O3 change of roaming/partner networks.

3phone has quietly abandoned all who depend on O2 to provide a
roaming or replacement signal when the G3 signal is unavailable ( many
places in the rural Sourth West)
I pay for 4 family contracts and the latest phone immediately failed
to function in some areas.
Asked the polite 3phone man who just said return the phone for repair.
Did this twice.
With the help of the Jag shop I traced the problem to replacement of
the O2 roaming partner with Orange.
Orange have no coverage here so my older contract 3phones work as
they still use O2 but the latest does not (says no network except
emergency) unless I insert an older contract sim card.
O3 now say this is to be expected.
Note I now learn that O2 use 980 MHz b\and which has greater range as
it penetrates tree cover better than the Orange 1800MHz, hence more
blind areas .
It is still unclear, will my existing phones suddenly stop receiving
O2 or will they be ok until the end of the contract?
Took a very long time to uncover the facts!

"mo12" <dougfgd@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:0177086a-daa6-4e11-8cd0-07f4e62a525c@s36g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
> 3phone has quietly abandoned all who depend on O2 to provide a
> roaming or replacement signal when the G3 signal is unavailable ( many
> places in the rural Sourth West)
> I pay for 4 family contracts and the latest phone immediately failed
> to function in some areas.
> Asked the polite 3phone man who just said return the phone for repair.
> Did this twice.
> With the help of the Jag shop I traced the problem to replacement of
> the O2 roaming partner with Orange.
> Orange have no coverage here so my older contract 3phones work as
> they still use O2 but the latest does not (says no network except
> emergency) unless I insert an older contract sim card.
> O3 now say this is to be expected.
> Note I now learn that O2 use 980 MHz b\and which has greater range as
> it penetrates tree cover better than the Orange 1800MHz, hence more
> blind areas .
> It is still unclear, will my existing phones suddenly stop receiving
> O2 or will they be ok until the end of the contract?
> Took a very long time to uncover the facts!


I believe that O2 will cease at some point for your older contracts. I am
sure someone said it might be around the year-end.

The announcement of the move to Orange happened in May 2006, and new
contracts from around Jan this year ceased to use O2 as the 2G partner.

I was never supplied with this information and can find no firm
statement from 3phone anywhere. Their technical department makes no
answer to a direct question.
They would be seem to be breaking their contract if they turn off my
currently working phones by changing from supporting O2
..


#On 25 Nov, 22:49, "acdeag" <SXZMJHVZV...@spammotel.com> wrote:
> "mo12" <doug...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>
> news:0177086a-daa6-4e11-8cd0-07f4e62a525c@s36g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
>
>
>
> > 3phone has quietly abandoned all who depend on O2 to provide a
> > roaming or replacement signal when the G3 signal is unavailable ( many
> > places in the rural Sourth West)
> > I pay for 4 family contracts and the latest phone immediately failed
> > to function in some areas.
> > Asked the polite 3phone man who just said return the phone for repair.
> > Did this twice.
> > With the help of the Jag shop I traced the problem to replacement of
> > the O2 roaming partner with Orange.
> > Orange have no coverage here so my older contract 3phones work as
> > they still use O2 but the latest does not (says no network except
> > emergency) unless I insert an older contract sim card.
> > O3 now say this is to be expected.
> > Note I now learn that O2 use 980 MHz b\and which has greater range as
> > it penetrates tree cover better than the Orange 1800MHz, hence more
> > blind areas .
> > It is still unclear, will my existing phones suddenly stop receiving
> > O2 or will they be ok until the end of the contract?
> > Took a very long time to uncover the facts!
>
> I believe that O2 will cease at some point for your older contracts. I am
> sure someone said it might be around the year-end.
>
> The announcement of the move to Orange happened in May 2006, and new
> contracts from around Jan this year ceased to use O2 as the 2G partner.

"mo12" <dougfgd@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:cdbe2be9-46dd-435a-9b5e-cd7a7846ebcc@e6g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
>I was never supplied with this information and can find no firm
> statement from 3phone anywhere. Their technical department makes no
> answer to a direct question.
> They would be seem to be breaking their contract if they turn off my
> currently working phones by changing from supporting O2
> .

You are dealing with 3 and your contract is like the one the Germans signed
on Luneberg Heath...

Basically they have got your money and a CCCA so tough.

Your technical analysis is correct.

The switch of roaming has been widely circulated, but that does not mean by
3.

>
>
SNIP

dougfgd@gmail.com declared for all the world to hear...
> I was never supplied with this information and can find no firm
> statement from 3phone anywhere. Their technical department makes no
> answer to a direct question.
> They would be seem to be breaking their contract if they turn off my
> currently working phones by changing from supporting O2

Their roaming agreement is no concern of the end user. Who they use as
their backup coverage does not enter into the contract anywhere so
neither party is breaching the contract if they switch their backup
supplier.

If you study the contract I'm sure you will find something along the
lines of "3 does not guarantee service" etc.
--
Regards
Jon

Jon wrote:
> dougfgd@gmail.com declared for all the world to hear...
>> I was never supplied with this information and can find no firm
>> statement from 3phone anywhere. Their technical department makes no
>> answer to a direct question.
>> They would be seem to be breaking their contract if they turn off my
>> currently working phones by changing from supporting O2
>
> Their roaming agreement is no concern of the end user. Who they use as
> their backup coverage does not enter into the contract anywhere so
> neither party is breaching the contract if they switch their backup
> supplier.
>
> If you study the contract I'm sure you will find something along the
> lines of "3 does not guarantee service" etc.

Although permanent loss of service in an area which has, for a
significant amount of time, received service is likely to be a valid
reason for cancelling an airtime contract. Would come under the "loss
of service" type clauses.

This probably explains why the switch to Orange was only for new
customers. Existing customers could still roam onto O2 (although
attempt to roam onto Orange first), thus historical accounts should not
be affected.

And the press release about this is on their website:
http://www.three.co.uk/news/h3gnews/...10927&index=14

"3 customers will continue to roam on O2, the current provider of
national roaming to 3, until the transition phase commences in late
2006. Following the transition phase existing customers' handsets will
select the Orange network in preference to O2, although they will still
be able to roam onto O2. Going forward into 2007 all new customers will
only roam onto the Orange network."

D