iPhone on 3?

[Scott S]

Is anyone using an iPhone on the 3 network?

They offer a £15 a month 30day rolling contract, but I wanted to ask if anyone has used this on 3 before and I wanted to hear any experiences.

I have been on 3 before, so I know the level of customer service to expect, I have checked the 3g signal using a PAYG sim and all seems well.

I want to move networks because the 3g signal on o2 has been terrible at work and the clarity of voice calls over the 3g o2 network isn't great. 3 are offering the deal that suits me best.

I have the .ipcc file for 3, so the contract sim will work fine and all of the settings are ready loaded onto my phone.

 

[danzel]

This could be an idea but generally, Vodafone has the best network coverage.

 

[Scott S]

This could be an idea but generally, Vodafone has the best network coverage.

Vodafone are crap in my village, otherwise i'd have looked into going with them. My m8 has an iPhone on Vodafone and is really happy with the signal, other than when he comes to mine.

 

[123stevevw]

i have an iPhone 3G and I use the £15 p/month deal - can't go wrong IMO

 

[-Leigh-]

As of today, I'm using 3 in my iphone.

Got fed up of the lack of 3G everywhere on o2, and as my contract is up in a few months, I dropped the contract right down to £15 a month, and got a three one month rolling contract sim.

Now get 3G signal pretty much everywhere. Just had to work out the APN settings for the internet which I think is three.co.uk, it seems to work anyway.

300 mins, unlimited texts, and unlimited internet (1gb) a month for £15. Was paying £42.50 for that on o2.

 

[Revels]

Good deal that.

Who do they piggy back off now?

I have unlimited internet/texts with o2 for £15 on PAYG and just use the credit for the minutes.

 

[-Leigh-]

Good deal that.

Who do they piggy back off now?

I have unlimited internet/texts with o2 for £15 on PAYG and just use the credit for the minutes.

That is the deal I was going to go on, but the lack of o2's 3G coverage at home made it a no go. It was either Orange or Three, and Three had the better deal.

I was informed that they use their own network now, and where they aren't available, they use O2 and Orange's networks, so you pretty get signal everywhere. This is what the salesman told me when I took out my mobile broadband last year anyway.
A mate of mine is on three and says he can count on one finger the number of places he can't get signal.

 

[Revels]

Certainly seems to be a lot better than it used to be then.

In the depths of the Solent it doesn't really matter what network I'm on as 3G is fairly non existent here.

 

[-Leigh-]

I think they have come on leaps and bounds in the last few years. If it appears to not be as good as I though I will just swap to Orange as I'm not tied in. The Internet is twice as fast on the iPhone now than it was when I managed to get 3G on O2.

 

[Scott S]

Now get 3G signal pretty much everywhere. Just had to work out the APN settings for the internet which I think is three.co.uk, it seems to work anyway..

I have an .ipcc file that you can load through iTunes, it has the carrier settings and you also get a better looking '3' logo.

If you want the file and some instructions, I'll send them to you (free of course). Might have to do it via MSN.

 

[H.Maxim]

Sounds like a pretty good deal, might look into it.

 

[Aluco]

3 Customer service is abysmal.

 

[James172Cup]

I have been on 3 for 2 months now and can't fault them so far, 3G in 90% of areas i visit, hsdpa in the other 10%, Admittedly not on iphone but i would be happy to recommend the network to anyone in my area at least.

 

[Aluco]

Wait until you try to cancel your contract. Set aside slots for 3 separate two hour phone calls with someone from India telling you not to. They told me that the iphone was crap because of the camera.

When I told him I wouldn't be using the camera he tried to sell me a phone with a 5mp camera and completely ignored me. I ended up screaming down the phone at them to cancel my contract and cancelled the direct debit.

 

[-Leigh-]

I've already dealt with customer services about my voicemail and although they were Indian, they sorted my issue. probably be hell when I want to cancel though lol.

 

[clairemae]

Wait until you try to cancel your contract. Set aside slots for 3 separate two hour phone calls with someone from India telling you not to. They told me that the iphone was crap because of the camera.

When I told him I wouldn't be using the camera he tried to sell me a phone with a 5mp camera and completely ignored me. I ended up screaming down the phone at them to cancel my contract and cancelled the direct debit.

Same here, exepct i kept getting cut off or couldn't hear them because of the crap signal they gave me. Would never use 3 again, its cheap for a reason.

 

[Scott S]

3 Customer service is abysmal.

i know what they are like, i have been on 3 before, but they arent so bad i couldn't deal with them.

 

[alex020869]

Is 3 doing the iphone now??

My wife and i have jailbroken iphones on 3. Admittedly, i haven't used mine a lot with me working away but she loves hers and i never hear her complaining of anything about the coverage.

 

[Scott S]

Nah, they don't specifically have the phone on their network, but you can get the settings to load.

 

[-Leigh-]

After having my iPhone on the 3 network for a few days, I thought I'd add to the thread.

3's network is 3G only, and where they haven't got coverage, they have a roaming agreement with Orange, and your phone then transfers onto Orange's 2G network.

There are some issues with this. Basically, switching between 2G and 3G on the same network is seamless and the phone does it with no bother. But because you are actually classed as national roaming when you are on Orange's network, it's not quite so seamless to switch between the two, and it won't do it whilst you are on a call, or in a data session. There is a timer on the sim, set at around 6 minutes, which checks for the best network to go on.

Couple this with the fact that the iPhone has never been brilliant at switching between 2G and 3G anyway, causes it some issues. My phone seems to display "No Service" as it's goes between the two.

I'm going to see how it goes, it hasn't made any difference to calls or texts getting through, but if it starts to annoy me, may just head to Orange, even though it's £5 a month more.

 

[BIFCAIDS]

Nah, they don't specifically have the phone on their network, but you can get the settings to load.

they do/did its only available as an upgrade (unadvertised) you have to ask when you phone up

 

[Tom]

After having my iPhone on the 3 network for a few days, I thought I'd add to the thread.

3's network is 3G only, and where they haven't got coverage, they have a roaming agreement with Orange, and your phone then transfers onto Orange's 2G network.

There are some issues with this. Basically, switching between 2G and 3G on the same network is seamless and the phone does it with no bother. But because you are actually classed as national roaming when you are on Orange's network, it's not quite so seamless to switch between the two, and it won't do it whilst you are on a call, or in a data session. There is a timer on the sim, set at around 6 minutes, which checks for the best network to go on.

Couple this with the fact that the iPhone has never been brilliant at switching between 2G and 3G anyway, causes it some issues. My phone seems to display "No Service" as it's goes between the two.

I'm going to see how it goes, it hasn't made any difference to calls or texts getting through, but if it starts to annoy me, may just head to Orange, even though it's £5 a month more.

What a gigantic pain in the arse.

The only issues i suffer from are the iphone not switching to cellular data quick enough after leaving a hotspot. it would be nice if wifi signal got low that it somehow used cellular data similtanously.

I have no issues with 2g/3g switching on o2, its seamless.

 

[-Leigh-]

What a gigantic pain in the arse.

The only issues i suffer from are the iphone not switching to cellular data quick enough after leaving a hotspot. it would be nice if wifi signal got low that it somehow used cellular data similtanously.

I have no issues with 2g/3g switching on o2, its seamless.

Yes, I never actually realised until reading up on it yesterday. As I say, it hasn't actually caused any hassle yet, but I can see in areas with poor "3" reception, the phone might start getting confused between roaming.

Going between 2G and 3G on o2, orange, vodafone and t-mobile will be seamless, it's just 3 don't have a 2G network, therefore the phone has to "roam" to use orange's.

So, as I say, I might go to Orange instead. Just wanted people thinking about 3 to know this.

 

[Scott S]

-Leigh-

Did you get that file loaded to your phone?

 

[-Leigh-]

No, I couldn't work out how to do it, and think you forgot to put a link in the email you sent and I didn't want to keep bothering you about it lol.

 

[123stevevw]

Ive used 3 in my iPhone for the last 12 months and its been faultless. Recently changed to the £15 p/month rolling contract deal.

Stonkin' deal when coupled with the iPhone, signal in most places, good 3G coverage etc etc

 

[Scott S]

The file I sent plus the instructions in the below link will have you sorted.

http://www.avforums.com/forums/ipho...custom-carrier-ipcc-bundle-vodafone-uk-3.html

It talks about vodafone, but all you need is the process. When searching for the file in step 6, just look for the three.co.uk.ipcc (or whatever itis called) file.

Copy the command and then right click and paste into the command window, otherwise it may not work straight away.