Wireless Internet Reviews
3 UK Mobile Broadband Service
Overview
Hutchinson 3G operates under the 3 brand in nine countries throughout Europe and Asia, including the UK. Launched on the third day of the third month of 2003, 3 was the first 3G network available in the U.K.
With the largest 3G coverage in the UK, 3 offers it's HSDPA high speed network across all the major urban areas of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and the network os growing all the time.
Pros: 3 offers the best mobile broadband coverage as they have the largest 3G network in the UK. They offer reasonable pricing on their USB dongles when you go with a no-contract with pay-as-you-go plan. They also offer contract plans that come with a laptop as well as a modem.
Cons: Going over on the monthly allowance of date on a Pay As You Go plan can be very costly.
Detailed Provider Information
Plans: 3 offers a number of mobile broadband plans to fit your needs. Pay As You Go Mobile Broadband plans require no commitment to a contract however you do have to purchase a USB modem. There are three packages available for Pay As You Go and on a 12 month contract: Broadband Lite that gives you 1GB allowance for £10 per month, Broadband Plus that gives you a 3GB allowance at £15 per month and the Broadband max package that gives a 7GB allowance for £25 a month. With 18 and 24 month along with the Broadband Lite package there are two additional packages: Broadband 5GB for £15 per month and Broadband 15GB for £30 per month.
In addition 3 also has three plans available that come with a laptop computer. These require you to sign up for a 24 months contract and come complete with every thing you need to surf the web. All laptop packages come with 5GB allowance per month. For £30 a month you can get a HP 550 Notebook with 150 text messages a month. For £25 a month you can get a HP 2133 mini-note with 100 text messages per month. For £40 a month you can get a HP dv5-1111ea with 150 text messages a month. Going over the monthly allowance of any contract based package will be billed at £0.10 per MB for going over the monthly allowance on a Pay As You Go plan you will be billed at £1 per MB.
Customer Service: Customer service for 3 mobile broadband is available through a toll free number, email and at any 3 store.
Credit check: A credit check is required for any pay monthly contract.
Contract: For 3 mobile broadband service you can choose from Pay As You Go which does not require a contract or from a 12, 18 or 24 month contract.
Payment Options: Payments can be made 3 via direct debit, charged to your credit card, through the 3 website, by cheque, postal order and cash.
Bandwidth Restrictions: You can expect to see average speeds of around 1Mbps -1.5Mbps on the 3 network with speeds peaking at around 2.8Mbps.
Activation Fee: There is no activation fee associated with this service.
Cancellation Fee: Cancellation fees can vary as they are based on factors like how long you have left on your contract and payment of equipment.
Roaming Charges: You can use your 3 mobile broadband allowance on any 3 networks around the world for no extra charge with their “3 Like Home” service. For use on other networks the standard roaming charge ranges from £3.00 per MB up to £6.00 per MB depending on which country you are in.
Modems and PC Cards: 3 offer a number of USB dongle modems which are free with most contracts. For Pay As You Go plans you are required to buy the modem. These are all priced evenly at £48.93.
Some of the Available Modems and PC Cards are listed below:
ZTE MF627 USB modem (shown)Huawei E156 stick USB modem
Huawei E160G stick USB modem
Huawei E169 stick USB modem
Coverage Map: 3's broadband coverage map
ReedyBest speed I got 0.8Mb/s in a supposed Turbo area. Very poor! Avoid 3 at all costs.
George BestI went with PAYG option and I'm glad I did. It's rare if I can even get a connection although I did manage a full 5 minutes of uninterpreted service once. 3 are pretty useless.
LaxmiOh god! I should have read this forum before.I am in best coverage area still it takes around 4minutes to open my hotmail.I have gaveup trying youtube.And today I sent a mail and read a news and lo my usage for today is 8GB.Avoid 3 broadband!
Lynda MorphettOver usage of monthly data allocation is so easy to do and so expensive (10c per mb). I had a monthly bill for $700 for 1 GB of overusaged of data (caused by Windows Updates automatically going off without me knowing it)
Three don't even allow you to disable usage once you've reached your allocation limit, unlike Adam Internet..In Summary a complete Rip off. And the speed is also slow, despite them claiming its fast boardband. Unfortunately I have another year left in this horrible contract. BEWARE...Go elsewhere!!
