AFTER: Three X-Series — £5 or £10 a month…. WOW!
Ok.
Dead impressed.
Three (old) is dead. Long live (the new) Three!
Absolutely ace. They’ve FINALLY, FINALLY done it.
£5 a month gets you unlimited data, unlimited skype to skype, unlimited MSN.
£10 a month gets you the above, plus unlimited Slingbox.
Absolute GENIUS.
I’m about to go and activate this on my handset. PHENOMENAL!!
The market is moving right now.
Have a look at this page here.
Our fair use policy
We have fair use limits and hope you’ll use your common sense. These limits should be big enough for you to do all the things you want to do. But we’ll get in touch with you if we think you’re using our services unfairly, and especially if you’re abusing them. If we find people are using X-Series above these limits, we’ll review them. Here’s our take on fair use:
Unlimited data is 1GB per month. Also, your data usage doesn’t include using your mobile as a modem.
Windows Live Messenger won’t count towards your monthly data fair use limit but has its own limit of 10,000 messages per month.
Skype on 3 is 5,000 minutes per month. If you go over this you’ll need to wait until the start of the next bill month for the service to resume, however Skype calls can still be received.
Orb and Slingbox have a total combined limit of 80 hours a month.
I tell you, if ShoZu doesn’t work after I’ve activated this………………….
Hail the new 3!!! Hail the new 3!!! Hail the new 3!!!
lets do everything 3 times today!!!
a few Q’s though. In no way am I knocking this because I think a new world order is in progress and the other networks must be sat right at this minute messing their pants as they read the above press release. So good on 3 but lets dive a little bit into the detail…
- who agrees that 1GB/month isn’t very much to surf the web?
- how is there enough capacity on their network to handle us all watching tv/slingbox for 80 hrs per month, probably at the same time?
- does it include Skype-OUT?
- if I go abroad can I use the skype facility and if so any extra costs?
- if I go abroad can I use the slingbox facility and if so any extra costs?
- why can’t I simply pay for extra skype minutes rather than be blocked?
- so does this offer full and unrestrained access to the grown-up world wide web?
- If this is as it seems then given Vodafone catastrophic network outage this morning I’m moving over (as long as I can unlock my treo 750!).
steve procter
Posted by steve procter on December 1st, 2006 at 12:56 pm.Ewan, as it is x-series launch day and 3 clearly are the new world leaders, can we please update our operator scores to give them a full 10 out of 10 for the rest of the day!!
steve
Posted by steve procter on December 1st, 2006 at 12:59 pm.The dictionary defintion of “unlimited” is “not limited or restricted in terms of number, quantity, or extent”, so how on earth can they say that aspects of this service are unlimited, then lay out the limits underneath??
This needs refering to the Advertising Standards Authority.
Posted by Christian on December 1st, 2006 at 1:26 pm.I imagine the remaining operators will not jump to match the offer next-day.
Instead, they will perhaps milk their contract-trapped subscribers for a little longer, watching closely their models and cummulative churn curves (while preparing their technical and operational capability, and commercial proposition).
Then some may be tempted to phase it in, by initially stealth-launching: offering only as a ‘churn-save’ special offer to terminating customers - until word-of-mouth makes it the norm for 100% (or near) of expiring contracts. By that time they won’t need massive marketing budgets to promote it and can just add it as another line/section on their tariff pages.
Makes sense for management and shareholders, not great for locked-in customers (like yours truly). But will be itneresting to watch, nonetheless -
V.
Posted by Vladimir Dimitroff on December 1st, 2006 at 1:33 pm.[...] SMS Text News report caught my attention today. And what an offer that is! [...]
Posted by MobileW - Thoughts about » Will 3’s X-Series pricing disrupt operators’ business model? on December 1st, 2006 at 3:28 pm.Was just about to post about unlimited and the ASA, but saw Christian’s comments. Anyone got a phone number for the ASA?
Posted by Alex on December 1st, 2006 at 4:39 pm.if your gonna shop them then every single operator needs to be reported! good luck…
Posted by steve procter on December 1st, 2006 at 5:37 pm.Oh come on guys, really? seriously?.
You harp on and on about how unreasonable mobile data charges are and as soon as the operator does something about it you jump all over their use of the word “Unlimited” and talk about getting on to the ASA… yeah, that’s a really nice way of showing that you appreciate that the operator has listened to your feedback.
I have to say that I feel their use of “Unlimited” is in line with existing offerings in the UK mobile data and broadband markets. On a personal note I found their “small-text” to be easy to understand and non-threatening - which is a breath of fresh air.
So yes, please by all means go to the ASA and complain. It’s a right you have and I won’t ever try to take that away from you. But next time I see you moaning about high data costs or the lack of innovation in the mobile industry you just might find some four letter expletives coming your way.
Posted by dan lane on December 1st, 2006 at 7:57 pm.Hang on a second, no ones complaining about innovation in the mobile market - I take my hat off to Three for pulling their finger out and offering something better than the other networks.
However.. trying to justify that Three are within their rights to boast ‘unlimited’ on everything just because it is ‘in line with existing offerings in the UK mobile data and broadband markets’ is, IMHO, a rather weak argument.
Have a look at this article that Guy Kewney wrote not that long ago:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/05/08/unlimited_broadband_ads_dishonest/
It’s nothing personal against you, Three, or anyone - but I just get peeved off when something gets advertised as unlimited when it’s clearly not.
Maybe I should fire out a load of premium SMSs to random punters, telling them they’re free but really charge them £1.50 - which of course would be in the small print somewhere. Same thing?
Posted by Alex on December 1st, 2006 at 9:00 pm.I’m not trying to defend the practice of calling a dog a horse, my point was more that we all demanded other operators release unlimited data plans to match T-Mobile and now Three has taken the bold move to do so, everyone is moaning about them not really being unlimited.
For Three to launch a product that wasn’t billed as “Unlimited” when others already do so would be corporate suicide.
By all means complain to the ASA about the use of the word “Unlimited” but word your complaints so it covers the entire market and doesn’t single out Three because a big fine and bad publicity may well put them off any further innovative ventures!, especially when they seem to be trying hard to shift that “walled garden” image.
Posted by dan lane on December 1st, 2006 at 10:13 pm.I’ve just set up my Slingbox and Orb - and as far as I’m concerned, my usage is “unlimited” in so far as I could reasonably want (and then some) - 80 hours a month! Slingbox worked straightaway (well, after I tried with an ADSL connection [as they specify] rather than with a cable modem), and TV is amazingly watchable. All credit to Three for breaking the mould, and the rest of my family are now using Three PAYG too. I actually work in the mobile handset software industry, and I feel that Three have broken the last barrier, and now provide extremely useful, affordable web access AND services - something I’ve been anticipating for a few years has finally arrived! Now, I don’t suppose anyone reading this knows the email server settings that enable a paid Hotmail account to function with MobileMail?
Posted by driversoft on December 31st, 2006 at 1:49 pm.