3 promise speeds up to 3.6mbps but how do i find out what speed my own modem is working at?

There are things you can do to improve the siuation.

1. Get a better HSDPA modem.
2. Get a decent gain antenna.
3. Perhaps use a better operating system.

For instance I have a Novatel Wireless Merlin X950D express card and a 9dbi directional desktop antenna, all on Linux and I don’t experience any outages, though I have to go to a particular part of the house to get best connection. Most of the time I get 512Kbps to 1Mbps. I’m not sure how well the same setup would work with XP or Vista but you could try it before you go to the bother of installing another OS.

Hope this helps, let me know if you want more info.

John.

Live in the midlands! Maybe its the time of day and no traffic on it.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/313914680.png

£ is posiblibly the worst service I have ever encountered, I signed up on the promise ofgood speed, I barely get more than Dial Up levels, I also have apparently reached my download limit in 2 weeks of 5GB!! Which is impossible since I closey monitor my useage, to which I pick up Email on the go, which i as far as the useage goes.

Called 3 to be told they could not help until my billing cycle in 3 weeks was reached and till then my service was terminated.

Furious as any peron would be told them to cancel the contract and I would take my business elsewhere, I am still awaiting a response.

Be Warned 3 are the biggest joke on the market, terrible customer service, poor speeds, incorrect data recording and appaling support.

STAY AWAY!

Thanks for reading my post.

Dr Simpson

If you don’t owe them money, and you have repeatedly told them so, then the calls definitely constitute harassment. Your contract is/was with Hutchison 3G Ireland, therefore the responsibilty lies with them.

Again for convenience, possible useful contacts:

Three Ireland Head Office:

Hutchison 3G Ireland, 6 - 10 Suffolk Street, Dublin 2.
Telephone 01 - 5426300.

email: customer.relations@three.ie (Although they never reply)

Office of Consumer Affairs: Telephone: 1890 432 432.

I wish I found this site before I signed up to these crooks. They are still rining me about a €7 Administration Charge to cancel the direct debit I signed when I got this ” fraudband ” of theirs .

They must have had 10 different Indians on over the same €7 . Each Time I tell them it was cancelled within 14 days as per their terms and that they will get nothing .

What a shower of crooks.

I hate to burst your bubble but 3 have been promising upgrades and ‘explaining’ their service for a VERY long time now. It’s a well known dictum in business that if someone keeps having to make excuses, they are best avoided. 3 have been claiming that they are victims of their own success for far too long, yet continue to sell a product that never consistently works as they claim.

They were forbidden by the Irish Advertising Standards Authority from putting any broadband speed in their advertising because no one ever achieved that speed. And so it goes on. Believe what you like but what you have bought is not broadband.

3 will continue to be poster boys for the true definition of technology: Technology (n) ‘Stuff that doesn’t work yet’

Caveat emptor Mark M.

Mark M

I’d advise you to get that modem back to the shop as soon as you can. I’m a soon to be ex-3 customer and I can assure you that you’re not going to get the product that they’re promising you on those posters. I’ve been with them 11 months so I should know! Like you said, sometimes it is reasonably fast but most of time you’re going to get those crawlingly slow speeds. The only good thing about your experience is that you’re seeing these speeds now and not before your 14 day trial is up.

There’s a very long thread on Boards.ie that’s dedicated to 3’s Mobile Broadband. At the time of writing this, it was at 296 pages. Seeing as people post to it every day, I’m sure it’ll go over 300 pages soon.

All info on how to proceed here:

http://www.courts.ie/courts.ie/Library3.nsf/PageCurrentWebLookUpTopNav/Small%20Claims%20Procedure

Note that you can only claim for the price of the modem. All the hassle, inconvenience, grey hairs and frustration you suffered will have to be taken out on a voodoo doll or the neighbour’s dog.

But make the claim. It’s painless.

I have successfully terminated my a/c with them without paying a termination fee and have received a refund on the price of my modem.

The first was due to the fact that the contract was first broken by 3 as they failed to provide the service advertised. Therefore by terminating the contract, I was not breaking it and not liable for a termination fee.

The second was because I took a claim against 3 in the Small Claims Court for the price of the modem as it was not fit for purpose.

All the above is possible, people, so don’t sit there fuming. Do something! Face the fact that, if you are getting lousy service, it’s unlikely to improve. In addition, by staying with 3 you are condoning a company whose treatment of their customers constantly teeters on the brink of illegal.

Get real, people and use your rights as consumers otherwise the sort of business practices followed by 3 will become the norm. Do you want that?