3's Internet Max now crippled beyond use?

[dpm]

Since last Thursday morning, 3 seem to have made some changes to internet access, which has rendered it unusable.

1) An interstitial page appears *every hour* telling you that you're browsing the internet and might want to consider a data add-on, even if you've already got a data add-on.

2) It appears that I can no longer access the internet at all on 2.5G.

3) My phone's RSS reader no longer works, at all.

4) Even if the RSS reader did work, it would trip up over the forced interstitials.

I'm not impressed.
Dave

[themaddoctor]

I too have noticed this. It does not appear when using Opera Mini though

[mrzippy]

Yes Opera mini still works fine, not noticed any issues in 2G areas, but 99% of the time I have 3G coverage.

[timmy wimmy]

I phoned them yesterday about this. CS were pretty useless but I spoke to a guy in tech support who seemed to have his head screwed on. He said that three had made "security enchancements" to their network and that most ports were now blocked, he put a complaint through for me. I was adviced to get x-series which should open the ports back up (it becomes active on my phone the day after tomorrow, i'll let you know if it works *fingers crossed*)

[Munkfish]

I also have noticed a problem. I am currently in a marginal 3G/2G reception area. I have not be able to get any emails from the standard Nokia email application for over a week (although it has connected once). Previously this was working faultlessly. I am using a Nokia E61i and X-series Silver.

[timmy wimmy]

I switched to using the x-series addon instead of the wireless data max (same price and better) and my email works again :)

[mark.balcombe]

Was that xseries silver or gold?

Does anyone know what is the difference between internet max addon for £5 and xseries silver for £5?

Does xseries include unlimited browsing?

thanks,

Mark

[squawkBOX]

The X-Series Silver product has more ports open, so you can access a wider range of services on the web.

[mark.balcombe]

Does X Silver include unlimited Internet Access - Does not mention it on site?

thanks,

Mark

[transamazonian]

I've been having the same problem for around three weeks now - the RSS reader on my k610i Sony Ericsson suddenly can't handle any RSS feeds. I called 3 about this and was told the usual 'try a master reset' which I did. Then following this thread I have changed my Internet Max addon to X Series Silver, turned off and on - but I still get the same problem... Either a message saying 'No valid feed at this address' or 'File download type not supported by videophone'.

FYI here are some of the RSS feeds that I used to be able to access without difficulty. (They're all in a slightly different format - but they all used to work perfectly before three weeks ago)

http://thetvcontroller.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default
http://newsrss.bbc.co.uk/rss/newsonline_uk_edition/entertainment/rss.xml
http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/BroadcastnowRSS.aspx

The RSS reader was the best thing about my 3g phone and now this service has gone, without a word of help from 3 customer support. Can anyone out there help please?

Thanks!

[scoobystu2]

I use the "broadband lite" service with both USB and bluetooth connection options from my N95. Using both my laptop and pda the service works fine. That said when on the move that is a totally different story. I fear the inter-cell handover etc is not very good at maintaining the data connections.
I have had no timeout after an hour problems either.

[themaddoctor]

I have had no timeout after an hour problems either.

When 3 first introduced the internet nag screens, the interstitial page was displayed every hour but it did get changed to once every 24 hours within days (probably too many people complaining of being nagged every hour)

[sweetice2007]

Does X Silver include unlimited Internet Access - Does not mention it on site?

thanks,

Mark

yes it does include the internet access, fup of 2gb a month which is hell of alot :-)

[impydave]

I've been having the same problem for around three weeks now - the RSS reader on my k610i Sony Ericsson suddenly can't handle any RSS feeds. I called 3 about this and was told the usual 'try a master reset' which I did. Then following this thread I have changed my Internet Max addon to X Series Silver, turned off and on - but I still get the same problem... Either a message saying 'No valid feed at this address' or 'File download type not supported by videophone'.

FYI here are some of the RSS feeds that I used to be able to access without difficulty. (They're all in a slightly different format - but they all used to work perfectly before three weeks ago)

http://thetvcontroller.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default
http://newsrss.bbc.co.uk/rss/newsonline_uk_edition/entertainment/rss.xml
http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/BroadcastnowRSS.aspx

The RSS reader was the best thing about my 3g phone and now this service has gone, without a word of help from 3 customer support. Can anyone out there help please?

Thanks!

What I have done is set up a gmail account and use Google Reader. Although its not the same as the in built RSS readers I find it a pretty good replacement, and as its google I cant ever see it getting blocked by 3 !!

Not a great help I know, but its still pretty good...

Dave

[Knock6120]

Not only does the You are accessing the internet page appear (note it says only once a day, but is every time) I have had text alerts for the last 2 days saying I have accessed the internet and should check my top up. At this point I should say I have bought the £5 month access addon.

So I spoke with CS India yesterday, fruitless. I hate people saying what they think you want to hear. We will fix it for you, yeh, yeh

My point is 3 know about my account. If I go to My3 on my phone I do not need to authenticate to access my balance details. That is taking place within their portal environment so they can detect what I am entitled to do. Why should I have to put up with being treated as if I had not paid me £5 monthly access. Similarly with the text alerts, can't they do a check that this person hasn't paid before doing the bulk texting.

It isn't very smart is it. The Ford Fiesta advert with DogBot comes to mind. Stupid Dogbot, stupid 3.

A tip: if you are getting slow browsing using the built in browser of a Nokia 6120. Download and use Opera Mini (4 beta3 is good). I tried it today running both at the same time. Opera got to the page in very acceptable time, whereas the built in browser just crawled, sorry sat on half loaded for ages. Now can I have a meaningful conversation with CS India about that? Do they understand the concept of a multitasking operating system.

I was drawn to 3 by the cost and now realise that you get what you pay for -with low cost comes a poor service. Glad I did not register my details so I can give the phone away to someone with lower expectations