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Services > Mobile Broadband Suppliers > 3 Mobile Broadband
3 Mobile Broadband
Product Rating  
3 Mobile Broadband offers a mobile broadband internet connection via a USB modem. The modem plugs into a laptop or desktop PC and provides download speeds up to 2.8 Mbps.
Features of 3 Mobile Broadband include:
- Free modem
- Pay Monthly from £10 per month
- Pay As You Go option available
- Coverage: 85% of the UK population
- Modems available in a choice of colours
3 Mobile Broadband Consumer Reviews
(1250 reviews)
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Displaying reviews 801 - 900 of 1250 (displayed in order of date):
Reviewed by Richard on 12/02/2009
My experience has been pretty poor with 3 mobile broadband. I've never recieved speeds in excess of 1000kbps all over my "turbo" area. The conectivity is eratic with regular drops in service. Don't even speak to me about 3's customer services. Things are improving though, when they upgrade to the 7+ mbps connection this year (apparently this has already started up north), based on what I've been experiencing I suppose I will get about 2 or 3mbps, which isn't that bad really. I bought one of the newer modems in anticipation for the faster network and it is generally more reliable than the old zte i had, except when accessing 3's site oddly enough, None of the pages display properly and I can't top up using my card anymore, while internet shopping works fine, strange. All in all getting better but dire right now, its not a reliable connection.
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Reviewed by John Gray on 11/02/2009
Hi I live in Perth WA Well we had 3 for only 2 days and it takes on average 45 Mins to load up a Google home page. Plus I had to restart the lap top 4 times before it would connect. Made the complaint however due to cheap as chips service I get the Run around by people who have no idea what they are talking about and try to upgrade you costing more money. I sent a letter offering some advice about renaming the company Free Hand Jobs for the homless. Company Policy Because that is our dedicated service. Needless to say I am no longer with 3.
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Reviewed by christo on 11/02/2009
It seems that i must be one of the few people who has anything good to say about 3 broadband. I live in the manchester(M46) area and I can watch BBCi, youtube, download music and play world of warcraft. so all in all im very pleased with it. Admittedly, the 3.6Mb speed claim is absolute bobbins
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Reviewed by Carlos on 11/02/2009
I have the 5g...18 months contract...also a phone user with you for some years...the broadb. seems easy to install, practical, etc...but extremely slow to browse..as example my favourite page BBC I can't get access to my news, sports, etc...since purchased it...Do you have up-dates of when your service will improve..or what could I do to improve my use of it? Thanks
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Reviewed by Chris on 10/02/2009
Guys, the problem arises that people usually don't read these threads until it's too late and they have had enough of useless three: It's a shame more people don't research them before they take out a contract. I too had major issues with three after I took out a 24 month contract and on the 15th day (1 day after you'r able to return it) they stopped allowing 2G. I live in a remote part of Devon and this is the only internet we can get.. try getting any of those numpties in India to help you.. not a chance.. since last week I made 27 phone calls and spent 3 hours 48 minutes talking to them without them being able to help. (wanting too) As the dongle was sold to me on the basis of 2G and the fact they no longer do it I am taking them to the small claims court only to cancel the contract as have no intention for paying for this. I would say to anyone thinking of going to this company.. give a call to their technical department before you take out a contract and ask them a really probing question (s) and see how mad you get after 5 minutes.. especially if you get one who cannot even speak English. Dreadful customer service... Dreadful advisors.. Staff with no technical knowledge.. a real risk of shortening your life span through stress.. DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY, AVOID 3...
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Reviewed by Mick on 10/02/2009
I struggled to understand 3's customer service dept. as English is not their first language. Performance of the dongle is patchy - works fine sometimes but mostly for no reason HSDPA stops receiving anything. Customer services told me to... disconnect and reconnect = no difference. restart my pc = no difference. manually register the 3G network = no difference. various other futile steps = no difference. conclusion... 3 = poor performance and poor support. AVOID 3 and go to a better provider.
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Reviewed by sheryl on 09/02/2009
3 has got ta be worst network ever i get told i have virus on my laptop or my sttings r wrong 2. 2 weeks with out internet ta find out it 3 thats down and could take anouther 2 weeks ta fix 3 is the worst network and customer services r not that clued up with probs eva
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Reviewed by John on 09/02/2009
I live in an area of so-called high signal strength, the signal is very poor and often crawls along at sub dial up speed. It might be cheap but this is definitely one to avoid. I have had lots of problems with 3 network, the call centre staff in India are very difficult to understand and do not understand letters written to them, there are lots of complaints about this on-line, check it out.If you try and cancel your contract they will set a debt collection agency onto you and you will be hounded for payment for something which doesn't work properly. AVOID!!!
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Reviewed by Mike on 07/02/2009
In short: avoid 3 mobile broadband like the plage. I had a 3 phone so 3 mobile BB seemed a great idea. For the first 9 months it was very good indeed, reasonably fast (not as fast as fixed line broadband but I wasn't expecting that) and very reliable. I'd connect in the morning and leave it on all day. It only ever worked properly in Brighton (not in Peebles, not in Leeds, not in Manchester, not in Leatherhead and not in Chigwell), but I only need it in Brighton, so I was happy. Then, on 21/1/09, it stopped working and I contacted their Indian support centre and OH.. MY.. GOD. Nothing, nothing will prepare you for 3's technical support department. You may in the past have talked to AOL's tech support centre and thought that was as bad as bad could get, but honestly, you haven't experienced atrocious technical support until you've dealt with 3. To cut a very long story short, after three visits to 3 stores and about seven calls to their tech support centre, being bounced around from pillar to post by people who have not the vaguest idea what they're talking about (they blamed the network, they blamed my modem, they blamed my firewall, they blamed the network again, they blamed my antivirus software, they blamed my modem again) and their attitude is one of utter indifference, and that goes for the 3 store. Their billing dept said I couldn't cancel my contract (not true - see later) but as others have noted, the contract is two way: you give them money, they give you service - THAT is the contract and it is they who break the contract by not providing the service. I've had to send a letter to their head office in Glasgow (cc'd to Ofcom in London and 3's local trading standards office in Clydebank - I recommend you do the same if you have problems with 3) telling them to get it working within 2 weeks or I cancel the DD. A friend's wife is a barrister and she confirmed this is OK; if 3 do not provide the service for which you are paying, notify them in writing giving them 2 weeks' notice that you'll cancel the DD if they don't resolve the issue. Under the circumstances, there is nothing they can do about this and don't let the offensive little muppets in 3's billing department tell you otherwise.
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Reviewed by helen on 07/02/2009
I bought one PAYG and somehow it stopped working oneday, and the store sent it back to repair, and I was told that there was physical damage on my modemn, but how??I'd only had it for two months, I never dropped it or anything, shouldn't it to do with the quality of their product? So my modemn is not covered by the warranty. I couldnt be bothered to fix it, and bought another one. It never worked on my laptop, I had been back to the store numerous times, everytime I was given a different answer by a different shop assistant, one said it might've been something to do with my laptop, and suggested my to bring in my laptop and see if it works, a few hours later I came back with my laptop and there was another shop assistant, she said they werent allowed to touch customers computers as they werent insured to do so! She suggested me to bring back one recepit with a number on it so she could call them up, the next day I came back with it another shop assistant said oh, I can't do it for you, you have to do it yourself, it has nothing to do with 3, you have to phone xx company. Can you believe how annoying they are? The shop assistant in 3 has never been consistent the customer service is absolutely horrible!!This store is in Coventry
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Reviewed by Zafar on 05/02/2009
Absolutely rubbish - the few positive reviews on this site are probably planted by 3 staff just to boost their ratings! I was charged to call up customer support on the 500 number and without writing an essay I'm tied in an 18 month contract and have never had a speed greater than 2kps! WHATEVER YOU DO DONT TOUCH 3 WITH A BARGEPOLE!
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Reviewed by kev on 05/02/2009
well what can i say but join the queue of the rest of you that have been shafted by 3 adcould not belive vertising broadband speeds and exellant coverage in your area found this not to be the case and found them to be totally unreasnable when trying to return the goods under there 14 day peace of mind guarntee.(what a joke that is)having used the dongle a few times to see what it was like could not belive how slow it was and kept losing the connection also had a phone with a very poor signal which i was lead to belive was in a good signal area which was not the case so am in the process of using citezens advice and trading standerds to help my case so dont get involved with 3 they are worse than toothache and cost you money and time one of the biggist mistakes of my life
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Reviewed by chrisB on 02/02/2009
bin watching explore;the rift valley on BBC i.player over 3,nuff said
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Reviewed by Lee 'M' on 31/01/2009
My girlfriend has the 3 Broadband package using the MF622 HSDPA USB modem and when she got it, the signal was absolutely shocking, couldn't get up to 3 bars, constantly on 0,1 or 2 bars. However a few months ago, for some inexplicable reason, the signal went up to 5 bars, and fluctuated between 3,4 and 5 bars which was nice to see. But since last Wednesday, the signal has now reverted back to the stone age and is fluctuating between 0 bars and 1 bar. What's 3 been doing? Giving us a little taster for a few months and now have decided to can it and go back to the signal they have always had before? Only 6 months to go until the end of the contract and when it's up, I'm going to have a mass ritual burning of the modem and the software, and I'm never ever getting involved with 3 again!!! They are shockingly bad!!
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Reviewed by annon on 30/01/2009
I think the 3 mobile broadband has to be the worst thing i have ever paid for. I can rarely get connected and when i do it disconnects after about 10minutes. every time i ring 3 when i cant connect, i tell them the error message and they confirm its a 3 problem. I think the service is also appalling. I spoke to a manager the other day who tried to make out i was thick, tried to tell me I hadnt paid my bill which I had then started to tell me to ring the support team, who, are just as bad and tell you to do the same thing over and over again when your clearly telling them it doesnt work. I wouldnt reccomend 3 mobile broadband to anyone, not even my worst enemy.
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Reviewed by Sean on 29/01/2009
No offence to all the people complaining because although i hear your pain and see where your ALL coming from i have to say if you signed up for a 3 mobile broadband CONTRACT then its your own fault!!! How do you think three has got so big in the last few years?? by ripping people off!! I just cant understand why people would get pay monthly broadband on 3 when you couldve bought the 12gb pay as you go dongle! If you want Broadband then you go with Sky,Virgin, BT unlimited broadband for around £30 a month! The only reason i bought a 12gb dongle is because theres no landline where im staying! I havent signed nothing and when the 12gb gone ill hopefully have a landline. It just makes no sense to me?, everyone knows that companies love selling contract phones because of the HUGE charges so why would you pay for contract internet when if you go over the data allowance you get charged when you could either get unlimited broadband or a pre-paid dongle!
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Reviewed by Pete on 28/01/2009
Been using 3 mobile on wireless router with 4 out of 5 bars hsdpa. most of the time I cant get download speeds of more than 150k and never more than 56k upload. viop is impossible. Very bad customer service with staff not knowing anything helpfull and shops prommising calls back but hardly ever do ive given up trying. Using the modem early in the morning download speeds go upto 1mb not quick enough to watch bbc iplayer live. the problem seems to be the popularity of 3 broadband and the masts not being able to cope with the load. Using this in a rural area speeds are around 1mb download at all times. I wouldnt go with three again unless they sort themself out. Also have a t-mobile data enabled mobile and this is a lot quicker. However if you want very basic web browsing and can live with isdn speeds then 3 is one of the cheapest around and with there new £9 mobile offer you can get mobile broadband discounted.
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Reviewed by Di Hollander on 28/01/2009
Can anyone actually point me to where I might find the actual charges for going over my 5GB monthly limit with 3 Mobile broadband? I do check my limit every couple of days and this week it shot up from 4 to 8.5GB so I'm a bit worried as I'm a new user and wonder how much they're going to charge me. I'm actually on the Isle of Wight and was told coverage might be a bit dodgy but I have to say (touch wood) that so far my coverage has been great and quite fast. Might be the way my laptop was set up tho.
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Reviewed by steve on 28/01/2009
I HAPPEN TO HAVE BOUGHT WHAT I THOUGHT WAS A GREAT DEAL 500MINS CALL OR TEXT AND 5GIG MODEM FOR £22 PER MONTH FOR MY SON I THOUGHT GREAT IT WONT RUN DOWN MY T MOBILE DEAL THAT OFTEN RUNS OVER BUT THEY NEVER CHARGE YOU AND JUST TURN THE SPEED DOWN,BUT ALAS MY SONS 3 IS SO BAD THAT HE REFUSES TO USE IT IT IS SO SLOWWWWWWWWWWWW
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Reviewed by adam on 27/01/2009
good service rubbish for playing online games and very expensive, but still cheaper than other mobile broadband.
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Reviewed by Mike on 27/01/2009
Believe all the negative points you read. Problems mainly due to poor coverage despite what 3 say and customer service is appalling. Had to retun it and stop direct debit.
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Reviewed by adrian mcrobb on 27/01/2009
Bought e169g dongle on business contract,at first worked ok. But then after a fortnight, started playing up (eg)disconnecting, not connecting, slowing windows to such an extent that pc keeps wanting to freeze frame on you. Also received a number of viruses because the extra slow down, made me a prime target, for anything that was floating about. If you were on a desert island after a shipwreck and, you had a laptop and, a 3g dongle, you'd better learn how to build a boat fast as help ain't coming...
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Reviewed by annoyed on 27/01/2009
Im sat here in an internet cafe about to top up when the 3 site is seemingly unable to find the link to activate the voucher designated in my starter pack. Now I have to register and faff around for another who knows how long! Nice idea in theory. In practice it remains to be seen.
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Reviewed by bingo on 26/01/2009
I appreciate that at least 95% of the reviews here are negative, which is why they're here in the first place I guess, but I have to say that my 3M service has been excellent (sorry!) It always connects and never drops connection, it's relatively fast (eg I can buy and sell on eBay, d/load and u/load movie clips/pictures etc no problem) and on the light useage tariff of £10 a month all-in it's outstanding value for money - the allowance is a generous capacity which more than satisfies my requirements. I swap it regularly from a desktop PC and a laptop and it works perfectly on both machines. The useage monitor is accurate so you always know what you have left. Don't think I'm crazy but I believe this is the way forward for internet access. Why on earth buy a line rental of £10 and then a Broadband Package? Plus with mobile you can use it away from home and swap machines. Okay it isn't at broadband speed yet but it's getting there. I'm impressed already and it can only improve!
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Reviewed by George on 26/01/2009
I use 3 broadband over my 3 phone on PAYG and never have any trouble connecting and if i don't use it i don't pay. I needed a new phone so why buy a rubbish dongle. Get a nice new shiny phone from 3, write off that expense, then just buy a 1gb chunk when you need one. Great service. Why go contract dufus!
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Reviewed by himbafer on 26/01/2009
This is a list of adjectives to describe 3. Arrogant Incompetent Unintelligent Economical [with the truth]. Their customer service is hopeless; their call centre staff are polite, but are taught only to repeat endlessly the same formula questions, with no proper understanding of customer needs, and this is made worse by their having English as a second language. In autumn 2008 the local shop manager let slip that they were having problems with a software download to their transmission masts, causing service interruptions to many customers, but that this had been hushed up. As a customer, all I know is that connection was either limited or intermittent for over two months. As a service provider they have a duty of care to provide the contracted service --but just try to cancel the contract without penalty--they just wear you out with bureaucracy, and obfuscation. My contract is almost up, hallelujah, but even trying to obtain my mac number was a long and tedious process. They don't give a toss for customers. You have been warned !
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Reviewed by chris blackwood on 25/01/2009
i am at my wits end with this so called broadband service. It isn't just the modem that doesn't work at all. It is the extremely poor customer service i have had to endure. The modem has been sent to get fixed and was returned in exactly the same condition. I was told it was my computer but it wasn't working on other laptops. I decided to stop paying my bill as i was not receiving the service promised and have now just been chased up by debt collectors. I would recommend that any potential costumers stay well clear. I am now looking forward to when my contract expires so i can afford to get a proper internet connection. an extremely unsatisfied customer
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Reviewed by gary ross on 25/01/2009
I`ve got the PAYG version, which makes the original dial up from the mid ninties look fast. Imposible to use websites like youtube, absolutly useless
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Reviewed by James on 24/01/2009
When it works it's great but I have no end of trouble logging on with the Huawei E156G. It initializes, then scans the device and then has no network. Ridiculous as I then have to go through Local Area Connection and log in through Dial up which disconnects me every five minutes. Pathetic.
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Reviewed by graham kerr on 21/01/2009
Got PAYG few months ago on lite tariff which is v.generous when i can get a connection!! Why does it keep roaming onto the Orange network?? any clues out there? When connected I find it ok, not too fast but useable. Tip - don.t try to get connection when it's raining / snowing, I can't!! When it works it's good. Cheers Gra
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Reviewed by Julian on 21/01/2009
Bought this last year on PAYG. It has never connected at high enough speeds whereever I have been in the UK Now I cannot add top up to my account (no reason given except to call customer service) and after speaking to useless call centres I am about to bin it and look elsewhere AVOID
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Reviewed by Paul on 20/01/2009
Very good mobile broadband service! Excellent signal coverage where-ever it is used. Easy plug and play installation. What is good is that if you go overseas to a country with 3 services you can use your inclusive allowance i.e. Australia.
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Reviewed by Illingworth on 18/01/2009
I find the reviews horrifying. I bought a dongle and 12 months (12gb) connectivity for just over £90 in Maplin's Christmas sale. It hooked up without much trouble and I have used it in Shropshire and in London. There were times (possibly peak) when I couldn't connect but it was usually fine. But it was slow. I put that down at least in part to my Chinese laptop, though the mobile connection was in part to blame. I chose Network 3 simply because it allows me to connect in Italy for the same price.... allegedly. I have not tried it yet and after reading so many of these comments, I am beginning to wonder whether it will work at all. One point is that as soon as I hooked up for the first time, there was a mandatory update to download. Maybe the network is trying to improve.After all that has been said here, it should certainly do so.
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Reviewed by Reg on 18/01/2009
3 Mobile USB Boadband service does not even warrent 1 star. If a Zero star option was available then that is the score I would give 3 Mobile for the USB Broadbandd service. Please do not sign up for this service as the NHS is already oveloaded with cases of stress related illness.
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Reviewed by Trevor on 18/01/2009
Very simple Message DO NOT sign up for 3 Mobile USB Broadband. Read the comments here and on other sites and then Do Not sign up for 3 mobile broadband service. The service is rubbish,poorly implemented and poorly supported. If they could just show the same skill in supporting the service as they show in selling the services then they could be on to a winner, as it is they do not and do not show aqny signs of being able to provide a decent service.
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Reviewed by Kelly on 18/01/2009
Not the best internet connection I've ever had, but then I didn't expect it to be. My fixed broadband connection I had before wasn't that much better given the fact it was fixed. My 3 connection was a pain for some time - I had to book an appointment just to open my homepage, it took that long. That was until I read on the 3 site about conflicting software. It turned out that PowerDVD was the cause of the problem and now I've uninstalled it my connection is certainly satisfactory, (dare I say it, good?) It's cheap, convenient and does the job.
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Reviewed by Bazzer on 17/01/2009
To be honest I thought it was too good to be true - £10 a month (light useage) and you just plug in the modem dongle and 5 minutes later you're on the internet - utter rubbish! If it was that good people would be signing up in their droves and abandoning conventional broadband. It showed three bars but NEVER connected! I was sceptical to begin with so after only an hour of trying to make it work I was straight on the phone for my Returns #. To 3's credit the cancellation process was straightforward (ie no waiting for ages on the end of a phone line or mysteriuosly getting cut-off etc!) - perhaps that's because they know the product isn't up to scratch and they have no excuses. Steer Clear until the technology is up to the task. Disappointed.
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Reviewed by dave on 17/01/2009
keeps going off.very poor in my view,certainly won't be renewing.east midlands.
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Reviewed by mickey on 16/01/2009
been with 3 mobile broadband for 3 months now ok for first couple of months but now lucky if we can connect once a day.I dont advise anyone to get one.
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Reviewed by Danny on 16/01/2009
3 Network must be the worst broadband provider ive had, i was on 5GB plan at £15 a month come end of the month i have a bill saying i owe 57.56. i had only gone over my allowence by 1GB! Then plus vat and no line rental? which was the main reason i got a usb stick to not have line rental. i was not told about this to start with when i purchased mobile internet. once again another bad complaint.
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Reviewed by Tony on 15/01/2009
My 3 mobile USB dongle works on my brother's laptop, my sister's laptop, but although my laptop sees it as: 1)3 Connect & 2)Removable disk F. It will not connect to the internet. I am in credit and I haven't gone over download allowance. Any ideas what the problem could be? Thanks.
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Reviewed by Sam on 14/01/2009
I currently have a subscription with 3 at 15 pounds a month for 18 months. My fiance was bought a laptop for xmas and another dongle for it by his mother which is prepaid for a year. My stick works fine and although I found it incredably difficult to get the call centre to understand why it wasn't working when I first installed it and the price of the calls being total daylight robbery I find it works magic! However, my fiance's stick won't work after just 2 weeks of using it and he recieved an email saying he had a bill waiting for him. Hes hardly used the internet that was loaded onto it at all - possibly less than an hour with no downloads yet it trys to connect and then says "cannot connect" Any suggestions?
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Reviewed by Debbie on 14/01/2009
If 3 mobile broadband was a lager it would probably be the worst lager in the world..... This is utter tosh, do not buy this product. I have spent 10 hours within 4 days with NO service. Apparently there was a problem their end....if they cant fulfil their obligations to their consumers, they shouldn't be selling the product. Taking money for a service and not providing it is fraud. Why hasn't Ofcom pulled their trading license ? I am told I need to call them when there is a problem, yet they will not reimburse for the cost of the calls. These calls I add, would not be necessary if they would provide what they are taking money for. I am moving to vodafone or 02, as 3 have robbed me for long enough. As they say, Dick Turpin wore a mask.......
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Reviewed by Mark on 13/01/2009
Rubbish very slow......dont waste your money.
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Reviewed by david on 13/01/2009
got the modem on a 2 year £15 a month contract a year ago, wasnt too bad for the first couple of weeks, after that it failed many times (619 error etc), spent a fortune calling tech support who always seem to blame it on a localised outage before they as good as hang up, simply rubbish. i was told it was broadband for those without a phone line, reality being you can go make a coffee while it loads an email page. worst thing is a couple months in to my contract the modem was stolen in a burglary, 3 would not cancel my contract! so i had to buy a pay as you go modem and have my account transferred to it. cant wait for this to end, lost so much money because cant get to ebay pages or answer emails etc.on time. RIP OFF!!! no help with my problems whatsoever.
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Reviewed by Geordiebhoy on 13/01/2009
I too have noticed problems with my 3 usb dongle and my new laptop using Vista. formerly i was using the older 3 cable modem with XP but upgraded both my dongle and laptop. I am now using the stick modem and windows vista. The problems are 1/ if I send an e-mail with a 1mb attachment the usage meter records that i have sent anything from 3-5mb. 2/ even though the connection meter is reading HSDPA the actual sending is very slow as if it were sending 3-5 times the amount of actual data. My statements from 3 are showing much higher data upload records even though I am sending the usual amount of data. can anyone help? Thanks in advance
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Reviewed by Janaka on 12/01/2009
When I started this it worked all fine, Now suddenly I cannot get to web at all. Connection and signal strength, all work fine but nothing coming down from that broadband
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Reviewed by Jo on 12/01/2009
Pretty lousy service from 3. I picked up the pay as you go dongle as the coverage for my area was supposed to be the best that 3 can offer. The reality? - I rarely get anything above 2g, and on the rare occasions I pick up a 3g service it throws me out after about five minutes, then tells me my settings are incorrect and that I can't log back in. I tried to get some help from the 3 customer service people, and after an hour on the phone, the best the technician could offer was shutting my laptop down and starting it up again. Unbeliveable.
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Reviewed by Paul on 11/01/2009
I’ve had the 3 mobile broadband since January 2008 and it is completely rubbish. I’ve used it on multiple laptops at multiple locations in the South-East and it is unuseable as it is so slow; they clearly either didn’t anticipate the demand for it or didn’t care. The contention ratio for this device is clearly horrendous during peak hours (i.e the hours you’ll want to use it: 5pm-midnight) with regular crashes and reboots of the dialer software thrown in for good measure. After midnight, weekday’s, it is sometimes reasanable but this is countered by the fact that maintenance clearly happens at these hours. On several occasions during “off-peak”, the modem has been unuseable for the rest of the night as the network infrastructure is being subjected to a slow reboot. On other “off-peak” occasions it has still been very slow as well, which is inexcusable! In summary, steer well clear of 3 mobile broadband. It is slow beyond belief and a waste of money. Please excuse me while I now insert some Google tags, to ensure my message reaches the maximum audience: 3 mobile slow, 3 mobile rubbish, 3 mobile broadband is rubbish, mobile broadband 3 awful, slow, terrible, dont waste your money, mobile broadband by 3 is truly horrendous.
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Reviewed by Mark Wooler on 10/01/2009
Got this in late Nov/early Dec 08, worked great for 5 weeks....then all of a sudden...It disconnects at infrequent times, but does this every time i am wanting to be online...so can more or less guarantee it will cut off about 4/5 times, or until it winds me up enough to say sod it and pack it away!! All it does is beep, then i can't view anything online until i take out the USB and put it back in...the 'dashboard' just says No Network until re-plugged in...then it waits till i am quite hapilly surfing and cuts off AGAIN!!! Called the customer service..in India where i was fobbed off for goodness knows how long and told to go away, check some things and call again..which i did..and on phoning back had to go through EVERYTHING in the first call again even after telling them i'd called before. In short, don't bother..save yourself time, money and the heartache of trying to kick the hell out of your laptop!!!! ANY other company must be better than thai!!! If anyone from 3 or any others have the same issue and can help me resolve it i'd be glad to hear from you - woolymonster@hotmail.com
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Reviewed by Martin118(Swansea) on 05/01/2009
Network rating should read Minus -10 Stars (Totally and Utterly Useless) This network and it's Technical Support/Customer Services are by far the worst company I've had the misfortune to have dealt with in all my 44 years on this earth. Operators have given me false names, I've been ignored, sworn at, hung up on, lied to plus wasted 2 days of annual leave waiting for the modem to be picked up and they didn't turn up, I've spent over £26 on an 08707 number (Escalated Tech Support) were they refused to call me back, used over 8hrs of my mobile talktime calling Tech Support and all this whilst paying for a service that has never and will never work to the advertised speeds, lowest speed was 17kbps, yes that's 17kbps, the highest was 883kbps (tested at 5am) which is still well below what they advertise, trying to connect between the hours of 4.30pm and 2am is virtually impossible, my Google homepage would sometimes take up to 20 mins to appear, this must be false advertising in anyone's book. If I could call around and kick someone up the backside for all the stress, effort, time not to mention money I've wasted over this useless piece of junk, I would, with bells on. TAKE NOTE... "GUYS AVOID THIS COMPANY LIKE THE PLAGUE"... YOU'VE BEEN WARNED
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Reviewed by Darren Coates (Birmingham) on 04/01/2009
Can John (3 Manager) please help me - or can anyone?! I've got a 3 Mobile Broadband Dongle with my mac (OS 10.4.1) which seemed to work just fine until a few days ago. Since then, I have terrible problems connecting - the device connects but does not allow me to access the internet. OR, it does allow me to connect but then stops allowing me internet access after just a few minutes. I end up spending ages disconnecting and reconnecting until I get a 'some' use of the internet. I have tried the call centre but they have been no use. Please can you help, this is extremely frustrating. I look forward to hearing from you. Darren
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Reviewed by Philip on 04/01/2009
Dreadful, dreadful, dreadful customer service. Pray to what-ever god you believe in that you never have to call their help lines in India. It's very difficult to understand what they're saying, and they stick to a script - so if you're problem is not on the page they're reading from, or if you ask an intelligent question, you're going to become very frustrated very quickly as the person on the other end of the phone starts looping sentences recited from the screen in front of them. Sadly, a lot of people report the same problem and 3 have a reputation for it. I hope it costs them in revenues a lot more than they saved in wages. But apart from the dreadful service (sorry, did I already mention that?) the Dongle thing with no contract is very convenient. I chose 3 because they were the only ones offering PAYG with no contract. Ideal for my needs in temporary rented accomodation. I guess it's also handy of you're on the road a lot and don't want to be hovering and searching about for whatever hotspots may or may not be located where ever you happen to be at the time. Speeds aren't great, but they're fine for most internet browsing and email needs. I've also VPN'd with it and have connected to company servers via Citrix software while also accessing email from an exchange server, as well as having my own email client and normal webpages on the go at the same time. It had no trouble at all. Most video clips on news website or youtube for eg. will buffer a lot, which is frustrating (not always, but mostly). My recommendation is that if you see the option to watch / listen to a media stream over a Dial-Up modem, select that option because although you'll get a lower quality clip / programme, it'll play with no trouble at all on mobile broadband speeds. I see little benefit in getting a contract as the top up seems to be the same price, with the same provision, with Top-Ups available from pretty much every supermarket and mobile phone shop (of which most high steets abound!) You can sell your dongle then on ebay when you're done.
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Reviewed by rob on 04/01/2009
total rubbish and slower than a dial up moden
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Reviewed by Angry 3 User on 04/01/2009
Without a doubt the worst mobile broadband company I have had so far. Being in the forces I travel around and checked that I would get signal where I would be staying the most. 3’s postcode finder says it has HDSPA access at both locations; so far I haven’t been able to connect once! I have tried to cancel my contract under the Trade Description Act, 3 don’t seem to care, getting snotty emails from the Executive Office email address telling me that because I am not a registered body or recognised authority they can not help me. I refuse to call a call centre in Glasgow to tell some CSD my story for the 3rd time, only to be told he/she cant help me. Avoid 3 Broadband at all costs, unless you enjoy repeating yourself to mindless drones in their call centre. Here’s hoping the credit crunch causes you to go under.
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Reviewed by Pete Carroll on 03/01/2009
To the 3 Manegr who left the message below: The 3 USB Mobile Broadband device and Service quite frankly, it's rubbish ! Its the worst Internet Service I've yet to encounter and you should be ashmed of yourself for coming on here and perpetuating the myth that 3G is woderful. I've worked in IT Support for over 10 years and I also worked for Hutchison 3G, when they were building up the infrastructure for the current network. I would urge anyone "not" to buy this device for the following reasons: Ever since I purchsed this USB claptrap, I have had issues everyday with slow connection speeds, if it does connect at all, the 3 Conect software not recognising the USB modem, consatnt time out of the connection, to the PC crashing due to the exceedingly bad connectivity of the device. Its nigh on impossible to work using this device/service, uploading files is impossible as the connection times out all the time, thus rendering any upload or form filling in virtually impossible. Effectively, you have to start uploading again in the vein hope that it might be successful. The connection speed is atrocious, and a 56k dial up speed was far more robust than this ridiculuous piece of gadgetry. There isnt a day goes by without an issue with it. Absolute rip off ! As a Manager (for what exactly ? a retail outlet?) I know that you are only too aware of the problems with this device and Service, rather lack of. Even as I speak, my connection is timing out and my hard drive is thrashing. So dont come on here and try and palm us off with patronising Customer Service clap trap. It wont wash Im reporting 3 to Trading Standards, and Offcom Please save your money, avoid 3's USB Mobile Broadband !!!! It will leave you as frustrated as a 3 Customer Service Helpline Operator - imagine dealing with all those complaints al day from unsatisfied customers !
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Reviewed by Mark on 02/01/2009
" Mobile is RUBBISH, and all they want to do is SELL SELL and SELL, Absolutely no aftercare service, they really are a rubbish company!!! AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!
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Reviewed by David Sanderson on 01/01/2009
4 days offline, 17 phone calls to India and FINALLY they admit there was a 'Mast problem'. I am not renewing!
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Reviewed by Pete Carroll on 31/12/2008
Well, Rather than articulate a whole passage of pro's and co's, I have only one word for 3 mobile's USB Pay As You Go Broadband rubbish ! Im not one for cursing all the time, but that's the way this device and 3's broadband service. An absolute rip off Points: 1) The installation of thier connect software requires XP to have Service Pack 2 or later installed on the PC - there is no mention of this on the packaging ! 2) The internet connection continuously times out, thus renedring any work I do, taking twice as long to do. The connection speed is atrocious, and a few times, the PC has crashed. 3) Sometimes the USB device isn't recognised by the software - so you have to unplug it then re-insert it. 4) On some occasions, the device can't even connect to the Internet 5) As I'm typing, the connection is timing out 6) On 3's website, if you try and contact them via email or their feedback form, your guaranteed that you'll have problems informing them of your thoughts In a nutshell, dont buy this USB Broadand device Their Mobile Broadband provision is amateurish at best Avoid it and wait until there are more vendors ou there with much better service !! Absolutely rubbish and a rip off !
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Reviewed by Will on 31/12/2008
Fed Up! Signed up to a 12 month contract in June 2008 and since then have been suffering constant 'black outs'. I can go days without being able to connect to the internet and find it rediculous. Contacted 3 but was told that if I cancelled the contract I would have to pay for the remainder of the contract. Another big warning for 3 mobile broadband users, when u connect to the 3 website to check your 'usage' despite the fact that it tells you how much usage you have left in a month, this is not real time or up-to-the-minute information as it has you believe. Instead it can take half to 1 day for this info to update and this has lead to me running well over my monthly allowance. Im on a £15 per month contract so getting a £50 invoice through the door made me angry. AVOID!
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Reviewed by birdfiz on 29/12/2008
Same issue as most of you guys no good coverage, 15£/month, too late to give it back, impossible to downgrade, really really poor custumer service, of course they were a lot nicer when a signed my 18 month contract...forget it...should not be called mobile broadband as it as nothing to do with broadband anyway, so much slower...
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Reviewed by Peter on 27/12/2008
John, I doubt you are still reading these posts but if you are, can you explain why my modem will not connect at all even though it does find a network with reasonable coverage? Its windows vista home premium, scanned as clean of viruses/spyware etc. firewall is windows vista firewall(and yes i tried turning it off). Antivirus is latest version of avg. no pop-up blockers or any other security s/w running. have tried virtually every alternative setting and still cannot connect. problem occurs even when using the provided usb extension cable. any adice you may offer would be greatly apprectiated as i bought this as a xmas gift for my parents. (note that i am posting this via a win xp pc which works fine with the E160G modem). Also worth noting that I am an IT professional, so no need to sugar coat any troubleshooting tips. cheers.
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Reviewed by rona.h on 25/12/2008
Used this for 6 months so far with quoted speed of 3.6Mb/sec. Mostly reliable connection but slow. Help line twice improved speed when it got impossibly slow but I've learnt to expect down- load speeds around 24kb/sec and upload of 50kb/s. I'm on the £10 per month scheme and it is useful for me but I wouldn't upgrade. GoogleEarth is useable but a Youtube clip comes in bits.
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Reviewed by MR THAPA on 23/12/2008
i really luv 3 mobile broadband cuz its cheaper than other and you can get it without contract too.. just pay as you go in cheap prices.. 3 is the best lets love it n enjoy it
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Reviewed by Darren on 23/12/2008
Hi Guys, Used to work for 3 back in the day when they first started out. Was reading through some of the posts that you guys have, as i'm considering getting one of the usb sticks for mobile broadband, and have noticed that some people have made references to taking their mobiles and sticks to a 3 shop to sort out connection issues. This is a bad idea as, 99% of customers and staff dont realise that, all 3 shops have 'half-nodes' or mini booster transceivers within the actual store. Chances are if you take something back to a store and complain about speeds not working, you wont be able to replicate your issue as the store will have sufficient coverage :). Remember that each node within the 3'a infrastructure can only communicate with so many devices at any given time. Unfortunately i dont know what the contention ratio is but i'm sure as hell its significantly greater than a standard net ISP which is roughly between 30/50:1, even more so in highly populated cities and towns! Thats my 2 bits :)
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Reviewed by asut on 22/12/2008
Web browsing is okay but email seems particulary slow.
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Reviewed by guido on 21/12/2008
Bought a 3 Mobile PAYG starter kit yesterday with Huawei modem for £68.49 from CPW with 3Gb starting quota, and I must say it's working pretty well. Sometimes quite slow, but my torrents are coming down pretty quick... might be the sites I'm connecting to. Can't complain, though given the sometime slowness, might be more of a 3.5* than a 4*. Glad they can't charge me if I go over my usage amount like they can for contract users -- they shouldn't be allowed to do that.
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Reviewed by Chris on 18/12/2008
Shockingly bad customer service, not interested in keeping customers, reached my 3gb limit and they will not let me add additional data and instead want to charge me £100/gb for the remainder of the month. Bad singal at best, only works in certain locations and drops the signal randomly and will not reconnect with out a reboot... Steer well clear of this one, thank god ive only got 2 months left on my contract
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Reviewed by dave3388 on 18/12/2008
hopeless, unless you are insomniac or work nightshift. just about good enough for text only browsing. same problem as 3 video phoning, not enough bandwidth. Please don't buy this.
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Reviewed by Martyn B on 17/12/2008
I bought my dongle with '3' yesterday. It takes about a minute to get a connection and sometimes my computer freezes. Sometimes I can use one port and other times I cannot use that same port. The speed is not quite "broadband" but overall I am pleased with '3' and it's service. They told me that they will be improving their speeds to match Vodafone after the New Year but prices may go up.
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Reviewed by Bob the Brief. on 16/12/2008
I am apalled at the level and content of the complaints from 3 customers in this and other review sites and I want everyone to take notice of the following. Any seller of a product or service is responsible for ensuring that that product meets the standards that they promised before you enter into any contract, written or verbal. If you do not receive the service that you pay for YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PAY EVEN IF YOU HAVE ENTERED INTO A CONTRACT !!!!! If at any time you feel you are not getting what you have paid for, and that seems very prevalent with 3, then telephone first with your complaints. If this does not get an adequate response, write to them informing that you will cancel your contract with them as they have broken their side of the agreement. Give them a date that you will stop paying them and if things do not improve withdraw you payments on this date. Keep all paperwork and letters and if possible record phone calls and if they threaten you with court action tell them to go ahead. You could of course take them to court, but this involves you in expense and work, instead of them. Do not be frightened to do this, because due to their very bad record they would not risk the inevitable loss in court and the possibility that they would open up a can of worms. So remember, if you are not getting what 3 promised you, STOP PAYING THEM and go to another provider.
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Reviewed by Ashley Harcourt on 14/12/2008
Three offer great prices for existing customers and have good equipment. What a shame that their broadband service is just such absolute rubbish. We're unfortunate enough to have entered into two of these contracts when we ditched our cable broadband. I particularly dislike Three Mobile but in fairness we previously had a T-Mobile Mobile Broadband deal and that was rubbish after three months. Why are these mobile companies allowed to procure so many customers for a service that is unusable and vastly oversubscribed??
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Reviewed by jay from london on 13/12/2008
I have the same problem with my 3 mobile brodband. I don't get more then 5Kbs and i'm geting p...off with it.I will give them one more chance to do something otherwise i will stop my direct debit and let them sue me.They breached their contract.One advice is to register with a brodband speed checker and save the speed test so you got proof they diden't deliver what they promised.
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Reviewed by james on 13/12/2008
I've had a 3 PAYG USB modem for a couple of days now and have the following observations: 1. Does connect reliably - I have about 40% signal strength at home and always get a stable connection. 2. It's very, very SLOOOOW. Fine as an alternative to dial-up, but I don't think the networks should be allowed to market these things as "broadband". During normal hours, ie. 1800 to 2400 I never get more than 100 kb/s down speed and about 40 kb/s up. 3. A couple of times I have done speed tests at silly times like 5am and got over 1Mb/s down speed. So the bandwidth is there but during normal hours it is spread too thinly between customers. 4. 3 mobile need to spend more money on the network - they have a duty to make sure it can cope with the demand placed on it during peak hours. If they sell "broadband" they must provide it. 5. I would avoid this product until people post saying they are getting true broadband speeds. Unless you connect in the middle of the night, you'll feel like you're back in the 1990s on dial-up.
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Reviewed by Matt Blundell on 10/12/2008
I chose 3 internet because I am blacklisted for credit, so I wanted pay as you go. I can't get a BT landline in my bedsit way too much messing about. So this seemed like a good option. The main complaint I have is that I live in Stockport is that the service is a bit like having all the advantages of broadband but with the drawbacks of dial-up. I am a huge fan of Youtube and Last FM. so if you want to use the service at 1 in the afternoon it's really slow, to the point of perpetually freezing up taking 15 minutes to load up a 2 minute clip, but if you use it at 3am it's bowel looseningly fast. A word to the wise don't go downloading loads of music, video, hour long youtube movies..... you can easily spend £50-60 a month that way. Their customer service is a bit poor but when I complained to their contact centre recently that I had spent nearly £6 in calling credit trying to get hold of them, do you know what they did ? They gave me a £10 top up to say sorry !!! Would you get that of BT ? I don't think so !!!
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Reviewed by Gemma on 09/12/2008
I have had a consistently slow speed on 3 mobile broadband. The service became even worse in the last couple of months, with infuriating customer service. 3 admitted that the network towers in my area, North London, were down and that repairs are to be carried out but offered no recompense whatsoever for the disruption. I had to fight to get a measly £5 off my line rental for the month - their solution being to use my broadband in a different postcode!!! I am planning to cancel my contract both broadband (As they loosely term it) and mobile phone contract. Customer services seem only to have knowledge of PCs and not Macs which is also annoying. I would strongly advise AGAINST signing up to 3 mobile broadband.
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Reviewed by Jan on 09/12/2008
I took out an 18 month contract a year ago although originally I had no problem, however using it at the same post code now it is very slow and unreliable. After several phone calls often an hour long it was fixed temporaraly- a faulty telegraph apparently the problem. As it is at best unreliable more often unusable I want to get out of my contract I am not getting what I pay for- to pursue breach of contract you need to complain in writing and give them a reasonable time to fix the problem (2 weeks) if it still persists consumers are protected under Supply of Goods & Services Act 1982 (As amended). I would not recomend this service its only benefit is if you need internet access in multiple locations, however the service is inconsistent and unreliable overall not worth the benefits.
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Reviewed by Andrew on 08/12/2008
I have a dongle from 3Mobile. It's the worst connection I ever seen. It's rubbish and I throw the dongle outside in the street when the 7 GB finished.:)) Honestly!:)) Sorry about my english but I really want to tell everyone about this 3 Broadband....it's the worst in UK! Do not buy anymore!
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Reviewed by Jazzing on 08/12/2008
SUMMARY: 1) A long-term money-sucking commitment of Frustration in a dongle. 2) Worst shopping decision made since buying expensive electronics from a developing country 6 years ago which claimed to have ‘international warranty’. POOR SERVICE. Since I live in Central London (zone 1), I though I would receive a decent service based on the ‘turbo service’, which would compensate for the general slowness of mobile “broadband”. But despite picking up to 5 of 10 bars (signal bars like you see on a phone), it is hardly faster than dial-up. I feel sorry for those not lucky enough to get the so called High Speed (HSPDA) connection. A friend who lives near Bond Street said he couldn’t pick up more than 3 bars of connectivity either! UNRELIABLE The industry should not be allowed to use the term “broadband”, it is deceptive! And what’s the point of “mobile” internet with access from “anywhere” if it does not connect! UNRELIABLE X2 Most annoyingly, this piece of rubbish doesn’t connect. When it does finally connect, it randomly disconnects in the middle of you work! Some good things: At least I don’t waste so much time watching youtube, videos or downloading things anymore.. (I watch them partly load and buffer instead) I am cheerfully surprised when ever I do manage to surf the net for an hour without interruption.. (though usually not by using this piece of rubbish) In response to above comments about cancelling a contract by not paying them… True: they prob wont sue. BUT you will be damaging your credit rating, which will be assessed when applying for jobs, loans and utility services (including your next mobile contract)
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Reviewed by JB on 06/12/2008
I use 3 because it's the only one on my area that gives a reasonably signal. I travel lots and so need mobile BB. 3 has in general been good, though I am disappointed by the speeds and the more than occassional disconnect/hangup which is extremely frustrating when in the middle of something. I have to say that even South Africa is ahead of the game when it comes to mobile broadband and have much better speeds. I am unable to skype properly thru 3. If i had the choice I would not have mobile BB in UK, much better and reliable service thru the landline connections. Customer service as stated is usually unhelpful, a fob off really. Though since I need to be mobile and 3 covers more of the UK than others, I will stick with them. i think 3 would do well to stick to their word or change their advertising since they promise what they cannot keep!
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Reviewed by Vernon on 06/12/2008
So John 3 mobile manager, the service is "OK" It was much better at the beginning of this year but I guess there has been a take up and this has reduced speeds from 500k to around 100k or less on average in my area. This means I cant really play 3D games any more. So now I can't use my bandwidth. I pay £25 for 7GB PAYG but the service is now so poor I cant play 3D games so I end up surfing the net and doing email instead. So at the end of the month I lose 4 or 5 GB that I couldn't use on the 3D games because the service was too slow. If you provide a slow service then fair enough, you can't roll out new bandwith on the masts overnight. BUT please STOP this policy of putting a time limit on the bundle because I am paying for stuff I cant use because the service is too slow.
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Reviewed by Glenn on 06/12/2008
Mine has come to a complete standstill. After 7 call sto 3's customer service i have ben told to move area or change my pc - they continue to deduct money for a service they have not provided for 6 months. To add insult to injury they won't reply to any complaints in writing. If there is anyone out there experiencing the same problems, let BBC Watchdog know. They can't be allowed to continue this on mass.
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Reviewed by Ubuuntu on 04/12/2008
I had hopes for this but it turned out quite a frustrating experience. Connection is difficult to establish and constantly dropped. The 'modem' and dialler are dumbed down and offers no control. Download speeds are normally under 10kbytes/sec. Only rarely I've seen it go to 20K/s. My home broadband (which actually deserves the name broadband) can do ~500K/s. Most ports are blocked by three, so if you want to do anything other than browse web and get pop mail, you are in for a nasty one. Tech support is somewhere in India and are completely incompetent - at least the three people I spoke to. After explaining that I can't access services on ports 2222 and 8000 I got asked which web sites I have a problem with!!! Money pinching started very early on. The £10 a month contract actually costs £11 per month because you are charged for paper bill which was never mentioned anywhere - nor was I given the option to choose. Other than this, I've managed to
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Reviewed by Robert on 03/12/2008
i got 3 mobile broadband 10gb download i pay 15 pound a month for it i live in a bad area for getting internet so i cantacted all normal (good providers)(Bt,talktalk aol ect) and they said they didnt recomend it in my area so i checked mobile broadbands all of them said they didnt suggest there product t mobile said that it might work it might not 3mobile said Yes it will be great and fast (a asked how many bar's i would get at a minimum got told 6bars+ now 3 months into my contract i get 3 bar's at best normally 2 bar's and get 50 kbps at the most speed DO NOT BUY 3 DO NOT BUY 3 DO NOT BUY 3 so i bought t mobile and it works great get 500 kbps speed and always get connected So im now paying for 3 & t mobile just 2 get internet DO NOT BUY 3 DO NOT BUY 3 DO NOT BUY 3
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Reviewed by Pete on 03/12/2008
Very slow on Hayling Island!
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Reviewed by VP on 03/12/2008
I wouldn't buy anything from 3! Customer service is terrible. Go with a proper company like Voda/O2/Orange/T-mobile.
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Reviewed by Caro on 03/12/2008
For the past two months the 3 broadband pay as you go service has been a nightmare. Connection has been intermitant and meaningful information from the call centre impossible to get. They say my local base station is degraded with no hint of what that means or when I can expect a reliable service back again. They won't refund the money I spent on the dongle. Shame, as before that the service was fine.
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Reviewed by Katherine on 02/12/2008
shockingly bad signal strength, I'm in a 'turbo' area, south east London yet never get download speeds over 15kbs. Often I can't connect to the server at all, pages won't fully download and the call centre support is useless. It was suggested I take the dongle to a 3 store to try it there and surprise, surprise it worked as if magic. When I tried it in my laptop across the road 10 minutes later it was back to abnormally low speeds. The guy in the shop tried to tell me it was normal to have slower speeds at some times of the day. Luckily I'm on pay as you go so will not be touching this company again.
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Reviewed by debbie on 30/11/2008
yeh when they update it can be a pain but i love it i int had a prob with it and ive had mine over a year i bought mine tho i dont do that sigh up thing. i got 2 1for computer and 1 for laptop ok the laptop 1 was poorly made it broke still int got a clue how that happened but o well lol but i think they gud ok their phones int good well i dont like them but other than that i give it 4
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Reviewed by Simona on 30/11/2008
ABSOLUTE RUBBUSH!!! DO NOT GET 3 Mobile!!! Customer Service is absolute appaling- incompetent, unhelpful and did lie to me more then just once, charged me for things that weren't my fault and it is impossible to get written confirmation of what was agreed on (very convenient as no one can actually proof it when they die lie). I do not get the connection that I should- in fact there were about 3 months when I had next to no connection at all- but I am trapped in my 24 months contract ( they didn't have payg then) and would have to pay a huge sum to get out of it! Worst company ever- will NEVER ever be a customer of anything '3' again once I got out of this mess!!!!!
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Reviewed by Gemma on 29/11/2008
Very slow speed - my mobile phone works faster on the internet, which is absurd seeing as my mobile is on 3 also. I live at the top of a hill in a "high speed area" and I am lucky if I can get a connection speed of anything over 150 kbps. I have had the dongle repalced twice (ZTE) as I could not get it to connect at all for just over 2 months. The "helpline" were anything but helpful, telling me it was a problem with my laptop ports. As an IT solutions consultant I knew this was not true. I took it bak to a 3 store and after alot of argueing in the store I got them to test it. I would only recommend this if you really can't have the traditional cable through a wall, which is why I got it when I moved to my current address. I am moving in the new year and have already arranged for cable to be installed. I will just see the contract out.
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Reviewed by Matthew on 28/11/2008
Absoulutely atrocious customer service is the first reason to avoid 3 like the plague. I started (attempting) to use the 3 mobile broadband service a week ago and it has not worked correctly yet. I have strong signal at 6-8 bars yet no page loads in my browser. Very occasionally a fresh connection will function for 1-2mins, just long enough to open one or two web pages before everything times out. I spent an hour and a half on the phone with one of their tech's and got nowhere and now they refuse to cancel the contract on a product/service that is completely unfit for purpose. Horrible, horrible option for anyone thinking of investing in mobile broadband.
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Reviewed by Mandy on 28/11/2008
Obviously 3 Mobile Broadband is above the law. They think it is totally acceptable to pay for something every month but not be able to use it. For everybody out there that thinks they are locked into an 18 month contract for something that they are unable to use, it is quite simple...cancel your Direct Debit and send the modem back to them. Although don't expect customer servises to give you a return address. Goodness no! that would be far to helpful. Just use there PO Box and register it. No court in the land will expect you to pay for a non existant service. Trust me, we as customers have rights. Did I mention that after signing up for mobile broadband a week ago I have been unable to use it. If i'm lucky it might have loaded up a web page by the time my comtract runs out.
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Reviewed by John on 28/11/2008
DO NOT USE THIS SERVICE!!!!!!! Havent had coverage for 4 months technical support tells me nothing is wrong but I still get get no signal and they still want me to pay them. I told them they broke the contract by not supplying me with a signal, they told me I have to pay £120 to cancel. I'm getting a lawyer.
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Reviewed by valross88@hotmail.com on 28/11/2008
I have signed up on an 18 month contract, 5 gigs and have had it for around 12 days and, Yes it's very easy to install BUT I have spent hours and hours just waiting for things to happen, it is just so slow it is driving me crazy and I really wish I had gone along the BT line and paid more and got a good service. This morning I went to the local library to get onto internet, I wasted too much time at home on 3. I checked with the 3 site as to whether there were problems in my area SN4 7BW but it reflected High. However, it really wasnt so for me - it was zero. I am running vista on a HP lap top. Perhaps someone has some tips for me to increase speed and ensure connection is made. Basically, I find the service intermittant and slow and certainly would not recommend it.
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Reviewed by truthsayer on 27/11/2008
I live in central London 3 mobile "broadband" is so slow, i regularly STRUGGLE to use up the PAYG I pay for. I too have spent circa £20 ringing a call centre in india to receive 0 help I have no problems with anti-virus software, or other, incompatibilities. 3 quite simply advertise, and charge you for, that which they do not deliver.
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Reviewed by jim on 27/11/2008
I Bought my 3 moble broadband last week in my local 3 store after my home broadband expired. I asked the chaps in the shop if the speeds would be able to cope with the demands of an MMORPG (Massively multi-player online role playing game) i was givent he answer YES ofcourse. i will admit that browsing speeds are fine for me but when playing any online games i get disconnected every few mins, maybe this is to do with my firewall or a Vista problem (i deactivated the UAC which did nothing) but if anyone else has had similar problems maybe you know somthing that may help.
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Reviewed by Clem on 27/11/2008
3 must be the worst - by a mile! here's a list of things that are quite bad. The connection never lasts for more than 3 minutes. The software and hardware of the Skypephone modem (something the 16 year old chap in the three shop talked me into - clearly having no idea what he was talking about) is so cheap that it takes at least 5 attempts to get connected in the first place. Once connected, the speeds are very very low, with almost no chance of (ever) watching a video. Also, I live in the city center, on the 6th floor, i.e. the place with the best network you can think of. Also, it will block any VIOP services other than skype. Their customer service is in India and they normally have no idea what's going on, just as the kids who work for them in the local shop. My two cents: These guys went out of their way to offer the worst of all worlds. Stay well clear of three! PS: My girlfriend has t mobile broadband and it works just fine.
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Reviewed by laura on 27/11/2008
Thoroughly useless, so-called 'customer support' for a fault caused by THEIR network costs 10p/min from a 3 mobile, and if like me you only have a mobile on another network - aargh! Keep being promised callbacks within the hour, getting them days later, spent an hour on phone to them the other day (finished call about 6.30) only to be told their systems were being upgraded and they'd call me back within an hour. 10.30p.m. I received a call, which I missed as I was asleep (work early the next morn). Not heard anything since (3 days ago). Indian callcentres :( Very slow at best, at worst (most of the time) it is constantly disconnecting within seconds of having connected. My AVG has been unable to update itself for over a week now. I'm in a Turbo area, shows full signal, and have 3 masts nearby. Desperately trying to find a way out of my contract, I have a year left :( If you value your sanity, stay well away from 3 Mobile, they will take your money and give you in return a "service" which is worse than useless. Even the in-store member of sales staff was horrified when I told him the "helpline" charge!! Modem has already been away for repair once, now they say it must be the network but are not doing anything about it. I cannot emphasize enough how much of a nightmare these people are to deal with.
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Reviewed by Jane F on 27/11/2008
I live in Sleaford, Lincolnshire. If you live in this area - don't bother with 3 mobile broadband... the fact that it's called Broadband is a joke, as I achieve slower than dial-up speeds, taking up to 10 minutes to load (for example) the BBC news home page. On signing up I was told I lived in a good connection area, then got home and had problems - rang customer support who promised to get back to me within 72 hours. Fine, but conveniently, I had exactly 72 hours to cancel my 18 month contract. I waited for their response and they got back to me in 48 hours, gave me complex instructions to connect using different settings (different number, different 3 service) and this hugely improved the service for a week so I kept it, but things are now back to dial-up or worse and I'm locked in to 18 months of rubbish access. So, don't use this service if you live in this area!
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Consumer Reviews from other websites (199 reviews) 3 Mobile Broadband Reviews at Mobile Phones UK (199 reviews)
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