Comments 3 Mobile Broadband USB Modem - Peripheral - review

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PaulRadcliffe

12:50 PM on 10 June, 2008

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The broadband modem offered by 3 works well if there is a decent 3G signal. It also works with Linux, such as the Asus eee. However, it should also work reasonably quickly using GPRS and it does connect but the data transfer is so painfully slow it is useless.

Another point which 3 don't advertise is that if you want to activate it for international roaming, they demand a £150 deposit, repayable after 12 months!! This isn't visible in any of their terms and conditions. Roaming data is charged at £3 per MB, which is rather prohibitive too....

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juliusfi

6:06 PM on 5 July, 2008

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I have been stuck with a 3 mobile broadband contract for the last 6 months. The service is hopelessly unreliable, rarely faster than dial-up, and often struggles to maintain a connection for more than a few seconds (according to 3's website I am in a strong signal area, and they have told me the same on the phone). The useless and frustrating internet service is coupled with some of the worst customer service I have come across. Avoid

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Tuffnut

8:25 AM on 9 July, 2008

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I am a new user to 3's mobile broadband but, thankfully, went down the PAYG route initially rather than committing to a contract. Boy!!! How pleased am I that I decided to do this. Their customer service is bad, ......really really bad, with no hint of customer care. The maximum speed in a good coverage area that I have so far achieved is 42kps. On initial set up 3's website was down so I couldn't even activate my voucher as they offer no facility to do this other than online. I wouldn't ever consider using this service on a regular basis and it is just not man enough for the job. Buyer beware.....

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Martyjar

5:15 PM on 17 July, 2008

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You reviewer has been amazingly lucky. I have tried to use my modem in a wide variety of areas and on different computers - rarely reaching dial-up speeds, and often not maintaining a connection - including in areas the website says are 'high speed'.

I notified them in time that I wished to cancel under the terms of the contract, and have since spent over 15 hours talking to the extremely aggressive and rude customer services staff, having to explain the situation repeatedly. The matter has now had to progress to legal action from myself as several months on, they are trying to claim an extortionate cancellation fee.

Appalling.

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Mark3

10:55 AM on 21 July, 2008

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I can confirm that 3's coverage charts are hopelessly optimistic. Believing that the two locations I'm most likely to want were fine I signed up for 18 months £15 for 5GB and a free Huawei 169G modem. Indoors downstairs at home it wouldn't connect and stay connected at all. Upstairs with the modem dangling out of the window on a cable it did connect just but speeds were abysmal. From the office it connected but was terribly slow.

The one thing I did do before ordering was make sure where I stood if a return was needed - currently this is return within 14 days with no more than 3 consecutive days connected. An information sheet detailing the procedure is included with the modem. I have had no problem getting a returns authorisation so I can send it back. The person I spoke to to get the return underway was polite and efficient. Of course I haven't completed the process yet but I don't forsee any major problem.

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NeilHassan

6:56 PM on 19 August, 2008

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Avoid at all costs!

I took out a contract and started using the service in July. During the first month, the network was out for 7 days. This month so far, there's been a network failure for 10 out of 19 days. That, by anyone's standards, is appalling delivery.

Do not be swayed by the low cost or special offers; I'm stuck with 17 months of an 18 month contract remaining for service that's an absolute P.O.S!!!

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JoeMcCabeSmith

1:57 PM on 3 September, 2008

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I bought the 3 dongle about 4 months ago. Thankfully I chose PAYG and wasn't faced with contract obligations. This has been a total wast of time. In 4 months I have successfully accessed the Internet on one occasion for about 5 minutes. I have not been able to get online for the last 3 months or so. This is a complete and utter waste of money. I feel sorry for those who are tied into contracts. Final advice steer clear of this and save your money and stress levels.

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AMcGuire

10:32 PM on 6 September, 2008

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AVOID this product at all costs. It may be cheap in theory - but you'll be paying for a service that you NEVER RECEIVE. I've been using this for about 8 months, and - possibly due to increased take-up of the service over that time - the service has massively deteriorated in that time. Well over half the time, it's impossible to connect at all. Days and days will go by without any joy. Then, when it *does* let you connect, the 'line' usually 'drops' within 5 minutes. You will never - EVER - get any further than checking your emails with this service. Actually downloading anything is a literal impossibility. Often, when connected, you can access nothing beyond Three's own webpage (which adds insult to injury, really - since most of that's devoted to lauding the virtues of its mobile broadband service...). The call centre - intended to be a 'helpline' - is in India, and (not wishing to be rude, here) I've not yet spoken to anyone there who speaks coherent English. If this was a tangible product instead of a so-called 'service' - ie., something you could take back to the shop - then Three would have been out of business months ago. It's THAT BAD. If I've made one person save their money and take their custom elsewhere, then I consider this post worthwhile. PLEASE don't sign up - and if you do, don't say you weren't warned.

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SteveConnor

2:41 AM on 12 September, 2008

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I have been using 3 mobile broadband for just over 2 weeks. Officially it supposed to provide a 2.8Gb service. In practice I'm getting between 200kb and 800kb. It depends on how near the mast you are as to what service you get. Three are planning to up the speed of their service to around 14Gb according to their website news. If they don't do it within 18 months they will lose a lot of customers. For that reason alone I'm sure things will improve.

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AdminSpod

6:00 PM on 23 September, 2008

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Beware "out of bundle charges" of 10p a megabyte.

That is an outrageous £100 a gigabyte if you go over your monthly limit!

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Jazzing

1:51 PM on 8 December, 2008

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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)

Anyone know how to go about cancelling their contract without bleeding money? Has anyone tried?

I bought an 18 month contract at the end of October 2008.

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Martin118Swansea

11:23 AM on 6 January, 2009

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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. I've been given false information, ignored, sworn at, hung up on, wasted 2 days of annual leave from work waiting for the modem to picked up and they didn't turn up, spent over £26 on an 08707 number 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 17, the highest was 883kbps (tested at 5am) which is still well below what they advertise, 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 the money I've wasted over this useless piece of junk, I would, with bells on. TAKE NOTE... "AVOID THIS COMPANY LIKE THE PLAGUE OR GOD HELP YOU"

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maxwilliams

6:41 PM on 27 January, 2009

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posted a comment last night when I had hsdpa max. speed of a download 1048 kbps

today I have not been able to get hsdpa at all ,I can dl at a speed of 21.4kbps if this

isnt cr-p then what is . I feel better now but i must take my pill.

MAX

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Andy21

4:06 PM on 10 October, 2009

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Good device, TERRIBLE TERRIBLE service. Speed is worse than the worst dialup I have ever used. My 28k modem in the 1980s was better. Connections drop at random. Google pings at 3000ms. Packet loss is about half. I live in CENTRAL LONDON within sight of a cluster of 3G masts. At 15 pounds per month this is a disgraceful ripoff. Cancelling my contract immediately. You should avoid this company and their proucts if you have any sense.

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RogerBeale

11:35 AM on 15 October, 2009

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I bought a dongle with 12GB for a year in February, and have so far only managed to use 2GB, so slow is it. I notice that (in Maplins at least), the price of this package has dropped from £100 to £80; still overpriced if you don't even get to use half the allowance!

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alab

10:27 AM on 18 July, 2010

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Appalling service from 3, especially since the software "upgrade" a few weeks ago. If you in a major city centre you will be fine but anywhere without an extremely strong signal, forget it. I can barely hold a connection long enough to check email at the moment. I cannot wait to use up my allowance so I can change to a company that concentrates on providing a good service instead of spending all their money on lying tv adverts.

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PaulT

1:17 PM on 29 September, 2010

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Awful service from an awful company. Same problems that have been going on for more than two years now and are getting worse - network capacity issues in too many areas, speed throttling, taking too long to respond to mast problems, poor customer services, no online support or notification, blame anything and anyone else culture.

Lots and lots of reviews online going back two years all saying the same things.

Avoid 3 like the plague.

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Dee1

10:47 PM on 19 May, 2011

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PaulT has nailed it. This is still an awful service and it's clear that far too many customers are receiving an unacceptable level of service. The customer 'care' is still atrocious too. 3 are a nightmare and should be avoided. You could be lucky and have a good experience but the best advice would be to take no chances and only consider the leading networks.

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3's Mobile Broadband offering gives you flexible internet access for not too much cash. While at best we never got near the headline speeds of 2.8Mbps and at worst performance was lacklustre, most of the time it works well, making it the best value mobile broadband offering currently on the market.

Overall

8/10

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Reviewed by Benny Har-Even

05 December 2007

Price as reviewed

free/subscription

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