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Simon Phipps's personal commentary

Coming of Age in Wireless Britain

Last week I decided to give mobile broadband a try while I was away from home in London for a few days. After looking at the various plans, I decided to pick the one that Hutchison's 3 subsidiary offers, and went to a Carphone Warehouse to buy it. The experience was very enlightening - clearly this is a part of UK culture I've overlooked for too long. Just in case you are as naive as me, I'll document the experience - apologies for all you hardened warriors who consider this trivial.

First came the purchase process. It's not like buying anything else I have ever purchased. After "yes please" came several huge bureaucratic forms, a demand for photo ID, an address check, a credit check and finally the wait for the transaction to complete online. It was probably the most invasive process I have undergone in the UK, including applying for a passport. All for a modem and a £15 service.

Then came the first use experience. I had carefully checked the literature and the package to make sure the Mac was supported, as well as asking the assistant to confirm. I got the modem out of the box, read the instructions and followed them. "Plug the modem in to a USB port and follow the on-screen instructions". I plugged it in (after insterting the SIM) - apparently it was a memory stick as well as a modem. Its little blue light flashed happily. Hardware Growler told me it was working. But there were no instructions and no broadband.

I rang the support number on the package. After following some menus, it told me to dial another number for support. I dialed that and followed more menus. I finally got to a place that told me support was only available in the daytime. I read more and more of the paperwork in the box and finally found some small-print telling me that use on a Mac involved drivers that were available for download from 3's web site. Except I couldn't get online because ... well, my mobile broadband wasn't working yet.

Since I was traveling, and since the three-day return period was ticking, I decided to take it back next day. I clearly wasn't the first person to go through all this. "Oh yes, all the other companies include a CD with Mac drivers, but 3 don't". I decided there was a high risk of not getting it working within the short three-day return period so I went through the "termination" process, another bureaucratic fascination, and made sure I had all the magic numbers needed to prove I had done it.

The third step was today, when the invoice turned up. An invoice not for £15 but for £18, since they added a £3 "billing fee" without telling me. I called the number printed on the invoice to check the account was indeed canceled and found it asked me to dial a different number for broadband. I then spent maybe 20 minutes on hold to another national-rate number and was finally able to confirm with a charming Indian lady that it was cancelled.

I am obviously sheltered and naive becuase I found several aspects of this experience to be customer-hostile. First, the amazingly intrusive purchase experience; second, the fact that 3 lied about the package including Mac support; third, the fact they didn't provide phone numbers for technical or billing support even though the documents I was using were only about broadband; fourth, the fact the price advertised was not the price charged. I'll not be trying this stuff again for a while.

posted at 1:14 PM (UK) | |