| |
Verdict: 3 tariffs expensive but attractive
March 2, 2003
When 3 UK (Hutchison 3G UK) released details of its 3G handsets
(£399 to £449) and the price of two monthly tariff plans (£59.99
and £99.99) back in December, many criticised them for being too
expensive. With only around 6 or 7 percent of the UK mobile phone
users spending in excess of £50 a month there were few optimistic
that 3 would be able to pull in 1million users by the end of the
year.
In early February, 3 released more details on the monthly allowance
for both existing packages and also introduced a third package aimed
at the lower spending customers. Colin Tucker, UK Managing Director
at 3, said the pricing is highly competitive with existing mobile
voice and text services. So are the packages value for money?
The first package, so-called '3ToGo', is for the lesser mobile
users. Unlike the other two packages, subscribers do not have to
pay monthly line rental and are only charged for the calls they
make. You could compare this option as very much like "pay as you
go" packages where you pay for the handset and the calls made. Voice
calls to other 3 customers are charged at 5p a minute while other
voice calls start from 10p a minute (most probably to landlines)
although it is not know how much calls to other mobile networks
are charged. Video calls are charged 50p a minute. Video downloads
are around 50p each while each video messages are 50p. Text messages
are 10p each and picture messaging is at 25p.
The second offer, Kit On 3 (£59.99 a month), includes 1000 minutes
of voice calls a month, 100 video call minutes, 250 text messages,
60 picture messages, 40 video messages and 50 downloads. If you
compare this package with current monthly tariffs on 2G networks
you are certainly going to find this very attractive. On Vodafone,
the Voda 800 tariff for £70 a month will only give you 800 minutes
worth of voice calls but does not include any messaging allowances.
The O2 Max package on O2 includes 1000 minutes of voice and 50 text
messages for £75 a month. With Orange, £70 a month gets you just
700 minutes of calls and the Everyone 500 tariff on T-Mobile gives
you 500 minutes for £60 a month.
The final package, Caboodle On 3, doubles the inclusive allowance
of Kit On 3. So for £99.99 a month you get 2,000 minutes of voice,
200 video call minutes, 500 text messages, 120 picture messages,
80 video messages and 100 downloads. None of the other current 2G
tariffs compares with this package. On Orange you need to pay £185
a month to get 2000 minutes of voice calls and £124 a month on Vodafone
gives you only 1100 minutes.
|
Package
|
Price
|
Inclusive mins
|
Average price per min
|
|
Caboodle
|
£99.99
|
2000
|
5p
|
|
Kit on 3
|
£59.99
|
1000
|
6p
|
|
O2 Max
|
£75
|
1000
|
7.5 p
|
|
Voda 800
|
£70
|
800
|
8.8 p
|
|
Orange 2000
|
£185
|
2000
|
9.3 p
|
|
Orange 700
|
£70
|
700
|
10p
|
|
Voda 1100
|
£124
|
1100
|
11.3p
|
|
T-Mobile Everyone 500
|
£60
|
500
|
12p
|
|
Compare
to other packages on offered in the UK, Caboodle and 'Kit on
3' offers value for price. For £99.99 you get 2000 minutes free,
that is an average of 5p per free minute. |
Certainly the Kit On 3 and Caboodle On 3 are value for money for
what you are getting. It beats the tariffs that are out there just
on voice calls plus you get extra allowances such as video messages
and picture messages. One significant difference is that 3 does
not have peak and non-peak periods so call charges are the same
throughout the day/week.
3ToGo is for those that want the convenience of pay as you go (with
much higher handset prices) or those that want a 3G handset but
does not want to pay such high monthly rates for the privilege.
The last two tariffs are suited to heavy mobile users and business
customers that make a lot of calls during the day but the Kit On
3 has enough monthly allowance to satisfy most mobile users. Even
so £59.99 a month is much more than what some mobile users are willing
to pay despite being a great value. It's a shame that 3 has not
introduced a tariff in the region of £20 to £30 for consumers that
want cheaper tariffs with monthly allowances. 3 may experience difficulties
in getting 1 million subscribers by the end of the year but consumers
cannot say they are not getting value for money.
| Packages: |
3 To Go |
Kit on 3 |
Caboodle on 3 |
| Description: |
no subscription fee, all services
charged by usage. |
£59.99 per month subscription,
which pays for a bundle of voice minutes, video minutes, text
messages, multimedia messages and content/application downloads.
Usage charges apply for any excess (eg voice calls from 15p
a minute, video calls from 50p a minute). 1000 minutes free. |
Caboodle on 3: £99.99 per month
subscription, which pays for a bundle twice as big as the 'Kit'
package. The same usage charges apply for any excess. 2000 minutes
free. |
| Aim for: |
Casual users who want to experiment
with the new technology. |
Heavy users with annual income
of £30,000. |
Corporate users. |
| Value for money: |
3 out of 5 |
4 out of 5 |
4 out of 5 |
| Comments: |
The best 'pay as you go' plans
available on the market. |
Excellent value for money, but
once you exceeded the limit it can be quite expensive. |
2000 minutes free but even corporate
users will find it hard to justify spending this much. |
|
3G Motorola A920
