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Three's 3G Switch-Off

An update - customer came back and wanted to switch over. Basically, he wanted to be "looked after". We managed to get his PAC through live chat even with the incorrect DOB (according to him, it must've been a mistake from Carphone Warehouse when he bought the plan).

I signed him up, gave him an extra discounted deal and now he's a happy guy with a new phone that's fully set up. I told him to come back with the Nokia so I can give him his £30 back as a change of mind return.

He said his relative nearly knocked his door down with not being able to reach him and all. His nephew popped in to the store and was grateful after I explained everything to him. It makes me wonder if the MVNOs follow the same precautions as their parent networks when it comes to the 3G switch off.
 
An update - customer came back and wanted to switch over. Basically, he wanted to be "looked after". We managed to get his PAC through live chat even with the incorrect DOB (according to him, it must've been a mistake from Carphone Warehouse when he bought the plan).

I signed him up, gave him an extra discounted deal and now he's a happy guy with a new phone that's fully set up. I told him to come back with the Nokia so I can give him his £30 back as a change of mind return.

He said his relative nearly knocked his door down with not being able to reach him and all. His nephew popped in to the store and was grateful after I explained everything to him. It makes me wonder if the MVNOs follow the same precautions as their parent networks when it comes to the 3G switch off.
That's frankly terrible that the 3G switchoff is causing a situation where a door almost had to be knocked down.

I will reiterate that there was NOT enough information published about the 3G switchoff on the 3 networks that have turned it off so far. People don't know why their 4G capable phone can't make calls or why it might be dropping to 2G and missing calls potentially.
 
That's frankly terrible that the 3G switchoff is causing a situation where a door almost had to be knocked down.

I will reiterate that there was NOT enough information published about the 3G switchoff on the 3 networks that have turned it off so far. People don't know why their 4G capable phone can't make calls or why it might be dropping to 2G and missing calls potentially.
In theory the switch is seamless but in certain circumstances it can be too slow and start >4G but fails to find 2G quick enough

When I had the Sky SIM I noticed it a couple times, switching to O2 directly had rectified that as there was no switch to 3G for calls at all.
 
That's frankly terrible that the 3G switchoff is causing a situation where a door almost had to be knocked down.

I will reiterate that there was NOT enough information published about the 3G switchoff on the 3 networks that have turned it off so far. People don't know why their 4G capable phone can't make calls or why it might be dropping to 2G and missing calls potentially.
What did EE/VF do incorrectly?
 
It seems that iD Mobile sent messages to at least some customers months ago. For example:


It's possible that the text wasn't sent to everyone and that it's iD's fault, but I've been dealing with the mess created by my father receiving and then deleting an important email (and telling me that he had not received the email)... sometimes it's "user error"... fat fingers, not paying attention, not reading, etc.

In any case, networks/virtual networks in general (and Three/their MVNOs specifically since they have no 2G) should've done more to inform the public about this. My family and friends are unaware about any shut downs. They don't care about this stuff, but if everyone had received a text or something like that, then at least it would be on them if they had any issues.
 
there definitely seems to be an increase in a number of people posting on various sites (reddit, threads, X) about not being able to make calls on Three since the wider 3G switch off started last month. It's difficult to gauge a % of customers that did not have a VoLTE handset and now have this problem on Three, but it's clearly not 0. The internet can give a perception of a bigger issue because people will go on those platforms to ask for help, which gives it a lot of visibility. Only Three really know from Erlang data if there has been a notable drop in CSR and CSSR.

If Three waited 1-2 years more, the situation would probably remain almost the same. A business has to move on, can't hold back network progress, reducing the performance for the majority of customers, for the sake of supporting an extremely small percentage of customers, who are clearly also the lowest paying customers. Three were giving out a free handset, but it wasn't very well advertised.

no point in dwelling on the past, what done is done and we just have to move on. and so will those 3G-only customers.
 
finally have a new map update with much less 3G on it. seems to reflect the first week or two, almost 30 days from switch off to map update. sigh, have to wait another couple of weeks to see the full state
 

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I remember back in the early days when Three's coverage maps used to generally look this patchy. It looks so weird to see it again as it's phased out.

yeh ! 3G indoors was rare. phone spent a lot of time on Orange GPRS (circle on iPhone) indoors, which actually didn't seem to allow data for Three customers either. the 4G 800+1800 rollout really changed things for Three.
 
yeh ! 3G indoors was rare. phone spent a lot of time on Orange GPRS (circle on iPhone) indoors, which actually didn't seem to allow data for Three customers either. the 4G 800+1800 rollout really changed things for Three.
I did wonder if it was just me! I had a NEC e616 on Three not too long after the network first launched and there was one place I used to frequent that was quite rural and dropped to Orange 2G. I could only ever call or text with it and didn’t get any data even at a much slower speed.

I didn’t even know that the Orange 2G roaming agreement lasted long enough to extend into the era of 3G iPhones though. I thought they had killed it off by that point.
 
I did wonder if it was just me! I had a NEC e616 on Three not too long after the network first launched and there was one place I used to frequent that was quite rural and dropped to Orange 2G. I could only ever call or text with it and didn’t get any data even at a much slower speed.

I didn’t even know that the Orange 2G roaming agreement lasted long enough to extend into the era of 3G iPhones though. I thought they had killed it off by that point.

Yeh it lasted until end of 2012 IIRC. My iPhone 4 with a Three SIM spent a lot of time on Orange 2G near where I worked at the time. I always wondered what the commercial agreement between Three and Orange looked like though, since Hutchison group was a major player in launching the Orange brand and GSM1800 network in the UK, prior to launching the Three brand.
 
finally have a new map update with much less 3G on it. seems to reflect the first week or two, almost 30 days from switch off to map update. sigh, have to wait another couple of weeks to see the full state
Still showing 3G here even tho it's been turned off since 19th September.

Wish they weren't so slow updating their coverage maps and that applies to all operators.
 
Still showing 3G here even tho it's been turned off since 19th September.

Wish they weren't so slow updating their coverage maps and that applies to all operators.

like I said, it's up to 30 days delay, and we have to wait a couple more weeks to see the full picture.
 
like I said, it's up to 30 days delay, and we have to wait a couple more weeks to see the full picture.
It shouldn't take that long though, 2 weeks is plenty of time but the operators simply aren't willing to speed up the process.
 
That's frankly terrible that the 3G switchoff is causing a situation where a door almost had to be knocked down.

I will reiterate that there was NOT enough information published about the 3G switchoff on the 3 networks that have turned it off so far. People don't know why their 4G capable phone can't make calls or why it might be dropping to 2G and missing calls potentially.
Bear in mind that Three doesn't have a 2G network. This means it's either 4G calling or no calling at all.

With the other networks, it's not an issue as they will fallback to 2G instead. Three doesn't have that benefit since they started with 3G (hence the name).

Three were giving out a free handset, but it wasn't very well advertised.
At least Three direct tried to cover their backs. Other networks only gave a discount so well done to Three for having some initiative and giving out a free phone. It's unlikely those customers would need anything fancy as it's probably just for calls and texts anyway. Who can say no to free?

In any case, networks/virtual networks in general (and Three/their MVNOs specifically since they have no 2G) should've done more to inform the public about this. My family and friends are unaware about any shut downs. They don't care about this stuff, but if everyone had received a text or something like that, then at least it would be on them if they had any issues.
It needs to be presented as a severe issue, rather than "Just so you're aware, we'll be shutting off our legacy 3G network, your services may be affected" as that will mean nothing to the average user.

It needs to make it clear that they will have a complete loss of service, meaning they will be unable to make and receive calls.

And there needs to be proactive outreach to call the customers affected and get in touch with them. I know it's tricky with the marketing opt-in (whether the customer has consented to being contacted) but there are ways to work around it.
 
It shouldn't take that long though, 2 weeks is plenty of time but the operators simply aren't willing to speed up the process.

oh yeh I agree, right now my post code says 3G is available - it isn't ! 💁‍♂️

the new 3G map update from Three is still interesting nevertheless, most of Birmingham and Manchester have absolutely no 3G now.
 

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oh yeh I agree, right now my post code says 3G is available - it isn't ! 💁‍♂️

the new 3G map update from Three is still interesting nevertheless, most of Birmingham and Manchester have absolutely no 3G now.

Leeds looking pretty thin on 3G now too
 

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I did wonder if it was just me! I had a NEC e616 on Three not too long after the network first launched and there was one place I used to frequent that was quite rural and dropped to Orange 2G. I could only ever call or text with it and didn’t get any data even at a much slower speed.

I didn’t even know that the Orange 2G roaming agreement lasted long enough to extend into the era of 3G iPhones though. I thought they had killed it off by that point.
IIRC launch era Three was unique in that they didn't provide any internet access at all. The business model was that you'd do everything within their walled garden. They didn't want you using WAP to access BBC News when you could pay 20p to watch a video clip of ITN headlines.

I had the candybar version of that NEC (I actually wanted the Motorola but Woolworths didn't have it) and remember doing exactly that precisely once, in the middle of a supermarket lol (I lived in a rural area so could only experience 3G when I was in town). I don't think most people cared about the new features. I had friends at school who had the 616 and even the LG flip phone even though there was no 3G coverage in the area.

Of course the 2G roaming agreement was originally with O2 and moved to Orange later on. I have it in my head that GPRS did work while roaming - but most of the walled garden would be locked out. I could be imagining that though.
 
Bear in mind that Three doesn't have a 2G network. This means it's either 4G calling or no calling at all.

With the other networks, it's not an issue as they will fallback to 2G instead. Three doesn't have that benefit since they started with 3G (hence the name).


At least Three direct tried to cover their backs. Other networks only gave a discount so well done to Three for having some initiative and giving out a free phone. It's unlikely those customers would need anything fancy as it's probably just for calls and texts anyway. Who can say no to free?


It needs to be presented as a severe issue, rather than "Just so you're aware, we'll be shutting off our legacy 3G network, your services may be affected" as that will mean nothing to the average user.

It needs to make it clear that they will have a complete loss of service, meaning they will be unable to make and receive calls.

And there needs to be proactive outreach to call the customers affected and get in touch with them. I know it's tricky with the marketing opt-in (whether the customer has consented to being contacted) but there are ways to work around it.
EE gave out free Doros to vulnerable users too? It was only non vulnerable customers who received a discount instead.

Marketing opt in/out shouldn't be a large issue as switch off comms fall under service comms not marketing.
 
IIRC launch era Three was unique in that they didn't provide any internet access at all. The business model was that you'd do everything within their walled garden. They didn't want you using WAP to access BBC News when you could pay 20p to watch a video clip of ITN headlines.

I had the candybar version of that NEC (I actually wanted the Motorola but Woolworths didn't have it) and remember doing exactly that precisely once, in the middle of a supermarket lol (I lived in a rural area so could only experience 3G when I was in town). I don't think most people cared about the new features. I had friends at school who had the 616 and even the LG flip phone even though there was no 3G coverage in the area.

Of course the 2G roaming agreement was originally with O2 and moved to Orange later on. I have it in my head that GPRS did work while roaming - but most of the walled garden would be locked out. I could be imagining that though.

They did the walled thing for a really long time as well, I remember having to pay £5 for the ‘unlimited data’ add on much later on with an ‘unlimited’ data plan.

I complained enough for them to waive the fee after a while.
 
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