Posts by nickhill

3 starts killing off 2G coverage

Three's botched switch-off

How does Three no longer utilising the Orange 2G network have anything to do with increased UMTS bars on your phone?

Those transmitters which many Three customers have relied upon for service, and have now been cut, are not all of a sudden being re-fitted with UMTS systems for use by Three's customers. They don't belong to Three, and they are on a completely different frequency band.

They might eventually be fitted with 2G/3G/4G multi-standard systems, and they might one day be accessible to Three's customers through a 3G network sharing arrangement, but right now, it is bad news for many customers who find the ability to make and receive calls very important.

How many... who knows? I don't expect Three will lose many customers in London, I would expect they are haemorrhaging customers in small towns and villages where 3g coverage isn't so good.

Doesn't improve situation for existing customers

A friend and his wife has (had) three contracts. They get exactly zero coverage at home from Three's 3G network. They have relied on the 2G GSM coverage provided by the orange network at home.

Those Three customers who have good 3G coverage at home and at work are not affected by this change, either for the better or worse, unless they decide to go out of town, where there is often no 3G coverage.

Some people seem to be promoting this switch-off as a step forward. I can't see how that can be the case, and regard it as perverse. Particularly given that the transmitters are still there, the bandwidth allocation is there, and there is no service.

My friend had no reception on his mobile for nearly a week. He believed there was a fault with the transmitter... until he discovered someone in the area with a working Orange phone. He then drilled through a layer of customer service at Three until he found someone who would tell him what was really going on.

Three- Get your act together. tell your customers what is really going on. Don't switch the services they are relying on and paying you for off then leave them in the dark. Compare your coverage map to your customers postcodes. Tell them you are cutting their service off before they discover it after the event.