# Three's 4G Rollout a bit shite



## Fingers (Dec 4, 2013)

After promising us 4G in December for the last few months - an early Christmas present they said, it seems only a few select customers have got it and the rest in January/February. Misleading or what.

I was looking forward to the upload speed as I often have to upload large files and 20mb upload would save me a load of time per week. That cannot come quick enough.

After looking at the coverage map, this area of south London is not covered anyway, there is a huge gaping hole.

Overall a bit of an underwhelming launch and some serious misleading of new customers or contract renewers. Not impressive Three.

http://www.three.co.uk/Support/Coverage


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## pinkmonkey (Dec 4, 2013)

I've got 4g with EE - not cheap but most excellent and blisteringly fast.


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## artyfarty (Dec 4, 2013)

pinkmonkey said:


> I've got 4g with EE - not cheap but most excellent and blisteringly fast.


Also on ee as of today. 66 meg down. 1 meg up.


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## Fingers (Dec 4, 2013)

Why only 1mb up? Should be way more than that


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## twentythreedom (Dec 4, 2013)

Kevin Bacon


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## Mapped (Dec 4, 2013)

I joined three last week for this and I haven't got 4G yet, however my bill is less than half of what I was paying on Orange.


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## Fingers (Dec 4, 2013)

Mapped said:


> I joined three last week for this and I haven't got 4G yet, however my bill is less than half of what I was paying on Orange.



They are certainly good value, esp with tethering on the one plan but their PR department could do with a massive kick up the arse.

They have also announce free roaming, data and texts in the USA today using your calling plan allowances which is pretty major....


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## Mapped (Dec 4, 2013)

Fingers said:


> They are certainly good value, esp with tethering on the one plan but their PR department could do with a massive kick up the arse.
> 
> They have also announce free roaming, data and texts in the USA today using your calling plan allowances which is pretty major....



I've also been tethering on the Ultimate Internet sim with no problems. If they stop me tethering I might get the One Plan, but I'm not sure how they can tell. By their coverage map I'm supposed to have 4G, but don't 

I'm not planning to go to the States, I'd be over the moon if they announced that deal for Australia.


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## Fingers (Dec 4, 2013)

Mapped said:


> I've also been tethering on the Ultimate Internet sim with no problems. If they stop me tethering I might get the One Plan, but I'm not sure how they can tell. By their coverage map I'm supposed to have 4G, but don't
> 
> I'm not planning to go to the States, I'd be over the moon if they announced that deal for Australia.



They never kicked me off for tethering on a PAYG plan for an entire year. i believe they did have some sort of deal in Australia a while back but fell out with Vodafone AU but it may well be back with another carrier.


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## Kid_Eternity (Dec 4, 2013)

Select customers is right its basically a 1000 or so people! In the entire UK. So basically they had no chance of getting it ready till Feb and knew they'd fuck their sales in the autumn so they worked out giving a tiny number it would allow them to say its a roll out.

Fucking pisstake.


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## skyscraper101 (Dec 4, 2013)

Fingers said:


> They are certainly good value, esp with tethering on the one plan but their PR department could do with a massive kick up the arse.
> 
> They have also announce free roaming, data and texts in the USA today using your calling plan allowances which is pretty major....



Woah... what? Free roaming in the US?

*goes to check*

Bloody hell you're right too. http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/4/5173808/three-uk-free-us-roaming-calls-data-texts

As someone who spends a lot of time in both places that's great news.


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## 2hats (Dec 4, 2013)

Mapped said:


> I'm not planning to go to the States, I'd be over the moon if they announced that deal for Australia.



The deal does cover Australia. From their own web page:


> As a Three customer, you can use your UK plan allowance or Add-on allowance, just as if you were at home, to call and text the UK and get online right across the USA, as well as in Austria, *Australia*, Denmark, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Italy, Macau, the Republic of Ireland, Sri Lanka and Sweden.


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## pinkmonkey (Dec 4, 2013)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Select customers is right its basically a 1000 or so people!
> 
> Fucking pisstake.


That's really shit.


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## Kid_Eternity (Dec 4, 2013)

Yup


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## Fingers (Dec 4, 2013)

Ah it seems Australia is included  http://www.zyxaw.com/2013/12/uk-thr...u-indonesia-call-sms-data-abroad-roaming.html


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## skyscraper101 (Dec 4, 2013)

Does anyone know what network Three piggyback on when users are in 2G only areas?


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## 2hats (Dec 5, 2013)

skyscraper101 said:


> Does anyone know what network Three piggyback on when users are in 2G only areas?



Most recently it was Orange. Calls and text only, no data.


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## skyscraper101 (Dec 5, 2013)

2hats said:


> Most recently it was Orange. Calls and text only, no data.



Cheers. Useful to know when I'm at my Mum's tho everyone seems to be on Vodafone round there for best coverage


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## Fingers (Dec 5, 2013)

skyscraper101 said:


> Does anyone know what network Three piggyback on when users are in 2G only areas?



Orange but there are very few places that is still active as Three's 3G Network is pretty widespread now.  I don;t think there are many orange sites left anyway as they have been amalgamating them with T-mobiles.


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## Mojofilter (Dec 5, 2013)

It's a bit sneaky but I'm still very impressed with Three.

Cheap, properly unlimited data (at speeds on 3G that are fast enough to stream Netflix in HD), loads of minutes and texts, coverage that seems better than I had on Orange and the supposedly awful call center has actually been ok the 2 times that I've used it.

Given the above I can wait for 4G. I'm not entirely sure that it'll make much difference anyway for me... Websites load virtually instantly, Netflix hardly ever buffers - what else would I really do with a mobile?


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## pinkmonkey (Dec 5, 2013)

You're lucky, three is beyond dire where I live (N17) - I have PAYG sims for all providers, but EE 4g is miles better than anything else.


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## sim667 (Dec 5, 2013)

Three just need a kick up the arse generally..... Im in a contract with them and having had to go into one of their shops and use their customer services on the phone lately, its pretty clear they've been instructed to lie to customers about consumer rights. Then when they did offer to pay for a repair they tried to fob me off a 50/50 split cost between me and them first.

I've had 4 or 5 outages at work over the last year, each lasting days as opposed to hours.

So yes, crap 4G rollout doesn't surprise me, misleading advertising doesn't surprise me either. Three have a policy of lying.


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## Barking_Mad (Dec 5, 2013)

I cant even get 3G in most of Leeds. They are shite, but the unlimited data is cheap, so i put up with it.

300 mins
unlimited data
£18 a month.


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## Kid_Eternity (Jan 7, 2014)

Has anyone noticed a bump in speed? I'm getting 12-15mb now over 3G but this sounds like 4G speeds to me (it was 2-5mb before Christmas)...


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## Mojofilter (Jan 8, 2014)

Just tested and yeah, I'm getting 22 at the moment. About the same as my home broadband.


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## Supine (Jan 8, 2014)

I only get 5mb but coverage is good. I have no idea when 4g is coming to nottingham. 

Bonus though, I just tested the wifi speed and got 51mb. Not bad for a 30mb connection


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## Kid_Eternity (Jan 8, 2014)

Did a test early and got just shy of 16mb clearly this can't be 3G can it..?


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## skyscraper101 (Jan 9, 2014)

That sounds like 4G to me. Pretty decent speed too. Do you got unlimited data and tethering? That's very good if so.


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## Kid_Eternity (Jan 9, 2014)

skyscraper101 said:


> That sounds like 4G to me. Pretty decent speed too. Do you got unlimited data and tethering? That's very good if so.



Yup and yup. One of the reasons I went with Three is no one was doing both at sane prices.


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## skyscraper101 (Jan 9, 2014)

With unlimited data and tethering you could just ditch the home broadband no?


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## Kid_Eternity (Jan 10, 2014)

Just clocked 22mbps! 

Yeah in theory yes but the battery drain (and constant re-charging) plus things like console gaming mean home broadband will stay for the foreseeable future. It's a good back up though for those times the net is down.


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## Kid_Eternity (Jan 10, 2014)

Clocked 25mbps! This is crazy shit.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Jan 10, 2014)

All the phone shops round these parts are advertising 4g. Except there are no 4g masts. My mate just signed up for an expensive plan and did not look impressed when I told her.


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## Mapped (Jan 10, 2014)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Clocked 25mbps! This is crazy shit.



What city are you in?

I've noticed some faster speeds out and about over HSDPA, but that symbol never changed to 4G, even in central London. According to Three's coverage map I live in a 4G part of London, but my connection right now is 5.66mbps over HSDPA.


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## Kid_Eternity (Jan 10, 2014)

Mapped said:


> What city are you in?
> 
> I've noticed some faster speeds out and about over HSDPA, but that symbol never changed to 4G, even in central London. According to Three's coverage map I live in a 4G part of London, but my connection right now is 5.66mbps over HSDPA.



West London, it's still showing 3G next to the reception dots but the speeds I'm getting are incredible. I thought it was HSDPA but doesn't that tap out around 10mbps?


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## Fingers (Jan 10, 2014)

I can get up to 27mb in the early hours of the morning on 3G but my average in the evening is about 1 - 2mb as the local mast is over popular with the locals.

That is why i am looking forward to (and disappointed that Three have told everyone a load of bollocks about 4G) congestion getting alleviated and have speeds in the evening of 13-40mb plus the upload speed of around 20mb which will shave hours off uploading huge files to the net.


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## Fingers (Jan 10, 2014)

Kid_Eternity said:


> West London, it's still showing 3G next to the reception dots but the speeds I'm getting are incredible. I thought it was HSDPA but doesn't that tap out around 10mbps?



It is DC-HSDPA which is what Three are offering as their ultrafast internet.   It sounds like you local mast has been upgraded from HSDPA to DC-HSDPA which taps out at around 27mb.  You are one of the last as most of their masts have already been done, ours in Tulse Hill was done in August but is already overloaded in the evening. Roll on 4G .

DC can utilize double the bandwidth by using two different frequencies to transfer data back and forth, either two streams on the nearest mast or the nearest and one on another local mast, from what I understand


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## Kid_Eternity (Jan 10, 2014)

Ah so how fast will 4G be!?


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## Fingers (Jan 10, 2014)

Generally speaking, if you live in an area which is congested, 4G will relieve the congestion in the evenings when  HD Iplayer etc struggles on DC 3G.  You can expect to see 40-60mb down in the daytime/early hours and around 15 to 20mb in the traditionaly busy part of the day which is maybe from 6pm til 1am when everyone has got home from work and wants to watch filth in HD.


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## Supine (Jan 10, 2014)

So, I've been testing my 3G speed this week. Been getting 5-7mb at home but 12-16mb when out and about.

Is that really still 3G? Amazing stuff 

My phone doesn't show connection type so I have no idea


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## Fingers (Jan 10, 2014)

In many cases, Three's3G beat's Voda and O2's 4G  http://www.rootmetrics.com/uk/compa...nd-bradford/leeds-and-bradford-november-2013/


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## Kid_Eternity (Jan 11, 2014)

Fingers said:


> Generally speaking, if you live in an area which is congested, 4G will relieve the congestion in the evenings when  HD Iplayer etc struggles on DC 3G.  You can expect to see 40-60mb down in the daytime/early hours and around 15 to 20mb in the traditionaly busy part of the day which is maybe from 6pm til 1am when everyone has got home from work and wants to watch filth in HD.



That's interesting as I've been getting well over 20mb down all day including evenings this week.

Crazy speeds and didn't realize Three would end up with the fastest speeds!


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## Fingers (Jan 11, 2014)

Kid_Eternity said:


> That's interesting as I've been getting well over 20mb down all day including evenings this week.
> 
> Crazy speeds and didn't realize Three would end up with the fastest speeds!



ten is good enough for mobile phone use but a lot of people tether as their main internet connection dues to unlimited 3G/4G data so I would say it will benefit them the most. Plus the people who are gaming who need good pings and those like me that have to upload a couple of Gb of data a day.  Plus the blue movie enthusiasts will be well happy.


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## Kid_Eternity (Jan 11, 2014)

Sure 10 is bloody great but 25 is wicked.


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## Kid_Eternity (Jan 11, 2014)

Just clocked 30mb down!


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## Fingers (Jan 11, 2014)

30 is the very limits of the top end. Maybe they have either put up a new mast or upgraded the backhaul (the pipe between the mast and the internet)

Another explanation could be that your mast was using microwave (ie it had no dedicated link to the internet and was relying on a  slow microwave link to another site that did have an internet link and was sharing that).  It may well have had it's own dedicated link put in now, hence the sudden increase in speed)

Where abouts are you?


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## Kid_Eternity (Jan 11, 2014)

West London, near Heathrow. Only seen 30mb once but usually seeing 15-25mbs this week. Downloading big apps in seconds is so awesome!


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## Jon-of-arc (Jan 11, 2014)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Just clocked 30mb down!



How tumescent were you at that point?


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## Kid_Eternity (Jan 11, 2014)

Whut?


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## spacemonkey (Jan 11, 2014)

Not really related to 4g, but three's 'feel at home' service is amazing. I got full use of my plan (including all you can eat data) in the USA at no extra cost.


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## Kid_Eternity (Jan 11, 2014)

There's unlimited data truly is, I used something like 3.5gigs a month and had no issue. My average is now about 8-10gigs a month down, again no issue.


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## kraepelin (Jan 11, 2014)

Anyone got an idea of the cheapest andriod 4G phone ?


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## skyscraper101 (Jan 11, 2014)

kraepelin said:


> Anyone got an idea of the cheapest andriod 4G phone ?



Nexus 5


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## Fingers (Jan 13, 2014)

kraepelin said:


> Anyone got an idea of the cheapest andriod 4G phone ?



Samsung Ace 3 clocks in around the £200 mark.  The Nexus is about £300


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## Corax (Jan 13, 2014)

Fingers said:


> After promising us 4G in December for the last few months - an early Christmas present they said, it seems only a few select customers have got it and the rest in January/February. Misleading or what.
> 
> I was looking forward to the upload speed as I often have to upload large files and 20mb upload would save me a load of time per week. That cannot come quick enough.
> 
> ...


According to that map I have no H thingy at all round here.  According to my phone I do most of the time...


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## Fingers (Jan 13, 2014)

Corax said:


> According to that map I have no H thingy at all round here.  According to my phone I do most of the time...



Most phones do not differentiate between H+ and DC. Where Three have no 3G coverage they fall back on Orange's 2G which is getting rarer and rarer these days as Three's coverage improves and Oranges sites get converted to handle Three, Tmobile and EE under the MBNL mast sharing scheme


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## stupid dogbot (Jan 14, 2014)

Their 3G/H+ data network is pretty decent. I rarely go anywhere where I don't have coverage. And on the bike, I'm in the middle of nowhere a lot.

Everything else about Three is pretty much shit, so I'm not surprised they've been rubbish about this.


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## sim667 (Jan 14, 2014)

stupid dogbot said:


> Their 3G/H+ data network is pretty decent. I rarely go anywhere where I don't have coverage. And on the bike, I'm in the middle of nowhere a lot.
> 
> Everything else about Three is pretty much shit, so I'm not surprised they've been rubbish about this.


 
They seem to have a policy of lying to get rid of complaints too.


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## stupid dogbot (Jan 14, 2014)

Indeed. My Galaxy Note 2 died a death after 3 months last year (it went into a cycle of freezing and rebooting and couldn't be recovered) and they blamed it on me, despite it being under warranty and refused to send it off. When I complained, they then said I'd modded it (I hadn't) and it took me 6 months and a chat with the exec to get it sorted - in the end with a replacement. I'll be away in 11 months and I will never, ever go back.

Course, in that respect, they're just like all the other Telcos.


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## Mojofilter (Jan 20, 2014)

The unlimited tethering's a bit of a god send now that I've moved house & have to wait 2 weeks for BT to come out and setup our phone line.
The truly unlimited bits getting put to the test as well as we currently have no TV aerial and Netflix is getting a bit of a hammering (impressively in HD).


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## Fingers (Feb 1, 2014)

I have word that 1 million customers are going to be activated on 4G at 9am on Monday. Out of the 1m, 200,000 have 4g ready phones and 50,000 have 4g phones and live in a 4G covered area.

The `1mn are going to be the luck of the draw with the remainder being enabled over the next couple of weeks.

This should alleviate the overloading of the 3G DC HSPA networks (for those who are getting slow speeds in the evening), and give  better and more consistent download speeds and fantastic upload speeds for those with 4G phones.


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## Kid_Eternity (Feb 2, 2014)

In London or spread across the roll out cities? Have to say 3G has been proper slow the last couple days...


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## sim667 (Feb 2, 2014)

Yeah 3G has been painfully slow for me too


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## keybored (Feb 2, 2014)

Branding themselves "3" was never going to be good future-proofing.


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## Fingers (Feb 3, 2014)

Kid_Eternity said:


> In London or spread across the roll out cities? Have to say 3G has been proper slow the last couple days...




Across the country or so i hear.  If you look at their coverage map, more places than the initial launch cities are now showing.  

http://www.three.co.uk/Support/Coverage

And yes, they have had some major outages with their data network over he last couple of days which they need to deal with


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## stupid dogbot (Feb 3, 2014)

No 4G yet in my area.

But then, no problems with the 3G network either, recently.


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## Kid_Eternity (Feb 3, 2014)

Fingers said:


> Across the country or so i hear.  If you look at their coverage map, more places than the initial launch cities are now showing.
> 
> http://www.three.co.uk/Support/Coverage
> 
> And yes, they have had some major outages with their data network over he last couple of days which they need to deal with



Oh right. Yeah it says 4G coverage where I am but I still see '3G' at the top of my phone and the speeds are better than they generally are...


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## Fingers (Feb 4, 2014)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Oh right. Yeah it says 4G coverage where I am but I still see '3G' at the top of my phone and the speeds are better than they generally are...



Word is, because of the outages on Friday and Saturday, they delayed the 4G thing but now the network has stabalized it is due to go ahead tomorrow. we will see....


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## Kid_Eternity (Feb 4, 2014)

Ok cool...will test speeds tomorrow...


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## Fingers (Feb 4, 2014)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Ok cool...will test speeds tomorrow...




You will get a text message (sim update) if you are one of the chosen ones, then you will have to reboot your phone and you will see either 4G or LTE replace the H+ symbol, then you are rocking to go but we probs have a one in nine chance of being part of the first batch if the figures I quoted above ae correct.

Fingers crossed, 3G is mega congested in the evening in Tulse Hill


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## Bob_the_lost (Feb 5, 2014)

Apparently 3 are going to be sharing towers with EE for 4G as well. That should mean better coverage for those with 4G phones...


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## Fingers (Feb 5, 2014)

Three have started letting customers on the 4G network this morning. I have not had an update yet however but they have confirmed it on Twitter.


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## Kid_Eternity (Feb 5, 2014)

Wow! It turned on now seeing upwards of 30mbs!


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## Fingers (Feb 5, 2014)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Wow! It turned on now seeing upwards of 30mbs!



Still not got it but they are going to be batch activating sims on a daily basis so I hope a couple of day


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## Barking_Mad (Feb 8, 2014)

My phone barely ever says it has 3G coverage and when it does nothing works. Coverage is supposed to be excellent in my area but *shrugs *


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## Kid_Eternity (Feb 10, 2014)

Coverage seems to be getting better day by day, more bars and more areas I'm visiting have 4G on Three. At home it's so good I'm now posting this by tethering my iPhone 5S to my MacBook Pro and getting three times my home broadband speed.


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## pinkychukkles (Feb 11, 2014)

Still waiting here in East London  Three - don't forget the hipsters! We need 4G too!!! *first world problem*


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## Corax (Feb 11, 2014)

We haven't got 4G down here yet according to Three - but my phone keeps telling me I have...


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## Kid_Eternity (Feb 17, 2014)

It's patchy but bloody good when it's there! Downloading 60mb apps in seconds.


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## Smick (Feb 17, 2014)

I first noticed it in Tulse Hill on Sat 8th Feb and am getting 25mbps on speedtest.net

My home broadband gets 8mbps.


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## skyscraper101 (Feb 18, 2014)

I'm considering getting a Three Sim when I move back to London and just using that as internet until I'm sorted out. Is it possible to just use an iphone as a hotspot then? What's the best package for unlimited data?


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## Fingers (Feb 19, 2014)

skyscraper101 said:


> I'm considering getting a Three Sim when I move back to London and just using that as internet until I'm sorted out. Is it possible to just use an iphone as a hotspot then? What's the best package for unlimited data?



You need to be on the Sim only one plan for unlimited data and tethering but I think that they are putting a cap on it soon so get in quick. Also, in my experience when I had a PAYG before I went on contract, I used to tether and they never said a word.

The £20.00 a month jobby looks like it would work for you

http://www.store-3.co.uk/3-three-apple-nanosim-iphone-5.html

You can also look at apps like FoxFi which are suppose to hide the fact you are tethering.

So in short, yes you can tether using your iphone as a hotspot and you will get fast 4G speeds in most of London soon.

I am, however, still waiting for them to switch my effing 4g on


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## skyscraper101 (Feb 19, 2014)

Fingers said:


> You need to be on the Sim only one plan for unlimited data and tethering but I think that they are putting a cap on it soon so get in quick. Also, in my experience when I had a PAYG before I went on contract, I used to tether and they never said a word.
> 
> The £20.00 a month jobby looks like it would work for you
> 
> ...



Oh cheers, I've never heard of FoxFi. I will check it out. Perhaps I could just get along with doing this on GiffGaff who don't permit tethering if that works (and they've turned on 4G by the time I need this) if not I'll go with Three. Where did you hear they're going to be capping the unlimited data? I don't necessarily want to start a plan when I don't need it just to get in on it but I might consider it _if_ it's near enough to when I'll want it.


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## Fingers (Feb 19, 2014)

skyscraper101 said:


> Oh cheers, I've never heard of FoxFi. I will check it out. Perhaps I could just get along with doing this on GiffGaff who don't permit tethering if that works (and they've turned on 4G by the time I need this) if not I'll go with Three. Where did you hear they're going to be capping the unlimited data? I don't necessarily want to start a plan when I don't need it just to get in on it but I might consider it _if_ it's near enough to when I'll want it.



Rumours on Digital Spy but not confirmed by Three, rumoured not to affect existing contracts.


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## Fingers (Feb 22, 2014)

I got 4G at last, and it is fast!


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## kropotkin (Mar 29, 2014)

Walking with my kids in leigh woods bristol just got 4G. Speed of 25 megabits per second.  Boom!


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## spanglechick (Mar 29, 2014)

I got a message from three yesterday congratulating me on having 4g.  I don't have it.  I'm on my phone now.  It says 3G.  As it has done since they sent the message.  

Occasionally, I pick up a weak 4g signal and have done for weeks, then my data signal drops out completely, and the 3G signal takes fucking ages to come back.  Then it picks up the 4g thing, drops out again, etc...   

I'm not impressed.


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## Supine (Mar 29, 2014)

Looks like its available in beeston but not nottingham. It's getting close!


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## Corax (Mar 29, 2014)

spanglechick said:


> I got a message from three yesterday congratulating me on having 4g.  I don't have it.  I'm on my phone now.  It says 3G.  As it has done since they sent the message.
> 
> Occasionally, I pick up a weak 4g signal and have done for weeks, then my data signal drops out completely, and the 3G signal takes fucking ages to come back.  Then it picks up the 4g thing, drops out again, etc...
> 
> I'm not impressed.


Whereas officially I don't have 4G on Three round here yet. But I've been getting it for months. Sounds like they've cocked their comms up a wee bit...


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## Fingers (Mar 29, 2014)

spanglechick said:


> I got a message from three yesterday congratulating me on having 4g.  I don't have it.  I'm on my phone now.  It says 3G.  As it has done since they sent the message.
> 
> Occasionally, I pick up a weak 4g signal and have done for weeks, then my data signal drops out completely, and the 3G signal takes fucking ages to come back.  Then it picks up the 4g thing, drops out again, etc...
> 
> I'm not impressed.


You are in a bit of a fringe area but you should be able to pick it up outside at least.

http://www.three.co.uk/Support/Coverage

Go into settings
mobile networks
network mode

and select 4g preferred.

Do not select 4g only as you will not get any calls through.

Other than that you will have to call three for a software update or do it yourself as I did.


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## spanglechick (Mar 29, 2014)

Fingers said:


> You are in a bit of a fringe area but you should be able to pick it up outside at least.
> 
> http://www.three.co.uk/Support/Coverage
> 
> ...


when i looked it up everywhere seemed to say that the iphone 5s doesn't need a software upgrade... 

also, i don't have a 'mobile networks' option under settings.  I have a 'carrier' option, but that just tells me i'm with 3.


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## Fingers (Mar 29, 2014)

spanglechick said:


> when i looked it up everywhere seemed to say that the iphone 5s doesn't need a software upgrade...
> 
> also, i don't have a 'mobile networks' option under settings.  I have a 'carrier' option, but that just tells me i'm with 3.



Three sent out the Iphone updates in December/January when Apple 'approved them'. Think you need to phone Three as most of London is covered now. the main transmitters on top of buildings have nearly all been done.  The low powered poles on the side of the road you sometimes get you signal from have not but where you are, there should be no probs


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## Fingers (Mar 29, 2014)

sorry confusion, iphones needed a small software/sim upgrade to unhide the 4g option. threes fault, the hiding the option turned into a complete shambles


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## Fingers (Mar 29, 2014)

might be worth asking these guys at digital spy, they know their stuff but fall out loads

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1883190


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## Kid_Eternity (Apr 10, 2014)

Still a bit patchy but getting better. What is shit though is the fuckers have changed their data tariffs for new users so you can no longer fucking tether...


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## Fingers (Apr 11, 2014)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Still a bit patchy but getting better. What is shit though is the fuckers have changed their data tariffs for new users so you can no longer fucking tether...



I think you still get unlimited tethering on the sim only one plan, otherwise you are restricted to 2GB/month.   There is always the FoxFi app which hides the fact you are tethering


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## Kid_Eternity (Apr 13, 2014)

Fingers said:


> I think you still get unlimited tethering on the sim only one plan, otherwise you are restricted to 2GB/month.   There is always the FoxFi app which hides the fact you are tethering



Oh yeah? Must have missed that when I looked it said no tethering on even that...


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## Fingers (Apr 13, 2014)

check their FB page. unless i have got it completely wrong (which I may have) I am prety sure they have confirmed it. Might just be for existenting customers who do  not want s new phone mind...


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## Mojofilter (Apr 19, 2014)

Thought that might happen, 4G & unlimited tethering would just result in people using their phone as their main Internet connection at home - which to fair isn't what you're paying for.


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## Kid_Eternity (May 5, 2014)

Still getting some great speeds but having moved and now with a fantastic 100mb line nowhere near my home broadband speed.


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## 2hats (Jun 5, 2014)

Three have just added France, Switzerland, Norway, Finland and Israel to their Feel At Home programme (already includes Oz, Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Italy, Macau, Eire, Sri Lanka, Sweden and the US):

http://www.mobilenewscwp.co.uk/2014...e-more-countries-to-feel-at-home-proposition/

http://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Phones/Feel_At_Home


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## sim667 (Jun 6, 2014)

If they add spain, that could work out really useful for my folks as their time is split between spain, france and the UK.... And they insist on making mobile to mobile calls for 30 min chats at peak times.

Last time they went away i think I ended up with a £130 phone bill


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## 2hats (Jun 6, 2014)

The main thing to note with Feel at Home - as best as I can figure out from the small print - you are limited to such roaming for 30 days at a time and where one has 'unlimited data' in the UK, it is capped at 25GB abroad... which I guess most people could cope with


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## sim667 (Jun 7, 2014)

2hats said:


> The main thing to note with Feel at Home - as best as I can figure out from the small print - you are limited to such roaming for 30 days at a time and where one has 'unlimited data' in the UK, it is capped at 25GB abroad... which I guess most people could cope with



My mum don't really use data at all, although she might if she had an iPhone even then it would be Facebook and emails...... I wonder if the roaming data would also cover a hotspot though, she does complain she has to go to an internet cafe to look at stuff on her iPad (apparently landline broadband in spain is about £70 a month?! hence they don't have it at their house).


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## 2hats (Jun 7, 2014)

Though they state tethering isn't covered/permitted I've done so with Feel At Home without any problems in several countries. Possibly I'm not attracting any attention at my level of usage and/or it's down to using Android (<4.4, though I think tethering can be re-enabled via the debugger in the SDK without needing root access or some other hoop jumping).

Calls and texts to UK numbers (not numbers in the country you are in) are as per your UK allowance up to a ceiling of 3000 minutes and 5000 texts (details here) - but I've never taken advantage of that - I rarely call or text even in the UK.


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## 2hats (Jun 20, 2014)

They've just announced an app 'Three InTouch' (due August) which will permit all customers (PAYM and PAYG) to send/receive calls and texts from their allowances over data instead.

To be fair, O2 already have something similar, TU Go (though I think it is only available to PAYM ?). EE have also announced their version of such a service, due some time this autumn.


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## TodayIsCaturday (Jun 20, 2014)

I am still waiting for 2G coverage outside major urban areas.


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## mack (Jun 26, 2014)

Just received a txt from o2 - getting 4g from tomorrow at no extra cost


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## mack (Jul 4, 2014)

mack said:


> Just received a txt from o2 - getting 4g from tomorrow at no extra cost



What a swizz - I'm on an unlimited legacy sim only deal - unlimited internet, to get the "FREE" upgrade to 4g you have to change tariff -  which costs more and limited to 1gb depending on which tariff you choose - fuck that - gonna try a 3 sim to see what the coverage is like and get an all you eat data package - the cheapest is about £9 or £10.


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## Fingers (Jul 26, 2014)

Three customers are going to get free WIFI on the tube. Starting sometime over the next five days

http://blog.three.co.uk/2014/07/17/three-offers-wi-fi-london-underground/

I like.


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## spanglechick (Jul 26, 2014)

Fingers said:


> Three customers are going to get free WIFI on the tube. Starting sometime over the next five days
> 
> http://blog.three.co.uk/2014/07/17/three-offers-wi-fi-london-underground/
> 
> I like.


might make me reverse my regret over going over to three in the first place. not that i get the tube often, but...


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## Fingers (Jul 26, 2014)

spanglechick said:


> might make me reverse my regret over going over to three in the first place. not that i get the tube often, but...



You are in a really crappy area.  They are releasing an app in the next couple of weeks that lets you make calls over your fixed line broadband which comes out of your allowance, so in effect, your broadband router will double up as a mini Three transmitter which should solve your problems in your house.


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## Fingers (Jul 26, 2014)

more info here

http://www.techradar.com/news/phone...-jumps-on-the-wi-fi-calling-bandwagon-1254413


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## spanglechick (Jul 26, 2014)

Fingers said:


> You are in a really crappy area.  They are releasing an app in the next couple of weeks that lets you make calls over your fixed line broadband which comes out of your allowance, so in effect, your broadband router will double up as a mini Three transmitter which should solve your problems in your house.


hurrah.  i did think the fact that my husband had been on three for a couple of years was all the due dilligence i needed.  "surely", i thought "surely he'd have mentioned any serious signal problems - LIKE NOT HAVING ANY SIGNAL AT ALL IN OUR FUCKING HOUSE OR WITHIN HALF A MILE OF THE CP TRANSMITTER IN ANY DIRECTION"... but apparently not...


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## 2hats (Jan 24, 2015)

Have just noticed that Three are extending _Feel at Home_ to cover Spain (including the Canary and Balearic Islands) and New Zealand from this April.


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## marty21 (Jan 24, 2015)

I had a free  trial of 4G on vodafone for the past 3 months or so, have signed up now for an extra £4 a month on my contract.


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## Winot (Jan 25, 2015)

Finally got round to switching to 4G on Vodafone contract. £15/month for 1GB data and unlimited texts and calls (I own the phone). That's double the data I had on the 3G deal for around the same price!


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## pesh (Jan 25, 2015)

fuck vodafone


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## Kid_Eternity (Jan 27, 2015)

Threes Europe data deal is bloody brilliant.


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## Kim89 (Feb 4, 2015)

love three.  great data only sims.


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## Kid_Eternity (Apr 9, 2015)

One complaint is their 4G roll out appears to have stalled. I was getting it all over the place in the first year but recently I've not seen any changes and still getting 3G only in parts of London...


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## Fingers (Apr 11, 2015)

Kid_Eternity said:


> One complaint is their 4G roll out appears to have stalled. I was getting it all over the place in the first year but recently I've not seen any changes and still getting 3G only in parts of London...



I am getting 4g in most places when I am out and about. Indoors is a different matter though. When they start rolling out 800Mhz in the areas you visit it should improve matters both indoors and out as it penetrates buildings better (thought the internet will be a little bit slower) 

Outside London,  I was up in the Midlands last week and it has improved dramatically in loads of places over the last six months


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## 2hats (Aug 23, 2016)

Apparently Three UK are adding 24 more countries - Germany, Poland, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Malta, Lithuania, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Iceland, Slovenia, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Gibraltar, Guernsey and Jersey - to Feel at Home next month (on top of the current 18 - Australia, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Macau, New Zealand, Norway, Republic of Ireland, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, and the US). So just leaves just a few gaps in Europe now, notably a chunk of the former Yugoslavia.


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## 2hats (Sep 7, 2016)

2hats said:


> Apparently Three UK are adding 24 more countries


Supposed to go live tomorrow, 8th September.


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## skyscraper101 (Sep 7, 2016)

Gah if only they did this a couple of weeks sooner I wouldn't have had to piss about trying to get a wifi signal all the time in Corfu


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## Fingers (Sep 9, 2016)

2hats said:


> Apparently Three UK are adding 24 more countries - Germany, Poland, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Malta, Lithuania, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Iceland, Slovenia, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Gibraltar, Guernsey and Jersey - to Feel at Home next month (on top of the current 18 - Australia, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Macau, New Zealand, Norway, Republic of Ireland, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, and the US). So just leaves just a few gaps in Europe now, notably a chunk of the former Yugoslavia.



This is getting better and better. I have only used it in France, it was a bit slow at times but usable for basic stuff.  If you want fast VPN it.  Germany will be useful as planning a trip soon and Spain is also useful and I did not  realise they were already party of it. 

Good work Three.


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## Kid_Eternity (Sep 9, 2016)

Fingers said:


> I am getting 4g in most places when I am out and about. Indoors is a different matter though. When they start rolling out 800Mhz in the areas you visit it should improve matters both indoors and out as it penetrates buildings better (thought the internet will be a little bit slower)
> 
> Outside London,  I was up in the Midlands last week and it has improved dramatically in loads of places over the last six months



London wide is pretty much blanket coverage but still don't see much 4G when I'm traveling outside London though...


.


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## 2hats (Sep 10, 2016)

Fingers said:


> This is getting better and better. I have only used it in France, it was a bit slow at times but usable for basic stuff.  If you want fast VPN it.  Germany will be useful as planning a trip soon and Spain is also useful and I did not  realise they were already party of it.


The French carriers do seem to throttle heavily (everyone complains). Am using it in rural Italy right now and the 3G speeds are quite usable. Also had decent speed using F@H in France, Switzerland, Oz, Denmark and Sweden, this year. Occasionally my phone loses track of the data network but a quick restart always solves it.


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## spanglechick (Sep 10, 2016)

I've used it a few times in the USA.  Outside the big cities, you can be showing four bars, and still not be able to load a page of urban (or whatever). And this happens on whichever carrier you happen to pick up.  It's definitely throttled.


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## keybored (Sep 10, 2016)

Does anyone know what method 3 use to detect tethering? 

Thinking of ditching EE soon and getting a SIM only contract.


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## pinkychukkles (Sep 12, 2016)

keybored said:


> Does anyone know what method 3 use to detect tethering?
> 
> Thinking of ditching EE soon and getting a SIM only contract.


I'm no tech expert but don't they use packet inspection and see how many "jumps" the data has to do and with tethering, it will show an extra step from the phone to your tethered device? I believe there are ways to disguise that, useful if you have an AYCE data allowance but if like me, you have an iphone, you would probably have to jailbreak your phone I would have thought and I don't want to do that.

That said, with my sim-only deal, I got a 4GB tethering allowance and I've paid extra for another 1GB of tethering data bolt-on, not particularly good value and I'm out of contract on the sim-only deal; since they've now brought out sim-only deals with a 30GB tethering allowance I need to ring up and do the merry dance of threatening to leave, requesting PAK code etc. and see if they offer me that at a decent price to keep my custom although I'm not aware of any other providers offering as generous tethering allowances (please, anyone post up if you do).

I'm pushing my 5GB / month tethering allowance which I use where I work since there's no phone line / internet, 30GB / month would be more than enough and allow me to *gasp* stream some music content!


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## keybored (Sep 12, 2016)

pinkychukkles said:


> I'm no tech expert but don't they use packet inspection and see how many "jumps" the data has to do and with tethering, it will show an extra step from the phone to your tethered device? I believe there are ways to disguise that, useful if you have an AYCE data allowance but if like me, you have an iphone, you would probably have to jailbreak your phone I would have thought and I don't want to do that.
> 
> That said, with my sim-only deal, I got a 4GB tethering allowance and I've paid extra for another 1GB of tethering data bolt-on, not particularly good value and I'm out of contract on the sim-only deal; since they've now brought out sim-only deals with a 30GB tethering allowance I need to ring up and do the merry dance of threatening to leave, requesting PAK code etc. and see if they offer me that at a decent price to keep my custom although I'm not aware of any other providers offering as generous tethering allowances (please, anyone post up if you do).
> 
> I'm pushing my 5GB / month tethering allowance which I use where I work since there's no phone line / internet, 30GB / month would be more than enough and allow me to *gasp* stream some music content!



I'm on a 5GB contract with EE at the moment and have been in contract with them (or Orange as they were) for 20 years. As far as customer service goes they've gone to shit since the merger and I'm quite sure it will only get shittier now BT have bought them, so I'm looking to leave as soon as I'm out of contract.

I'm quite happy with my S5 handset, I'm sure I can just manage on 4GB a month and £9 a month is attractive. The "No Tethering" bit is just pants though, it shouldn't matter how the data is used (I could sort of understand if it was an "unlimited" tariff (though one could install a torrent client on their phone and run up massive throughputs I'm sure)). So if I can circumvent it I will.

It's trivial to up a default TTL count by 1, or spoof the user agent of a browser, I'm just wondering how else they might detect before committing to anything. I don't know anyone who uses 3 so can't test.


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## 2hats (Sep 12, 2016)

keybored said:


> It's trivial to up a default TTL count by 1, or spoof the user agent of a browser, I'm just wondering how else they might detect before committing to anything. I don't know anyone who uses 3 so can't test.


Using 3 I get the impression it's variously been either TTL count and/or user agent string (where applicable). Some of their roaming partners definitely only inspect the user agent string (switch to https and no issues).


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## Mindles$ (Sep 12, 2016)

pinkychukkles said:


> I'm no tech expert but don't they use packet inspection and see how many "jumps" the data has to do and with tethering, it will show an extra step from the phone to your tethered device? I believe there are ways to disguise that, useful if you have an AYCE data allowance but if like me, you have an iphone, you would probably have to jailbreak your phone I would have thought and I don't want to do that.
> 
> That said, with my sim-only deal, I got a 4GB tethering allowance and I've paid extra for another 1GB of tethering data bolt-on, not particularly good value and I'm out of contract on the sim-only deal; since they've now brought out sim-only deals with a 30GB tethering allowance I need to ring up and do the merry dance of threatening to leave, requesting PAK code etc. and see if they offer me that at a decent price to keep my custom although I'm not aware of any other providers offering as generous tethering allowances (please, anyone post up if you do).
> 
> I'm pushing my 5GB / month tethering allowance which I use where I work since there's no phone line / internet, 30GB / month would be more than enough and allow me to *gasp* stream some music content!




I am on sim only £25 a month unlimited everything with 4gb hotspot allowance

I tether my ps4, PC & tablet most days at the same time & most months eat about 100gb data via hotspot tethering.. On my bill it shows that I've used 0gb data for hotspot

The information on how to bypass tethering is freely available on the internet & can be found after a short time browsing.

I won't break urban rules by sharing how its done but at the end of the day if I pay for unlimited internet, I want unlimited internet

Peace


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## pinkychukkles (Sep 13, 2016)

Thanks for the hints. I already use a VPN on my computer when I tether and that hasn't made any difference although perhaps I need to check whether running the VPN on my _phone_ makes a difference as I don't usually have that switched on as it seemed pointless if I'm already running it on my laptop.


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## Mindles$ (Sep 13, 2016)

pinkychukkles said:


> Thanks for the hints. I already use a VPN on my computer when I tether and that hasn't made any difference although perhaps I need to check whether running the VPN on my _phone_ makes a difference as I don't usually have that switched on as it seemed pointless if I'm already running it on my laptop.



Hi pinkychukkles

I don't use a VPN on my PC but have been thinking about running one due to privacy laws...I have the option to set one up on my phone too but not quite sure how without paying for a VPN service?

Out of curiosity........ Are you using the standard APN settings? Nudge nudge wink wink


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## pinkychukkles (Sep 13, 2016)

Ha ha, I read on t'internet that using a VPN thwarts Three's deep packet inspection... my use has started due to privacy concerns and I use Private Internet Access (not free, ~£38/yr I think), they say they don't keep logs but well, they've probably already been infiltrated by the NSA's TAO group anyway... ta for the nudge, will have a dig when I get a mo'.


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## Fingers (Sep 13, 2016)

keybored said:


> Does anyone know what method 3 use to detect tethering?
> 
> Thinking of ditching EE soon and getting a SIM only contract.



I have an app that bypasses tethering on three. PM me for details


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## skyscraper101 (Sep 18, 2016)

spanglechick said:


> I've used it a few times in the USA.  Outside the big cities, you can be showing four bars, and still not be able to load a page of urban (or whatever). And this happens on whichever carrier you happen to pick up.  It's definitely throttled.



I've given up relying on it in the usa, it's too slow to load a map even half the time. Luckily I keep a US sim and swap it in.


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## 2hats (May 25, 2017)

Three adding Brazil, Singapore, along with Aland Islands, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Réunion, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin and San Marino to Feel At Home on 15 June.

I note that Vodafone have now started offering free roaming across Europe for new/upgraded contracts and EE and O2 will do likewise from mid June (the EU is supposed to be scrapping roaming charges in June anyway). EE offer some other specific packages which include roaming further afield (eg US, Australia). Seems EE/O2 held out to the last possible moment. Makes you wonder what they might be tempted to do post-Brexit.


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## bi0boy (May 25, 2017)

They always seem to add places just before I visit them


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## 2hats (Jun 18, 2018)

Have only just noticed that Three UK added another 11 countries a few months ago: Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Uruguay, Vietnam, and Mayotte (ironically I was in one of those in January and left roaming off/flight mode on   ). Their CEO also stated that they are aiming for total global coverage on the included/Feel At Home roaming front, eventually. He also stated they are committed to Feel At Home continuing regardless of the brexit outcome.


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## stuff_it (Jul 15, 2018)

Fingers said:


> I have an app that bypasses tethering on three. PM me for details


Clockworkmod's Tether works a treat, though the customer support is non-existent so don't expect to ever have a purchase recovered after a re-set. Still worthwhile as much cheaper than the data.


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