• Jason Brownlee posted an update:   4 months, 1 week ago · View

    Important message for users of the Three (3) mobile phone network.

    I currently susbscribe to the Three (3) mobile phone network. On Thursday of last week (14th Jan) I noticed that my mobile phone signal at home (Melmerby) had not just degraded but completely disappeared.

    I dismissed the problem as a temporary occurrence, but by Sunday the Three Network signal had not returned so I called customer services.

    After the usual 30 minute wait on-hold I managed to report the fault. The customer service representative checked our post code for reported issues etc. and then delivered some important news to me.

    It seems that the relatively strong mobile signal we had lately enjoyed in Melmerby and surrounding area on the Three network was in fact due to a carriage agreement between Three and the Orange network.

    In effect, all calls across across the Three network in our area were routed across the Orange network. However, on the 14th January this carriage agreement between Three and Orange ceased.

    Given that I was only 3 months into a new 2 year contract I was obviously more than miffed - I run my business from Melmerby and depend upon a continuous mobile phone service.

    However, the people at Three accepted that it was unreasonable to hold me to my contract and therefore cancelled the deal with no fees or charges.

    I have since passed this information on to many of my neighbours who were also using Three and had also lost service in their homes etc.

    If you too subscribe to the Three network and have also suffered a serious degradation in the quality of your mobile phone signal you may well be able to get Three to cancel your contract and leave you free to find another provider.

    I have chosen to go with Vodafone, mainly because they have a ’Sure Signal’ product that ensures I always have a full 3G mobile signal within my home.

    The system uses a ’femtocell’ that plugs into a broadband router, which directs mobile phone calls and data across the internet to and from the nearest base station. However, you will need at least a 1mb download rate for the system to work effectively (we’re currently ’enjoying’ 1.5mb).