Relish but Three is a corporate and bureaucratic maze and I can't recommend them to anyone on customer service (or lack thereof) alone.
- Location
-
- Location
- Crediton Devon
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-10-28
- Comments
-
Had 2 years good service, last month it stopped,a month latter after being tied into another 24 month contract with the promise the better router would work, still no internet, no exaggeration 30 phone calls latter hours on the phone, more lies than would be believed from the technicians and network team ie, were working on it,the account is set up wrong, the sim card is faulty,give us a week while we work on the mast, we will phone you back, etc just a few examples, they are trained to lie so to close the case down, I have never met such a bunch of liars,and hope never to come across this company again, your ok if things work, but if you have to contact them beware,it seems they take pleasure in your stress and make life very difficult, got through to customer relations today to be told we cant provide you with a service because we've upgraded to 4/5g and that's not in your area, and wont be mainting the old equipment where you were getting your signal from.
- Location
-
- Location
- Newtownabbey
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-10-24
- Comments
-
My phone internet runns at over 60 mbs . How can you complain. Love 3 mobile
- Location
-
- Location
- London
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-10-17
- Comments
-
We bought this because of the immediacy - as opposed to waiting for installation. My advice: ALWAYS WAIT FOR INSTALLATION OR SEEK ANYTHING ELSE. This device is absolutely awful, genuinely the worst internet provider I've ever used. The people on the lines for customer service are really good but it ultimately does not matter because the product itself is categorically useless. I've had it for seven months - in which time I've moved three times - and every single place I've used it, it has varied been working extremely slowly - or not at all. Seriously, do yourself a favour and steer clear of this one.
- Location
-
- Location
- Southampton
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-10-13
- Comments
-
Crap, don't get it. Highly recommend you look else where.
- Unstable as ****
- Connection dropping
- Not suitable for anything other than youtube which if you're lucky it might only buffer once. (IT'S 2019!)
- Sounds too good to be true, save your money...
Thanks,
- Location
-
- Location
- bridgend
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-10-05
- Comments
-
i had the broadband with 3 i had so much problem with it. i phone them up and they sand other router out to me in the end and in a couple of days down the line i was getting the some problem again i was getting very annoyed with this. once again i phone them up again and they said to go down to the stores and they will sort it out for me . when i went down to the stores that day the staff in the stores was not much help at all. come back home with the some problem i plug it back again it work for couple of days and than i was having problem again with it. that this time a had it with us. phone them and i said i was not paying anymore for rubbish network so i cancel my phone and broadband. they said it was fee at all. i have got to other provider and i having no problem at all
- Location
-
- Location
- Gloucester
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-10-04
- Comments
-
Gloucester is not a good area for broadband and BT does not provide a fibre service in my area so I can't use Sky which I would like to. I could have Virgin Media but they are expensive and unreliable..
Three broadband is steady, I have unlimited and it is reasonably priced at £27 pm. Signal strength varies a lot so I use the personal hotspot on my iPhone which is also with Three. Strength is around 18mbps.
Any information you may have about BT providing a local fibre service would be great.
- Location
-
- Location
- Middlesbrough
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-09-27
- Comments
-
Overall my experience with Three has so far been positive. The only problem is the broadband speed during the day in my area which can drop down to 1.5 Mbs/s while at night it is usually between 20 - 30 Mbs/s.
The customer service has much improved over the years in my opinion. Well done Three.
- Location
-
- Location
- Manchester
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-09-20
- Comments
-
I've had a very positive experience so far. Far better value for money than my old network and coverage seems a lot better as I no longer experience grey areas of poor signal.
The customer service has been good, I've only messaged them once but they gave a quick and helpful response. It was easy enough to activate the sim and move over my number. Roaming also works smoothly - I've used it in Spain recently and my 4G was working as normal the whole time and with no extra cost.
- Location
-
- Location
- London
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-08-29
- Comments
-
The worst customer service ever!
- Location
-
- Location
- Northern Ireland
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-08-28
- Comments
-
I had been with Three for some years and found it reliable and cost effective despite some signal drop out issues. I had a £10 per month unlimited texts and calls and 4GB data plan which suited me fine. That was until I got a letter from Three to say that, since my 12month contract had finished they were changing me to a monthly rolling contract for the same service but at £14 per month!!!
I went to my local Three store (Bloomfields Shopping Centre, Bangor, Northern Ireland) and spoke with the store manager, a most unhelpful individual. He told me, quite plainly, that my options were to take it or leave the network. I chose to leave the network but now wish I hadn't.
I found a deal with SMARTY, a wholly owned division of Three, giving me what I had at the price I had been paying and with a monthly contract. I initiated the changeover but quickly ran into issues, not least with their useless customer services agents. I instructed them to terminate the transfer process as they had frustrated me. They assured me it was terminated and I resolved to find another deal.
But they hadn't terminated, the transfer carried on and I was cut off from Three then cut off from SMARTY and left with no service! I had to go back to Three on a whole new deal and get a PAC code from SMARTY to get my old number back.
I gave the PAC code to Three, was told the usual 1 to two business days for transfer and waited. Nothing happened. I contacted Three customer services (SAVE ME from Indian call centres!!) to be told there had been "an issue" with the PAC code so they started again. Three days later, still no transfer so I called them again. Another "issue" with the PAC code so it was started again!
Now, after the third attempt, it's still not done!! And their customer services do nothing but ask the same questions again and again and make the same empty promises again and again. And so, 7 days later, I still have not had my original number transferred back. USELESS!
- Location
-
- Location
- London, New Cross Gate
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-07-30
- Comments
-
I went into the Three store in Lewisham. Arrogant staff who were not very helpful and did not provide good information.
First day I have finally got the router and finally managed to get it activated useless instructions provided by the staff at three store and with in the product its self. I had to find a way to contact customer service and talk to a human and not get thrown around the houses to speak to the right person. Waste of time.
Router is now finally working, signal is rubbish even though it says my area should have a super strong signal.
I go on to the website to check coverage and I get this message: "We're really sorry. There's an issue with the network in your area at the moment.
We know that there's a problem with the service in your area and we're working on getting it fixed. Check back within 7 days for an update."
WHAT!? Not a good look, I've never been with Three before and was trying to look for an alternative to a crappy internet service currently provided by Sky over land line.
Thankfully I ordered online and have a 14 day returns period. Something to take note of if you order in store is that you don't get the 14 day return option so make sure you order online if you are going to try their home broadband so if it's rubbish like mine you can return. Will still trial it for the next 14 days and update if anything different from the above otherwise I will be returning everything.
Overall so far, waste of time and effort, not happy...
- Location
-
- Location
- Bedford
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-07-03
- Comments
-
Awful company. 2 years ago I went to the three store in Bedford to do an upgrade. Unbeknownst to me I was also given a whole new contract despite only wanting an upgrade. For over a year I was charged for 2 contracts. As soon as I realised I was being double charged I stopped paying the direct debit that had no correlation to my phone bill. I started receiving letters for a number I've never had asking for money. After receiving a letter stating that the number had now been disconnected and the remaining balance would soon be sent to a debt collector, I paid the balance and considered the matter resolved. I have now received requests for more money. On contacting Three I have been told that they have no record of the disconnection/cancellation letter despite having records of the other letters and I am therefore liable for the £70 they want from me.
Avoid them. Utter cowboys.
- Location
-
- Location
- Coatbridge
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-07-02
- Comments
-
Avoid this company at all costs. I cancelled my account in 2016 and moved to EE. They said my account was cancelled. Two years down the line we noticed that three were still taking monthly ditect debits from our account. We didn’t use the phone in two years and was charged £800!! When we initiated a complaint with customer service we ended up speaking to a helpdesk abroad. They said because we didn’t use the PAC code to transfer to EE, they started taking payments from us again. Mobile phone companies have changed their policy as of yesterday and they now have to inform you if they keep your account open. However three should be ashamed of themselves. An absolute shambles of a company...
- Location
-
- Location
- Edinburgh
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-06-13
- Comments
-
Woefully inadequate customer service, clearly under trained, didn’t understand whether vat was included or not when asked, (three different members of staff), two months in succession spending an hour at a time to try to resolve, but “computer says no”. Six year customer now looking at other opinions
- Location
-
- Location
- Watford
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-06-11
- Comments
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Avoid them if you could. If you get any problem you will end up speaking to different people telling them same story , and no one there to help you. They cancelled my contract without my approval and still have been taking money from my account.
- Location
-
- Location
- London
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-06-05
- Comments
-
I switched from Vodafone as I was lured in by the lower monthly cost and the roaming options. I now regret this hugely as I've had countless issues - data not working at all, extremely slow internet, texts not sending, unable to use virgin media wifi on the tube, phone number not properly transferred over etc. I then had to spend HOURS on live chats/ phone hepline ( the few times it worked) and received 0 help at all! Their customer service is a COMPLETE JOKE! No one calls back when they say they will and I was given the wrong advice MANY times which was a total waste of my time. Rather than help me, 3 customer service asked me the same questions OVER AND OVER again ( cause they clearly can't keep notes) and had to provide very sensitive information to prove my identity WAY TOO MANY TIMES! Customer Service at 3 refuses to be accountable for any faults 3 has and tries to claim there is no issue even when my data won't work at all in many areas. I had to have 8 lengthy, painful conversations to fix 1 problem because 3 refuses to listen. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!! WORST SERVICE PROVIDER!! I have been with Vodafone, O2, Virgin and GiffGaff and they are all far better than this awful network.Even when I tried to lodge a formal complaint, no one contacted me. Their customer service and technical teams are ABSOLUTELY USELESS and TOTAL TIMEWASTERS!
- Location
-
- Location
- London
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-06-02
- Comments
-
Three the are worst in the internet Iam call them both tge are say to pay Iam not satisfied about internet the customers service they not help you nothing iam not recomend to anyone
- Location
-
- Location
- Luton
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-05-29
- Comments
-
They cancelled my contract without my authorization, and now making excuses that it was cancelled mistakenly and cant be reinstated, while 3 is still taking payment from my account. I have this number since last 9 years and now struggling to get my number back from them. Terrible terrible, avoid them.
Had 2 contract with them, cancelled 1, and now will cancel 2nd as well when i will get my number back (if i could).
- Location
-
- Location
- Manchester
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-05-24
- Comments
-
I signed up to mobile board band with three.oldham.9£ a month.this is fantastic.i connected it up it's been on since yesterday afternoon and still connected this morning went in to google straight away.i was with
ee. before .with similar mobile boardband with ee..very slow and going off all the time .with three didn't go off once.and u don't have to charge it as often.very happy.
- Location
-
- Location
- Chesham
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-05-19
- Comments
-
This is a follow up review for the 3 HomeFi review I posted a few posts below on 10/5/19.
Our Internet cut out today and when I looked at My3 account I found we had supposedly exceeded our 100gb data allowance by over 4gb and incurred additional charges of £47.94 because of this. I called the billing and contracts team (again finding a working number for customer services was a mission as the one on the sim card didn't connect) and explained I should be on an unlimited plan. I was told that I was on a 100gb plan but if I wanted unlimited they would happily add this to my contract for £10 pm extra. So then we had a back and forth conversation of me explaining I already signed up for unlimited data and demanding my Internet connection be reinstated with the unlimited data I signed up for and the fraudulent charge of £47.94 removed from my bill immediately whilst the operator insisted this was not the case and kept offering me unltd data for £10 extra. Eventually he said if I have evidence I signed up for unlimited Data to email this to 3 and then call back. Fortunately I still had the order confirmation email in my inbox showing I had signed up for unlimited data.
Once I fwd this email to 3 I logged on to Web chat and demanded that now they have the proof to provide the service for which I signed up. This took a little while as they needed the email tracking ID I should have received as confirmation from the email I sent, but as I never received this I had to resend from an alternate address as apparently they are unable to look into this confirmation themselves despite me providing the order ref no that came with my original order.
The person on the webchat was brilliant once I provided the tracking ID and my Internet connection was soon up and running again and My3 account now showing unltd data with the £47.94 additional charge showing as credited to my account now.
The reason I was given for this happening was that the unltd data I signed up to was a Ltd time offer and the way the sell it is to sell a 100gb package with a free unlimited data add on and apparently the add on wasn't added to my contract when I signed up.
So I wanted to update my review because if it's happened to me it can happen to other people. So please make sure you check your My3 account regularly to make sure you getting what you signed up for. I didn't do this because I was on unltd data and although this caps out at 1tb I knew we'd go nowhere near this.
I've given 1 star for customer service because once I sent proof of my account and provided the tracking ID it was sorted immediately. However they don't get any further stars because obviously this shouldn't have happened in the first place and that they couldn't look at this on their system without me providing evidence of my order is very worrying as if I had not had this proof I'd be stuck with a 100gb data allowance rather than the unlimited one I'd signed up for
- Location
-
- Location
- London
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-05-17
- Comments
-
We used a 3 Mi-Fi hub while we were waiting for our permanent Internet to be installed. The signal is terrible it barely ever works but we still get huge additional charges every month as we have apparently gone over our 40gb data allowance even though it is only used about 3 days a month as it is so terrible. We asked for a cap to be put on the account so that when we hit 40gb we don't start getting charged per gb used but we still get massive charges. They've also made it really difficult to cancel. Would not recommend them.
- Location
-
- Location
- East London
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-05-11
- Comments
-
i live in tower hamlets in east london. three 4G is very weak and very slow. all the time signal is very weak and not fast 4g ongoing problem. three masts are too congested in our area. left three network after 6 months. every singla day and night i had problems with their 4G speeds.
- Location
-
- Location
- Chesham
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-05-10
- Comments
-
This review is for the 3 HomeFi package on the Unlimited Data 24 month contract.
Been having ongoing issues with landline broadband for months. Despite trying 3 different providers, 4 different routers, both copper and FTTC connections (unfortuantly FTTP or Virgin lines aren't an option) I was only getting speeds of <1mb/s and constant connection droptouts yet my providers saying I was getting speeds of >40mb/s on their system. After Openreach engineers couldn't find any faults I decided to cut the landline and go 4g. Been with 3 HomeFi for about 2 weeks now and so far it's been the best decision I've made.
With this package you get a Huawei B311 router with a 3 SIM card inserted that when up and running works like any landline router. There are however some pros and cons to this packagage so I'll break my review down and highlight some of the pros/cons:
Hardware: As said the router is a Huawei B311. It's quite small so doesn't stand out like the monstrosities my previous 2 landline providers supplied. However it is quite lightweight and feels a little flimsy so I'm not sure about the lifespan of the hardware. That said though it looks pretty simple to buy a 4g router and just insert the SIM into that one if this ever breaks down. This is definetly a plus as although anyone on landline broadband can use a third party router it isn't always a simple task. With 4g broadband though it is a simple plug and play. Infact some might prefer to buy a router and data SIM seperatly (3 are currently offering a 12 month SIM only contract with unlimited data for £20 pm). The router is pretty basic compared to the ones supplied by landline providers though. It has a power and WPS switch and lights that show the stuatus of power, mobile network, ethernet, WiFi and mobile signal. However it only has one Ethernet port which was a bit of a let down intitially. Also 3 seem to have stripped down a couple of other features. It has a phone socket port so you should be able to connect a landline phone and make/recive calls via the SIM, but although the socket is present it has been disabled and I can't find a function in the router UI to activate it. There's a removable panel on the back of the router that reveals a SMA socket to attach an external antenna which can possibly boost mobile reception (and potentially download speeds too). However I get the impression by the size and shape of the removable panel and the fact that many 4g antenna are sold in pairs that there should be 2 SMA sockets and one seems to have been removed. But one absolute bonus to this router over a fixed landline is portability. All you need to get broadband up and running is electricity and a 3 signal so this router can be placed anywhere in a home (it may take a while to find the position with strongest signal though) and can even be taken on holiday (looking forward to not having to use hotel WiFi any more). Even though this router is a little basic there hasn't been a function it can't do that a landline router can't as you'll read below.
Software: As with any router you access the UI by typing the IP address into a web browser and it is very straight forward to navigate unlike some of the landline routers. It shows you the usual router settings that can be changed but also shows your current up/download speeds, number of devices connected, mobile signal and some other statuses. It also allows you to set data thresholds so you don't exceed any download limits. Additionaly you can download a UI app so you don't have to access it through the IP address and you can also set up a my3 account to keep track of data usage/spending and can download a my3 app too.
Connectivity: According to the manual you can connect up to 32 devices at a time and here's how I've found the different connection types. WiFi - The Wifi works like any other router by searcing for the connection on your device and entering the password. The range of the WiFi is brilliant, I can get a better connection 2 rooms away than I could from my landline router (back when I had working broadband that is). But this router only offers a 2.4ghz WiFi connection which can be very congeseted (not just by users connecting through your router but by other nearby routers) and doesn't have a 5ghz WiFi connection which pretty much comes as standard with fibre routers these days. Ethernet - As said this router only has 1 Ethernet port which initially was a bit of a disapointment. However it's ended up being something of a bonus. I repurposed an old landline router to work as a network switch and placed it behind my TV so I have the Ethernet cable from the router going to this switch. I then have 3 cables going from the switch to 2 games consoles and a Roku box so with the switch being conveniently hidden the 1 cable leading from the router doesn't look as untidy. WPS - This is the only connection type tht has been a headache. According to the manual to set up a WPS connection you just hold down the WPS button for 2secs until the WiFi light on the router starts to flash. However no ammount of pushing could get this light to flash. So setting up my WiFi printer was a bit of a mission. The printer was unable to find the network by pushing the WPS button or enabling WPS in the router UI. I was able to find the printer using the network settings on a laptop but it was unable to connect. In the end I had to delete the printer drivers from the laptop, reinstall and set up a WiFi connection by connecting the printer to the laptop using a USB cable and then enabling WPS through the router UI. But now it's set up it's working fine. SMA - As said there's a SMA connection that can be used to connect an external antenna to boost mobile reception. I haven't used this yet but do plan on buying an antenna to see if it boosts signal/speeds. You could also by an SMA cable so the antenna can be installed in the place of the strongest signal yet the router placed near the devices it needs to conenct to. Phone - It is somehting of a let down that the phone socket on the router has been disabled as although I rarely use a landline it was always nice to know it's there as a back up.
Speeds/Signal: One downside to mobile broadband is you don't get the minimum guaranteed download speeds that many landline providers offer. Although the router can in theory provide download speeds of upto 150mb/s you are never going to get anywhere near this and you will find that the speeds fluctuate rapidly. I have had download speeds in the range of 2mb/s with only 1 device connected via Ethernet but have also had speeds >20mb/s on a device connected by WiFi 2 rooms away with multiple devices connected at the same time. The reason the speeds can be so inconsistent is there are more variables to consider than through a landline connection. Signal strength and proximity to mast, router location, network congestion and even the weather play their part as well as the usual variables such as router channel and other other interferances you get with a landline router. It's for this reason that I've only scored 3 for speeds. However the upload speeds and ping rates always seem pretty stable. The uploads are consistently in their teens and the ping rates are usually holding in the 50's which is very respectable. Despite the varying download speeds it hasn't been an issue with using the data and I've had only one dropout in connection in the 2 weeks which is why I've scored 5 for reliability. With the router fresh out of the box I wanted to see how far I could push the connection so I had a Roku box streaming a film 2 rooms away, another streaming live TV 2 rooms away, a tablet streaming YouTube 2 rooms away and a mobile and a laptop browsing the net all while my son played Fortnite on the Xbox in the same room as the router. There was absolutly no buffering and crystal clear picture quality on the devices that were straeming and only a very slight lag on the Xbox which was fine because I'm never going to be transferring this much data on this many devices normally. The only time the inconsistent speeds have been an issue was when my son was downloading a 12gb game on the Xbox, it took hours and the display on the screen showing live download speeds showed you just how varied they can be with them jumping between 15mb/s and <1mb/s quite rapidly. This is the only time I've had a connection dropout as I tried to stream on a Roku box at the same time as this download and the router just couldn't handle it. So downloading large amounts of data is an issue but the speeds are fine for streaming and online gaming. The mobile signal the router recives will play a big part in the speeds you're getting as throetically the stronger the signal the higher the speeds. So the location of the router is imperative and ideally close to a window to pick up the signal easier from a mast. I checked the 3 signal for my address both on their website and the Ofcom website before purchasing and this is something I strongly advise as like I've said there are no guarantees for speed. You can also download apps that can show where the signal is strongest around you and like I've said there's also the option of installing an antenna (even outside and connecting to the router via cable) to get the optimal mobile signal. I'd also recomend keeping an eye on the signal strength in UI as the light on the router shows the strength by 3 bars and my signal has never dropped below 3. However the strength is shown using 5 bars on the UI and this was showing between 3-4 bars when I first set the router up despite the light showing full signal. I've now got the router in a positon where it's showing full signal on both the UI and the router.
Customer Service: I've scored quite low in this area as I have concerns about the customer service 3 provide if I ever needed it. Being mobile broadband this type of contract doesn't come with the guarantees that an equivilant fibre broadband contract comes with. As said there are no guaranteed minimum speeds. Also my last two providers offered 60 and 30 day guarantees that allowed me to leave the contract within this time without any early exit fees if I wasn't happy with the connection and both these guarantees were worth their weight in gold with the issues I'd been having. With HomeFi though there is no such guarantee. However you can return the equipment within 14 days providing it's unused and the small print even goes on to say that they will still consider the device unused if you've switched it on to make sure it works but haven't yet started using it fully. However it's important to note that this returns period is only granted for online/phone sales and if you were to buy the device/contract in a 3 shop you wouldn't get this guarantee. The contract with 3 also states that you only enter the contract once you insert the SIM into the device and it activates. So with this in mind I ordered a free PAYG SIM and loaded it with 2gb data @£10 so that I could check the router worked, could pick up signal and connect to my devices. I figured that doing this would be considered turning it on and checking it worked but if 3 disagreed and I wanted to exit the contract I would be able to as I hadn't actually gone live with my contract yet so would only liable for the cost of the router. I did need to contact customer services whilst setting up the router and it's because of this they've scored low in this area at the moment. When I put the PAYG SIM in it activated and picked up signal wihtin 5mins. But when I put the contract SIM in there was still no signal after an hour so I called 3 customer services. This ended up being a bit of an issue as the number that was printed on the SIM packaging was not recognised and finding a number for 3 customer services online was a bit of a mission. Once I did find a number that worked I was on hold for ages, when the call was finally answered the operator told me that as it's a broadband device she'd need to transfer me to the broadband team as she's in the mobile phone team, fair enough but I was then on hold for ages again. When I was finally put through I was told I'd need to speak to the faults team and yep you guessed it... back on hold. Whilst I was waiting for this call to be answered though the router finally picked up signal so I just hung up. It was obviously just the case that it took a bit longer for the contract SIM to activate than the PAYG one. So although it wasn't a major issue on this occasion I can see myself being given the runaround if I ever need to contact customer services in the future.
Summary: This router and contract has been a lifesaver after the issues with landline broadband that I've been having and at £22 pm it's comparable to a basic fibre broadband cost. However if you can get a decent fibre connection this isn't likely to be a viable alternative as the cost for fibre broadband also includes line rental so you can use a homephone which like I've said has been disabled on this router. There's also the fact that if you can get a decent fibre conection you'll likely have far higher and more stable speeds. But for someone in my position the speeds I'm now getting are a lot better and more stable than on my shoddy Openreach line. And the portability of this router is a massive bonus that makes up for some of the downsides this router has compared to a landline one. There are a lot of variables you might want to consider before entering into a contract of this length, not least the strength of the 3 signal in your area. If you don't want to enter into a lengthy contract though there are other options with shorter contracts. However these come with data caps, can be more expensive p/m and may also require a partial or full payment of the router. With this contract being £22 pm including the router yet a SIM only plan being £20 pm this does seem to be one of the few mobile plans that include the device for free rather than adding the cost onto the contract price. This is considering that although you'll be paying £2 pm less on the SIM only plan you'll need to buy a router yourself and the starting price of a 4g router on Amazon at present is £69.99 (TP-Link - reduced from £99.99 so it could go up again). That said the 4g routers on Amazon come with more features than this one such as extra Ethernet ports, a working phone socket and 5ghz WiFi signal as well as the 2.4ghz. So it could be worth the extra cost in buying the SIM and the router seperatly just due to the added features. For me though despite the basicness of this router I have been very impressed with how well it compares to a fibre router.
- Location
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- Location
- wales
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-05-08
- Comments
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Applied for a handset was refused then bombarded by the sales team. They promised me a handset after 3 months of taking out an over priced sim card and paying on time every month. I did this when the time came they again refused the handset. When i rang to complain and asked them to listen to the calls they refused and also refused to refund my 3 months money only the last bill. Not budging at all and happy to rip off single mothers should be ashamed of yourselves. I will be taking this further, its not about the £ 48 you ripped me off with its the point that a company as big as yours shouldbt be allowed to rip off innocent people with bad credit. I will be leaving reviews where ever possible.. stay clear people ! £16 for a sim card with barely any GB few texts and minutes your so expensive the only way you can get customers is by lying and mis leading people disgusting you shove your offer of a waiver of £10 when the sun dont shine ill be posting on FB and insta and where ever possible!
- Location
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- Location
- Wembley
- Reviewing
- Three Mobile
- Date
- 2019-04-16
- Comments
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I had good service until I gave the notice to cancel my 4g mobile wifi dongle. Then problems started with my wifi.
This is ludicrous, others, take warning.
- Location
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