Three's PAYG dongles and how they overcharge

[Vassi]

I've had ongoing issues with PAYG (pay as you go) dongles. I have discovered how much more PAYG customers pay - eg a contract customer I know with the same company pays the same monthly amount and gets 5x more data! But then is charged £25 for exceeding it, without warning.

 

 

I passionately believe that the prices should be the same - why are those who can't or won't go onto intrusive contracts less valuable? What kind of a value system is this?!

 

 

It means that those who can't afford contracts are, like prepay electric meters, paying the most, and often not getting a very good signal or speed.

 

 

PAYG dongles - typically only 2-3G per month - are not viable for keeping safe online. it's the security updates that are mostly responsible for sucking our allowance. We also can't control the traffic online whose heaviness effects our download/browsing allowance. Most contracts will be 15-20G a month.

 

 

There are big issues re auto charging, holding people into durational contracts, valuing those who spend the most - all of which are general consumer and outlook issues.

 

 

I've found Three, who were sometimes better than other phone companies, to have lately been awful with customer service. Their Executive office who deals with complaints to have no idea how to speak to a customer or have any comprehension of my real issues, and try to evade the long term problems and discourage ombudsmen, perhaps even not telling you they exist.

 

 

Ombudsmen are a whole other post but I increasingly believe they are not independent, fair, and staff are encouraged to throw out cases or rule unfavourably to customers (sometimes whilst sounding as if they've been reasonable) and are frankly obtuse.

 

 

I'd like to make the community aware and hear other people's stories as a campaign really needs launching about these fundamental imbalances between the public, companies and government related departments.

[obiter dictum]

In a way i agree with you. I had a pay as you go dongle from three. The Sim card cost £21 quid for three Gig of Data. That does not last long

 

I have now a 28 day rolling contract with three. I can cancel with 28 days notice anytime. I get 10 Gig of data for £15.00 a month. My credit rating was shot at the time and i still passed the credit check.

10 Gig is more than enough for me as i do not download any movies of Mp3

[baffledandskint]

I agree. I had "3" til it stopped working and after following call centre advice I had to rebuild Windows. Also gave up Vodafone after complicated problems. O2 has been a lot better except for 3 months of usable service only around midnight to 6am. Now O2 have dropped 2G for £13, and I had to buy 1G for £10. There's no sign to me of competition or any regulation to keep access affordable.

 

I want to ask if there's a better deal but I'm new here and I don't know if it's been covered already. I can't make any sense of the offers. Virgin, ee etc. go on about things irrelevant to me like WiFi and internet in the car but I can't find deals for dongles with info about Gigs, price and 'use by' period.

[havinastella]

In a way i agree with you. I had a pay as you go dongle from three. The Sim card cost £21 quid for three Gig of Data. That does not last long

 

I have now a 28 day rolling contract with three. I can cancel with 28 days notice anytime. I get 10 Gig of data for £15.00 a month. My credit rating was shot at the time and i still passed the credit check.

10 Gig is more than enough for me as i do not download any movies of Mp3

 

You can get unlimited data, 300 mins and 3000 texts with 3 for £15 a month and NO contract!

[havinastella]

http://store.three.co.uk/view/searchSimOnly?tariff=112

 

Free 4G, Free use abroad.

 

Why everyone in the UK does not have this deal is beyond me!

[BazzaS]

You can get unlimited data, 300 mins and 3000 texts with 3 for £15 a month and NO contract!

 

"All you can eat data" applies to the single device the SIM is in : intended for a phone or tablet. "Tethering" isn't permitted, so use in a mifi would be forbidden, and use in a dongle - unclear.

I suspect 3 won't want it used in a dongle inserted into a laptop, or, if it was so used that it would no longer have an unlimited data allowance.

 

 

http://support.three.co.uk/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBISAPI.DLL?Command=New,Kb=Mobile,Ts=Mobile,T=Article,varset_cat=internetapps,varset_subcat=3582,Case=obj(3599)

 

If you have all-you-can-eat data, you'll have a set Personal Hotspot allowance. You can check your allowance by going to My3 and selecting Allowance.

 

Personal Hotspot lets you use the internet when you're out and about with other devices including laptops, tablets and games consoles, just by connecting them through Wi-Fi or USB to your phone.

[BazzaS]

I've had ongoing issues with PAYG (pay as you go) dongles. I have discovered how much more PAYG customers pay - eg a contract customer I know with the same company pays the same monthly amount and gets 5x more data! But then is charged £25 for exceeding it, without warning.

 

 

I passionately believe that the prices should be the same - why are those who can't or won't go onto intrusive contracts less valuable? What kind of a value system is this?!

 

 

It means that those who can't afford contracts are, like prepay electric meters, paying the most, and often not getting a very good signal or speed.

 

 

PAYG dongles - typically only 2-3G per month - are not viable for keeping safe online. it's the security updates that are mostly responsible for sucking our allowance. We also can't control the traffic online whose heaviness effects our download/browsing allowance. Most contracts will be 15-20G a month.

 

 

There are big issues re auto charging, holding people into durational contracts, valuing those who spend the most - all of which are general consumer and outlook issues.

 

 

I've found Three, who were sometimes better than other phone companies, to have lately been awful with customer service. Their Executive office who deals with complaints to have no idea how to speak to a customer or have any comprehension of my real issues, and try to evade the long term problems and discourage ombudsmen, perhaps even not telling you they exist.

 

 

Ombudsmen are a whole other post but I increasingly believe they are not independent, fair, and staff are encouraged to throw out cases or rule unfavourably to customers (sometimes whilst sounding as if they've been reasonable) and are frankly obtuse.

 

 

I'd like to make the community aware and hear other people's stories as a campaign really needs launching about these fundamental imbalances between the public, companies and government related departments.

 

The consumer has the choice : PAYG or contract.

 

Contract offers better "bang per buck" but has a fixed term (be that 1 or 12 months), and has the hazard that if you go over your allowance you incur further charges.

 

PAYG has no minimum term, and no surprise charges for exceeding your data allowance. It offers less data for the money (unsurprisingly: else no one would use contract)

 

It isn't a con : it's a reflection of 2 different business models.

You can choose which suits you best.

[baffledandskint]

OK so some difference in cost per Gig is not necessarily a con, but there's a big difference in the rates, and my PAYG has gone up by O2 dropping the 2G for £13 deal. My problem with contracts is that I could not resolve problems with "3" and Vodafone PAYG. That cost money for no service but at least I was not locked into a contract. I don't trust any of them enough to risk being stuck in a contract where I get no internet access.

 

Maybe with spectrum being a scarce resource, these days you can only expect that poor people will be squeezed out and marginalised.

[tobyjugg2]

http://store.three.co.uk/view/searchSimOnly?tariff=112

 

Free 4G, Free use abroad.

 

Why everyone in the UK does not have this deal is beyond me!

 

Have you used 3 havinastalla?

I have. Never again. Never Never Never.

Even if an unlimited contract was £5 a month. Never Never Never again.

... Ever.

Not even if it was free if I had to set up a DD .

(If you doubt this, I refused the (probably false) offer of 3 months free trial to not leave 3 at the end of the contract - they had my number and I wanted it OUT of their hands. They offered to send me a free sim with another number for the 3 months free trial - I refused - I had no doubts whatsoever)

 

:/

 

I have used O2 before and was happy, and would have been happy returning to them, was intending too - but not now that 3 have taken them over/merged.

[obiter dictum]

I have a 28 day Data rolling contract with 3

It costs me £20.00 per month for 15 Gig of data

I simply put the sim into a Mi-Fi device and it enables me to run up to 5 Wifi enabled devices at once.

I have never ever had any issues with 3 and as stated the 4G is free in enabled areas

[tobyjugg2]

I have a 28 day Data rolling contract with 3

It costs me £20.00 per month for 15 Gig of data

I simply put the sim into a Mi-Fi device and it enables me to run up to 5 Wifi enabled devices at once.

I have never ever had any issues with 3 and as stated the 4G is free in enabled areas

 

Mine was so bad over the entire 13 months before I managed to get rid (wouldn't let me give notice of leaving more than 3 days before end of 12 months contact - without invoking steep exit charges they claimed) I was effectively paying them for nothing as I ended buying another sim from another supplier to use and carried 2 phones around with me.

 

and that was mild compared to the call centers responses.

 

even after leaving (I got my bank to block the company from DD given the issues) they tried to continue charging me beyond the number being transferred despite paying a month in advance.

It was a few years ago, and I just wrote of the monthly payment as every attempt to address the issues hit very firm and high brick walls.

The monthly payment didn't seem worth the stress and risk of continuing to take on 3.

 

I have a low opinion of VM (not VM mobile which I used in the past and found to be excellent), but 3 make VM look like saints in my opinion.

 

I have had multiple friends who have had 3 dongles that were effectively unusable - brief burst of reasonably speed followed by massive stalls - I tracerouted the issues to 3's systems.

 

I will NEVER use them again - even if free - the only company I would say that about - although I would only ever use npower again if it was free.

 

It seems to me you are very lucky capquest.

Hope it continues for you.

[tobyjugg2]

I have a 28 day Data rolling contract with 3

It costs me £20.00 per month for 15 Gig of data

I simply put the sim into a Mi-Fi device and it enables me to run up to 5 Wifi enabled devices at once.

I have never ever had any issues with 3 and as stated the 4G is free in enabled areas

 

https://www.thepeoplesoperator.com/pay-monthly#choose-your-deal

TPO sim only 30 day pay monthly

 

• Unlimited* mins
  
• Unlimited* texts
  
• 31 GB
  

£19.99

+ 10% of fee goes to charity of your choice

 

 

Addendum

 

3's All you can Eat data T&C

All-you-can-eat data.

If you have All-you-can-eat data units as part of your package or with an Add-on, there are no hidden ‘fair use policies’ within the UK. If you’re in a Feel At Home destination, you can use up to 25,600 data units (which converts into 25 GB of data ....

...

It’s worth noting that even if you used your phone for every minute of every day you’d only use, subject to TrafficSense™, around 1,000 GB each month.

 

theres thatTrafficSense - aka throttling

http://support.three.co.uk/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBISAPI.DLL?Command=New,Kb=Mobile,Ts=Mobile,T=Article,varset_cat=signal,varset_subcat=3804,Case=obj%284046%29

 

VM users with throttling issues on their superfast fibre BB may recognise the terminology there.

[Vassi]

I don't see how you can view this as two business models and why for signing up to a commitment and being open to fees, you can have 5x as much data. It is unethical and I feel disappointed in the responses here, both misunderstanding the issue and in accepting it. My problem has continued and I really hoped he CAG would take this matter up.

 

 

It is one of the many matters we need to stop accepting and justifying and start speaking out against.