T-Mobile U.K.’s New Plan is Everything You’ll Ever Need for £36 Per Month

T-Mobile U.K. is set to introduce a new price plan from February 1 that offers British subscribers everything their smartphone will ever need for just £36 (approx. $54.46) per month. It’s called “The Full Monty” plan, a trusted tipster revealed exclusively to TechnoBuffalo, and one of its best features includes truly unlimited data.

It’s a 24-month plan that you should have no concerns about committing to. It includes 2,000 cross-network anytime minutes, which also allow you to call voicemail and 08 numbers for free — something many U.K. carriers do not offer. Everything else is truly unlimited; including unlimited texts, unlimited data, and unlimited calls to other T-Mobile subscribers.

What’s more, the plan is said to be fixed at that price regardless of the handset you take with it, unlike Three’s One Plan, which starts at £25 (approx. $39) per month and fluctuates depending on the handset you choose.

The plan is set to be the cheapest available to pay monthly customers in the U.K., and one of the few that offers truly unlimited data. The only deal we’ve found around that price with similar benefits is a SIM-only plan from Orange which offers 1,200 minutes, unlimited texts, and 1GB of data for £31 (approx. $48.62). And I think that just proves what a bargain the The Full Monty plan will be.

Are you looking forward to T-Mobile’s Full Monty Plan?

Article: RSS via TechnoBuffalo

Tags: Full Monty, T-Mobile UK, The One Plan, Three, Unlimited Data, Unlimited Text

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97% of Three’s network traffic is data

Ninety-seven per cent of the traffic carried on the Three network is data, according to a company blog posted this afternoon. Do people even make phone calls anymore?

The British Telco angled themselves as a 3G data network when they started in 2003 and that’s now one of their big selling points: usually offering bulkier data deals than other providers.

[S]ince June last year and September this year (just 14 months) we’ve seen a 427% increase in data usage on Three for smartphone customers. Downloading apps, streaming movies, getting around town with Google Maps, even checking in on Facebook – it all adds up, and you’re doing it now more than ever.

Problems ahead for data-guzzlers include the spectrum shortage forecast over the next four to five years.

Article: RSS via The Register

Tags: 3, 3G, Data, Mobile Broadband, Mobile Data, Mobile Networks, Three, UK

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Three announced unlimited smartphone data for £3 a month

Three have announced that new and existing smartphone contract customers will be able to take out an all-you-can-eat data package for just £3 a month extra which should help its customers avoid what it calls “data fear” – worrying about being charged extra for data usage.

At the end of 2010, Three bucked the trend by introducing a monthly smartphone contract they called ‘The One Plan‘ which included unlimited data, at a time when other network operators were moving towards reducing the amount of data that customers can use. The company also introduced a £15 a month pay-as-you-go offer which had unlimited data for only £15 a month earlier this year.

“The One Plan quickly became our number one contract tariff and our all-you-can-eat PAYG offer is our most popular bundle. From October 7th we’re opening up all-you-can-eat to everyone else, starting from as little as £18 per month.

Our customers tell us that their use of data goes up significantly over the lifetime of their contracts, as they do more and more with their handset. All-you-can-eat data means that they don’t have to worry, they can have that peace of mind for the long term on a contract of their choice.”

Thomas Malleschitz, (marketing director) Three UK

Three have seen data usage increase significantly this year. In February, iPhone 4 customers averaged around 488MB of data usage per month, but this had risen to almost 1.2GB’s by August. With data usage only likely to grow further, offering unlimited data will be good for customers to avoid high bills and may help retain customer loyalty, particularly at a time when customers may be looking to shop around with the new Apple iPhone 5 expected to launch mid-October.

Article: RSS via ThinkBroadband

Tags: 3, 3G Network, The One Plan, Three, Unlimited Data, Unlimited Data Plans

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Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman heading to Three UK

Music-centric Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman is heading to Three UK. The carrier will release it soon, though we don’t have any other detail except “September.” In any case, the Android smartphone will most likely move from Three’s Coming Soon page to the regular catalog at some point next week. And if you’re too eager to get it, feel free to register for updates at the carrier’s website.

As for the price, that “tiny detail” isn’t specified, but we’re pretty sure the Sony Ericsson Live will be available for free to everyone willing to commit on a two-year 25 GBP per month contract.

As a reminder, this little fella’ comes with a 3.2-inch HVGA touchscreen, 1GHz processor, 5-megapixel camera on the back, VGA front-facing camera, HSDPA and Wi-Fi connectivity, GPS and a memory card slot…

Article: RSS via IntoMobile

Tags: 3, 3G, Android, Music, Smartphones, Sony Ericsson, Sony Ericsson Live, Three, Walkman

Posted in 3 / Three, 3G, Android, Music, Smartphones, Sony Ericsson | No Comments »

Virgin Media to beef up mobile-data backhaul

Three, Orange, T-Mobile ink £100m deal for extra grunt

Three, T-Mobile and Orange customers will find it quicker to use the internet on their phones thanks to a new deal between the operators and Virgin Media Business. But the effects may take a couple of years to kick in.

Virgin Media has sold use of its UK-wide network of cables to the three carriers in an eight-year £100m deal. Virgin will also build 14 regional datacentres to boost bandwidth to Three, T-Mobile and Orange.

The new Ethernet system will also lay groundwork for the faster, more efficient 4G network, which will bring in speeds of 100Mb/s to end users, compared to the 1-3Mb/s available on 3G. But don’t hold your breath for 4G internet, it’s not coming to the UK for several more years.

Virgin Media said in a press release:

“With mobile data traffic set to increase by 33 times over the next decade all mobile operators are under increasing pressure to deal with the surge in mobile data. The mobile backhaul network will unlock capacity for the future.”

Article: RSS via The Register

Tags: 3, 3G, 3G Networks, 4G, Broadband, Mobile Broadband, Orange, T-Mobile, Three, Virgin Media

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Three tackles rural Wi-Fi problem with MiFi

Network teams up with Countryside Alliance

If you live in the good-old English countryside you’re lucky enough to breathe the fresh air everyday, take long walks without risk of being run over by a Boris bike and drink a pint of proper beer that costs less than £4.50.

But chances are, you probably don’t get as good broadband coverage as your city-slicking cousins. Luckily though, Three has teamed up with Countryside Alliance to form the Rural Broadband Working Group – an initiative to supply free internet coverage to the rural “not-spots”.

Three will supply dongles and MiFi devices to give away around 4 million MBs of free connectivity, in a move supported by the Race Online 2012 team.

The first place to benefit will be Gringley-on-the-Hill in North Nottinghamshire – a village of around 750 people. The village will be supplied with 30 mobile broadband dongles and MiFi devices.

Hugo Dunkley, chairman of the Gringley-on-the-Hill Parish Council, said: “We had written to the House of Lords, our local MP, the Department for Business Innovation and Skills and even a large fixed-line provider about the lack of comprehensive broadband in the community, but with no success. There was broadband in a small corner of the village, but everywhere else speeds were frustratingly slow.

“Mobile broadband has addressed this problem and the dongles are allowing the people and businesses of the village to use the Internet to its full potential for the first time.”

David Dyson, CEO at Three said, “Thousands of communities still cannot access fixed line broadband services, but they do have access to a mobile broadband network, and that’s where this new initiative comes in.

“We have built a network designed for the Internet and are passionate about using this to help more and more people experience the everyday benefits this can bring”

Article: RSS via Pocket-lint

Tags: 3, MiFi, Mobile Broadband, Three, Three USB Dongle

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New MiFi – coming soon to Three.

Today Three announces a new, high speed Mobile Wi-Fi device – the Huawei E586 MiFi – which will be the first mobile Wi-Fi device in the UK to feature next generation HSPA+ mobile broadband technology.

The new MiFi will allow customers to experience significant speed gains compared to the existing award-winning MiFi. Initially around 40% faster, those figures will increase even further as Three ramps up its upgrade programme and rolls out the HSPA+ 21.1Mbps standard across its high-speed 3G network.*

The features and functionality Three’s customers have come to know and love from the Three MiFi are still there. Fast, secure Wi-Fi for iPads, laptops or handheld games consoles at the touch of a button. An OLED screen displaying key information like the amount of data used, speed of the current connection and length of browsing time, and a new look dashboard for viewing SMS and changing settings. In addition a new feature allows users to see their Wi-Fi user name and password on screen at the touch of a button for fast pairing with new gadgets.

David Kerrigan, head of mobile broadband at Three commented: “As the UK’s biggest 3G mobile broadband network, we’re delighted to introduce our high speed mobile Wi-Fi product. This joins our award winning HSPA+ dongles making us the only operator offering an entirely next generation HSPA+ enabled range of mobile broadband products. Aside from this step up in speed, the new cradle charger, which looks great, will help people get the best performance in the home.”

The new MiFi, built by Huawei, will be available in store and online from September.

Key features:

• Charging cradle
• 21.1 Mbps technical standard Download (HSDPA )
• 5.76 Mbps technical standard Uplink (HSUPA)
• Internal Memory slot for micro SD card that supports up to 32GB
• Approximately 4.5 hours battery life

* Three is aiming to have 80% of its network upgraded to HSPA+ by the end of this year, with the rest following soon afterwards

For more information on Three’s broadband products visit: 3 Mobile Broadband

Tags: 3, 3G, 3G Network, HSPA+, Huawei, Huawei E586, MiFi, Mobile Broadband, Three

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Telcos: up your prices, lose customers

Networking switching stats show effect of tariff tweaks

Mobile providers rely on their customer base, yet unlike hardware manufacturers, developing a loyalty is difficult. With so much competition, increasing prices can have a significant impact and send customers sniffing elsewhere.

Mobile tech website Ken’s Tech Tips tracked the popularity of the UK’s major mobile operators by trawling through thousands of responses to its Porting Authorisation Code (PAC) Finder application, designed to guides people through the process of transferring a phone number from one carrier to another.

Over the last nine months, the site examined 33,641 responses, monitoring the number of customers joining or switching networks in a given month.

According to results, ever since Three launched its all-you-can-eat data plan, The one, it has been on quite the rise and now dominates the market after overtaking a now-sinking Tesco in February. The giant grocer has been suffering ever since it scrapped its popular £10-a-month 500-minutes tariff in January.

O2 is least popular and took quite a bashing in March when it increased prices. The telco’s low scores in this study are attributed to its decision earlier this year to focus on high-value customers and not chase volumes.

Orange was already declining when it upped PAYG prices.

What is clear from this is that when mobile operators hike up their prices, they really do lose customers. Punters don’t just put up with the increases – they will shop around. Popular wisdom has it that consumers are generally a lazy lot who don’t shop around. Here’s evidence that they do. Telcos, take note.

Article: RSS via Reg Hardware

Tags: Mobile Networks, O2, Orange, PAC, Tesco Mobile, The One Plan, Three

Posted in Mobile Networks, Other News | No Comments »

T-Mobile UK Preps Truly Unlimited Mobile Broadband and Smartphone Deal for July

Mobile operator T-Mobile UK, which in recent times has perhaps become better known for restricting its Mobile Broadband data allowances instead of raising them (here), will from next month launch a new “truly unlimited internet” service with “no fair use limits or run on rates” for Smartphone users.

ISPreview.co.uk understands that the new deal will be available to any customers that purchase a 24 month contract or whom are already paying £25 or more a month for their mobile service. The new deals are due to surface between 1st and 4th July next month.

The move is likely an attempt to take on Three (3) UK, which last year went in the opposite direction to most by launching The One Plan with “all-you-can-eat data“. The deal had previously only come with a 1GB usage allowance.

Until recently the mobile industry had been extremely worried about low revenues and growing data usage, which prompted a crackdown on “unlimited” services. That certainly didn’t last long.

Article: RSS via ISPreview

Tags: 3, Mobile Broadband, T-Mobile, The One Plan, Three, Unlimited Data

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HTC Sensation is available on Three.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE4DuTocKw8

Fancy the HTC Sensation with All-You-Can-Eat Data? Well look no further as Three have today announced it’s available to purchase from the 3Store on The One Plan for £37 per month or on Text 500 for just £30 per month. If you would rather not commit to a 24 month contract, you can also pick up the Sensation for £449.99 on 3 Pay As You Go.

The HTC Sensation has something for everyone, with its 4.3 inch high resolution touchscreen, Dual-core processor and 8MP camera. It also runs on Android Gingerbread, which is also known as 2.3, this makes browsing and using your favourite Apps on the Sensation super fast.

Article: Web via 3Store

Tags: 3, 3G, 3G Networks, Android, Dual-Core, HTC, HTC Sensation, Pay As You Go, Smartphones, The One Plan, Three

Posted in 3 / Three, 3G, Android, HTC, Smartphones | No Comments »