Well I’m happy to report that about three months later, Three have finally fixed the problem so now we should be getting unrestricted access on both the 3netaccess and 3services networks.

The one point of interest was the level of support service that Three offered. They phoned with an update to the support issue at least twice a week, keeping me updated with the progress each time.

Now the fact that they had nothing new to add, did make this process a bit tedious. However that aside, ten out of ten for keeping me informed and feeling like I was important.

Telstra, Optus, you could learn a lot about customer service from Three.

Technorati Tags: three, merlinxu870, wifi, Planet3, wireless+access, wireless, customer+service, customer+support

We all know that the boardband services in Australia are like that of a backwater country, speeds of 256kbs, 512kbs are in some countries laughable, here that’s the average. Things like restricted bandwidth, shaped monthly allowances, crippled topend cable speeds, and limited upload speeds are all the norm in the “Lucky Country“.

Still I needed mobile wireless access for my laptop outside of the free wifi in the Perth CBD and the office. In reality there are only three main players in the this area to choose from. One has average coverage over the populated areas, but steep pricing, that’s Telstra Big Pond. Then there is Optus with cheaper, not by much, pricing and limited coverage. The final player is Hutchison Telecom or better know as Three, they offer good coverage in the capital cities, and a reasonable price plans per month. So for a month I have had mobile wifi access via a HSDPA Modem, in general it gets used when I’m out of the office on business, usually not a lot of overuse but having access to every element of the web can at times to critical. I have however noticed that I can’t access some sites.

It seems that Three have decided that certain parts of the web should be restricted to its customers. Customers who are paying for the service to access, what you assume is, all of the Internet, not a segment of it.

I know in our new age of freedom we need protecting, but at least give me a clear option on this. Not a segmented web into “possible mobile phone use” or “general web use”. This is like trying to tell me which browser I should use or which car I should drive on a certain road.

Lucky there is a workaround. Seems if you want full access you have to use the Planet 3 services.

For the Mac (OS X) You can add another configuration, via Internet Connect. Select the HSDPA Modem, Select Edit Configuration on the Configuration drop down and add a new configuration as follows.

• Service Provider: Planet 3
• Telephone Number: 3services

So now if you want to access all the web you can use this configuration. Please note that this will incur extra charges when accessing a Three email account via port 25, using a third party email, no problem. Otherwise I have been informed by Three support that their are no other additional charges. Point to note Three support wasn’t able to tell me about this alternative either.

But frankly maybe Three should just stop restricting the web in general on certain services, I want it all the bright and the dark side of the web, not a walled garden (for that I’ll use facebook).