UK network operator Three is having a problem this morning with the system it uses to monitor data use against its ‘fair use’ policy with multiple warning SMS messages being sent to customers warning they are over the limit and may be cut off (I’ve had 23 26 27 in about 3 hours – 4 in the time taken to write this). Customer services are aware and asking people to ignore the messages, but there’s nothing on the Three website at this time.
I guess problems are unavoidable, but the number of texts is a real pain. I’m waiting for an important message…
Update: Appears to be fixed (no more messages) as of about midday. After 4 hours of beeping the silence is eerie…
I've had three texts so far.
Aha!!! I got these and was getting pretty furious – I've never gone anywhere near the limit, even using as much data as I needed, so I couldn't understand for the life of me why they were telling me this. The My3 website is useless – not giving me data usage stats. I was about to light the rocket under CS. Hooray for SMSTextNews.
I'd say light a rocket underneath them anyway…
…which would be entertaining. I just can't spare the time today!
I'm still getting them, in fact just got one now. Does that mean I really am over the limit? Time to call CS!
Its very annoying that the my3 website won't give me any stats, surely its a bit rich to have a fair use policy when users have no way of monitoring their usage?
I didn't get these messages. Do Three not love me anymore?
I just received a txt from 3 at 14:30 after downloading a small app. I also find it quite annoying that “data usage” isn't something that one can track via the my3 website. Come on 3! They actually indicate that “Sorry, there is no data usage for this mobile” on my my3 page. Hmm, I think otherwise. I'm going to keep on downloading and using data as per usual.
BTW, thanks to Whatleydude for the link to this article!
I've called 3 and I'll have an update shortly!
I didn't get one last night, however I've gotten them in the past – the last one being on the 1st of May.
http://freshplastic.vox.com/library/post/3s-tex…
I haven’t had one for about 4 hours, so thanks for confirming.
I recieved 3 warning SMS – called 3 CS (in India).
Summary – it would appear that 3 are attempting to deploy a system to police the Acceptable Use Policy on data – I wondered how long I could get away with averaging over 5Gb per month for the princely sum of GBP 5!
This system is clearly not quite operational yet – but be prepared for it to kick in as soon as H3G get their act together.
At least it would appear that they are doing the gentlemanly thing and warning users about potential AUP incursions before turning off the service or even worse (in a Vodalike manner) just whacking users with a HUGE data bill for the overage!
Agreed. I've no problem with 'fair use' when it is actually fair… i.e. within the industry norm and consistent with other access methods, warns on breaches not charges and considers use over a reasonable period not each billing cycle in isolation. To be honest it would be better if we stopped all this 'unlimited' silliness for now (the infrastructure just can't support genuinely unlimited use) and just flat out said '1GB'.
Agreed. I've no problem with 'fair use' when it is actually fair… i.e. within the industry norm and consistent with other access methods, warns on breaches not charges and considers use over a reasonable period not each billing cycle in isolation. To be honest it would be better if we stopped all this 'unlimited' silliness for now (the infrastructure just can't support genuinely unlimited use) and just flat out said '1GB'.
I recieved 3 warning SMS – called 3 CS (in India).
Summary – it would appear that 3 are attempting to deploy a system to police the Acceptable Use Policy on data – I wondered how long I could get away with averaging over 5Gb per month for the princely sum of GBP 5!
This system is clearly not quite operational yet – but be prepared for it to kick in as soon as H3G get their act together.
At least it would appear that they are doing the gentlemanly thing and warning users about potential AUP incursions before turning off the service or even worse (in a Vodalike manner) just whacking users with a HUGE data bill for the overage!
Agreed. I've no problem with 'fair use' when it is actually fair… i.e. within the industry norm and consistent with other access methods, warns on breaches not charges and considers use over a reasonable period not each billing cycle in isolation. To be honest it would be better if we stopped all this 'unlimited' silliness for now (the infrastructure just can't support genuinely unlimited use) and just flat out said '1GB'.