Three’s price hike on calls, picture messages, voicemail on Pay As You Go
March 30th, 2010
From April, Three are increasing the price of calls to 25p/minute and charging for voicemail on their 3Pay PAYG tariff. We dig deeper to find out what has really changed.
Three have announced on their blog that there will be several price hikes on the 3Pay Pay As You Go tariff in April. Key price increases include voicemail (previously free; now 15p/minute), calls to landlines and other mobile networks (both were previously 20p/min; now 25p/min) and picture messages (previously 25p each, now 30p).
To try to compensate for these price increases, Three are trying to jump on the social media bandwagon and introducing free Twitter and Facebook for all 3Pay customers without the requirement to top up. The Twitter and Facebook access will be limited to the m.twitter.com and 0.facebook.com websites. However as 3Pay customers who already top up can already access Twitter and Facebook for free using their 150MB data allowance, we believe this is more a marketing stunt by 3 than a real freebie.
What are the price changes?
| Item | Existing Price | New Price |
|---|---|---|
| Voicemail | Free | 15p/min |
| Calls to other UK mobile networks | 20p/min | 25p/min |
| Calls to UK landlines | 20p/min | 25p/min |
| Picture Messages | 25p/message | 30p/message |
| International calls from UK | See 3 website | Increase of 5p per band |
| Answering a call within Band 1 | 90p/minute | 99p/minute |
| Answering a call within Band 2 | £1/minute | £1.25/minute |
| Twitter (access to m.twitter.com) | Free with top-up, 30p/MB otherwise | Free without top-up |
| Facebook (access to 0.facebook.com) | Free with top-up, 30p/MB otherwise | Free without top-up |
See the bottom of this article for a list of countries and bands.
How do the prices compare to the other networks?
Three’s price hike for calls to 25p/minute takes Three towards the pricer end of the PAYG market for calls: especially compared to networks such as Giffgaff and ASDA Mobile which offer calls for 8p/minute. When we consider that networks such as O2 only charge 25p/min for the first 3 minutes and then 5p/minute thereafter (for calls to O2 mobiles and landlines), 3 looks even pricier.
| Three (new charge) | O2 | Orange | T-Mobile | Vodafone | Giffgaff | ASDA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard call (per minute) | 25p | 25p | 20p | 25p | 20p | 8p | 8p |
The introduction of a charge for voicemail is also significant as one of the perks of 3Pay was that it was previously free. At 15p/minute for voicemail, 3Pay charge almost double that of networks such as Giffgaff and ASDA mobile.
| Three (new charge) | O2 | Orange | T-Mobile | Vodafone | Giffgaff | ASDA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voicemail (per minute) | 15p | 15p per call | 20p | 10p | 20p | 8p | 8p |
When will the price changes be made?
The price increases are scheduled to occur on April 22nd.
Should I get 3Pay?
Whilst these changes certainly make 3Pay less attractive, we think it could still be a good choice for many people. The free allowance of 600 texts and 150MB internet for 90 days with a £10 top-up is a good offer. Providing that in a typical month you send less than 200 texts and use less than 50MB of data, you’ll find you’ll just need to top up a tenner every 3 months and you just pay for calls. You can grab a free SIM card here with £2 free credit.
If you call a lot, we think alternatives such as Giffgaff and ASDA Mobile are worth looking into.
Which country belongs in which band?
According to the 3 International Call Price Guide, the bands are as follows:
Band 0 is EU and selected European countries (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Rep, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, The Azores, Madeira , Monaco, Isle of Man, Vatican City***, Aland Islands (Finland)***, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Réunion , Canary Islands, Channel Islands (e.g. Jersey & Guernsey), Gibraltar, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway,
San Marino, Switzerland)Band 1 is Australia, Albania, Andorra, Belarus, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Canada, Cyprus (North), Croatia, Hong Kong, Montenegro, Macedonia, New Zealand, Serbia, Singapore, Turkey, USA, Ukraine
Band 2 is the rest of the world
| About Ken | |
 | My mission is to demystify the world of mobile technology for general audiences and to communicate how mobile technology can enhance every aspect of our daily lives. I've been maintaining the Ken's Tech Tips website since 2004. I have experience communicating mobile technology and presenting new mobile products both online and offline, including at various trade shows and events. You can check out my profile or drop me an e-mail. |
- Mobile , Pay As You Go , Three
- Comments(3)
Hi,
I recently took out a pay monthly plan with Three which included unlimited internet and texts, and included 120 free picture mail.
I have sent a few pictures to friends etc using the only options available on my phone (Nokia X6) which I believe is MMS, but three are charging me for them. They say that a picture mail is different to a picture message.
Anyone know what the difference is, and what picture mail is compared to a picture message.
Thanks.
I fell for it too. The 'free' messages are for receiving only. They charge for sending
Hi Sonia,
Just trawling for this stuff myself – I expect you know by now, but for anyone else, MMS are picture messages – phone to phone – whereas picture mails are text messages with pictures that are sent to an email address rather than another mobile phone number. From what I can tell, 3 no longer include any of these for things for free.
Cheers.