Three and BlackBerry

[Gregmyers]

Thanks for your help on this one. (Will probably get her to look at a Bb with 'Skype' application). (Oh, and the guy in Scotland has voip so this should work)
Thanks again...

[andy]

Originally Posted by Steen

So you're right. It would still be one hell of an assumption to cancel a USIM because it's gone roaming, but not have proof that the phone isn't approved by 3.

You're right, it would be. It seems to happen though.

Besides, I know people on 3 who supposedly live in the broadband zone but are constantly roaming on their (legit) phones when they're at home. It's not like they're roaming all the time, but you'd think that by now 3 should be able to cater for these situations in an economical way.

I fall into that category myself; in some areas of my house I'm roaming, in others I'm not. Go figure.

f it really is costing them big bucks, wouldn't they limit their roaming services a bit more to prevent customers from using more than the necessities? (Or jack up the prices to something like $3/mb.)

I think that comes down to customer acquisition vs customer retention.

Cheap data rates are a good way to get lots of customers on board. You could argue the revenue from that would be much bigger than the loss incurred by the few customers that actually use "non-approved" methods of connecting.

In the meantime, I'm going to look into other carriers who can provide the basics and more than just 3G media players

That's great. I've been there many times over the last years.

Unfortunately the basics don't come cheap with most other players; especially if you live & die by data, such as myself

[Steen]

I can probably live without data but I'd prefer not to and I definitely prefer not to get charged extra every month even if I don't go over my limits because of 3's ****ty broadband coverage This has become a bit of a norm for me. I think I've roaming more often than I've been actually on 3's broadband network even before the Pearl.

I dunno, I think if I was a hardcore data user paying $80/m, I'd flip if Telstra or Optus or even Vodafone charged me extra because they can't provide better coverage -- and for a hardcore data user, I doubt that 3's measly 2mb roaming allowance is enough...

The whole concept of 3 is a little ridiculous when you think about it. They charge you extra for using their 3G services which is the stuff that they built the whole 3 name on. And they also charge you extra when you use those services when they can't provide them and have to rely on another carrier to... Hmm

[Gregmyers]

I know the 'Big 3' telco's can be a real pain in the a** sometimes but overall the service provided is not too bad. (I know I'm going to get 'Nuked' for this on this forum but ...). I think I would rather stick to the majors if not for anything but reliability...

[dscott21]

HI all,

I might be able to shed some light on the subject here. I just got a Blackberry from three. (8707g)

I'm currently on the $69 plan, that gives me $550 worth of calls, sms per month. $120 of this can be used on international calls. I also have another $120 worth of three to three calls, which is pretty handy as the whole family, and a lot of friends are also on three.

The minimum spend on this plan is $20 per month, however I usually average around $300, so it costs me $69 per month ($69 - $550 included in the cap)

For another $30 on top of this, I signed up to BIS, using my optusnet account. I also signed up for a username@three.blackberry.net email account and added this to the handheld as well. You can add up to 10 email addresses in BIS mode.

Now, for $30 a month, I get unlimited emails in a 3 Broadband zone, 2 gig (Which is basically the X-Series Platinum Package) of browsing per month in a 3 broadband zone, and 2 mb of data usage while roaming.

Now it's a bit confusing, because the three website says

"> 2GB of data to surf the web within 3’s Broadband Zone.
> Unlimited email within 3’s Broadband Zone.
> Unlimited email overseas (when you’re on our 3 network in UK, Ireland, Hong Kong, Sweden, Italy, Denmark and Austria).
> 2MB of data when roaming in Australia (that’s about 1,000 emails*).
> The great value of your chosen Cap plan.
> A generous amount of Free Talk 24/7 to call other national 3 mobiles"

However, when you go into your "My 3" account, it quite clearly states in there the following;

"Unlimited Email while in a 3 Broadband Zone"
"Unlimited Browsing through Blackberry browser while in 3 Broadband Zone"

I'm going to give them a call and ask about this because the two statements contradict themselves.

As for roaming, I simply when into Network Settings and turned Data off when roaming. Three have shocking coverage, and I sometimes pick up three at home (Hornsby, Sydney area) but more often that not, it roams to telstra. The same at work (Rouse Hill, Sydney), constantly on Telstra apart from the odd hour here or there where it will flick over.

If Three would increase their broadband coverage, I would probably find the BB a lot more useful, especially as I have a lot of friends on them through optus, telstra etc so Blackberry Messenger would get used a lot. However, as this requires data I need to be in a Three Broadband Zone to use it.

To set up the handset, I had to call Three, supply them with the email address I wanted to use. They then supplied this to Blackberry (I assume), who in turn sent me an sms with all the settings. I accepted the SMS and the phone commenced installing the web browser, email icons etc. I had to manually go in and select to send myself the service books and then everything was good to go.

The handset itself works very well, it's just a shame I don't get better coverage, anywhere, to use it. Some of the regular suburbs I vist, where it roams to Telstra are

Hornsby, Westleigh, Rouse Hill, Pennant Hills, Cherrybrook, Parramatta, Sydney CBD.

Hopefully they will get this sorted going forward now that they offer BB's, or I really can't see them seeling these to companies etc.

Thanks

[andy]

Hi dscott21,

Now it's a bit confusing, because the three website says

"> 2GB of data to surf the web within 3’s Broadband Zone.
> Unlimited email within 3’s Broadband Zone.
> Unlimited email overseas (when you’re on our 3 network in UK, Ireland, Hong Kong, Sweden, Italy, Denmark and Austria).
> 2MB of data when roaming in Australia (that’s about 1,000 emails*).
> The great value of your chosen Cap plan.
> A generous amount of Free Talk 24/7 to call other national 3 mobiles"

However, when you go into your "My 3" account, it quite clearly states in there the following;

"Unlimited Email while in a 3 Broadband Zone"
"Unlimited Browsing through Blackberry browser while in 3 Broadband Zone"

It's rather interesting that Three employs the same sneaky tactic as the other 3 players (Voda, Telstra, Optus) when it comes to browsing the web on a Blackberry. To be honest, I expected that to be different.

[dscott21]

Yeah, I agree 100%. That's why I thought I would call them a clarify exactly, which is the correct statement.

I'll let you know.

The other strage thing is, looking at My 3 account tonight, it says that I have used 500 of my 4000 minutes Skype talk, yet i don't even have Skype installed, or have a skype account.

Very strange.....

[Steen]

Originally Posted by Gregmyers

I would rather stick to the majors if not for anything but reliability...

It's taken me a while but I'm starting to hear that now...

Originally Posted by dscott21

The handset itself works very well, it's just a shame I don't get better coverage, anywhere, to use it.

Again, this comes down to 3's coverage and how much you'd get penalised for trying to use any data services whilst roaming (which is most of the time). The last I checked, my emails are much larger than 2kbs each. I can probably use that up within a day or two.

And turning data off on a BlackBerry is probably considered blasphemy to most users, am I right?

Originally Posted by dscott21

The other strage thing is, looking at My 3 account tonight, it says that I have used 500 of my 4000 minutes Skype talk, yet i don't even have Skype installed, or have a skype account.

Very strange.....

Indeed!

[Gregmyers]

Thanks Guys (and Girls),
You are all going 'Above and Beyond' here...
(Reading with great interest)
Kindest Regards,
Greg Myers

[CybaCowboy]

Wirelessly posted (RIM BlackBerry Curve 8300: BlackBerry8300/4.2.2 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/122)

3 Don't really enforce the roaming clause enymore - in the early days, if you were roaming constantly, they would cancel your contract (it happened to a mate of mine), however these days they don't really enforce it, even though the contract states that they technically can... By the way, although it's unlikely, if they cancel the contract because you're roaming constantly, it's at your expense (though based on the circumstances, you may be able to argue your way out of this).

Also, when you connect to a network, your IMEI (international mobile equipment identity; your handset's serial number) is sent to the network when you make a call and do certain other tasks - using your IMEI, a service provider can at their discretion obtain detailed information about your device, including make, model, date and country of manufacture... This is just one of the ways a service provider can tell what phone you're using.