A lot of Three users have taken to boards.ie with multiple complaints about Three’s network service for the past few months. Most of the complaints are identical with users experiencing loss of signal completely, or having a signal but still not be able to make or receive calls. Data connections have also been affected with users reporting loss of any form of data connection, including 2G data.
Most of the customers have posted on the ‘Talk To’ thread on the popular forum site Boards.ie. Three have their own support section, much like other companies in Ireland. One particular thread titled “Emergency Calls Only” is filled with customers of Three Ireland complaining about loosing the ability to make or receive calls. Their are multiple threads with the same sentiment regarding lack of service within Threes network.
Same issues as all you guys, getting the same customer service advice from every possible avenue & I still can’t use my phone without wifi.
Surely there’s an ombudsman or something we can turn to?
This board (along with every three customer I know) is just brimming with unhappy customers nationwide who cannot use a service they’re paying decent money for. Comment by Belindy
Three’s own customer care team have responded multiple times asking individual users for specific locations and details on their accounts. They have yet to confirm any such issues, but have commented to users through PM to state there are no faults within their network. Sadly this has done nothing to appease the affected customers.
3rd day in a row, 3 bars signal on 3g, nothing loading, restarted phone etc, still nothing. it really is a disgrace. Pity I only topped up on Friday because once it’s up I’m heading to Vodafone or someone else. This big upgrade is nothing but a farce.. Comment by AidySevenfold
We have reached out to Three for a comment on the wide spread issue and we will update the article if they reply. A similar network disruption happened last year, with users reporting very similar loss of service. Three at the time never released any form of statement regarding the issue, but users did report it had been resolved. It seems that same issue may have returned, but no solution is in sight.
If anyone using the Three service has been affected or have experienced any similar issues, please do comment below.
Update
Three have responded to our request for comment and below is their statement on the current issue.
“At Three, we do our upmost to ensure that our customers receive a high quality service and take any issues raised very seriously. We’re currently rolling out a €300m investment in our network. It involves a network upgrade and, as a result, there can be intermittent disruption to service in the areas where work is taking place. We make every effort to advise customers of this disruption in advance.
However, as with any network, customers may experience issues outside of this upgrade work. We would encourage any customers who are experiencing issues to contact our customer care centre in Limerick on 1913 where the issue will be investigated fully. To see more about planned upgrade work, visit www.three.ie/thebigupgrade
There have been comments regarding Three’s big upgrade as a the possible culprit for the service issues, but it was mostly debunked due to how wide spread this issue is, and ultimately how it’s affecting users in any location and without notice. Three have also advised customers who have reported the service disruption that no faults were found at their respective cell towers and that they were still investigating.
We will of course be updating this article we any more relevant information.
Problem here is squarely on comreg, they agreed on the merger of three and o2 and in the fine honoured tradition of Irish ombudsmen they didn’t care about the end user.
It would have been easy to stimulate on how the new three network rollout should happen. But of course they didn’t.
So three turned off Base stations where there was overlap to start saving money, which is fair enough as they need to start making back but it leave customers in blackspots. And comreg don’t have any regulations on network upgrades so three can do the network upgrade at their own pace.
Whats even more odd is that the EU did not approve Three’s acquisition off O2 in the UK over fear of less competition. Ireland and the UK have the same number of main networks, with UK having far more MVNO networks.
Seems EU didn’t care about the lack of competition in Ireland, but stepped in when the same thing was happening in the UK. Three should never have been allowed to grow their network to such a point. Clearly they cannot handle the amount of customers.
I live in Dublin. You would expect of all places that there should be no major issue with reception here. Over the past year I have had continuous issues with Data and at times voice calls. I use my phone for work and require a constant data connection but as I am mobile and move about the city constantly changing network cells I loose connectivity constantly. I have spent a year arguing with Three over this and have afforded them every opportunity to fix it but they keep telling me they can’t find any fault. I have replaced my phone. Replaced my sim had my account deleted and rebuilt but nothing works. Honestly if I didn’t use it for work I wouldn’t care so much but it looses me business. Three refuse to believe or admit they have a network issue as they are afraid they would have to release an enormous number of customers from their contracts. Merging networks with the old 02 network is just not working for them.