Hi,

Is there any particular reason why you want to use 3?

I know it doesn't solve you immediate problem, but I would really suggest getting your PAC code from 3 and giving them the boot!

I was with 3 for about 2 years, and all seemed great at first. But after I changed my contract from an 18 month contract (when it ended) to a 30-day contract everything went pear-shaped!.

Firstly, even though I had paid for the internet add-on, my internet access was restricted, and I was only able to visit sites that 3 had decided to be "allowed". And i'm NOT talking about pr0n sites.

I contacted them about the problem to get it resolved and spoke to many people 1000's of miles from me (catch my drift??) who had trouble sorting my problem, but eventually I got somewhere that seemed to be ok, full unrestricted internet access! Yay!.

1 month later and BOOM! I got hit with a bill that ran in to £100's+. All data charges.

This took me MONTHS and MONTHS to resolve this. Luckily i cancelled the direct debit before they took any money form my bank so it was their problem. I got my PAC code and moved to O2 and I've never looked back. Internet usage is essentually unlimited as long as you don't take the p**s (P2P etc). Coverage is great (in SW England anyway). And if you have to speak to them, you CAN understand them as they're in this country.

Their SIM only isn't too bad either, i get 600 mins, 1200 textx and unlimited internet for £20/m with no 12/18/24 month contract. You may even be able to get a better deal than that now, i've not checked.

There's always been problems with getting some phones to work on the 3 network. I was quite happily using a 5310 (2g phone) on the 3 network for ages and suddenly I get told that I'm not allowed to use it any more so I had to buy a phone with 3G capability.

That's my personal story, but I can give you plenty examples of similar things happening to people I know.

My suggestion would be that unless you ABSOLUTELY have to stay with 3.....RUN AWAY WHILE YOU STILL CAN!!!!!!. They are the worst company I have had to deal with, not just phone network, company FULL STOP. (And as an IT Network Analyst I deal with a LOT of companies...)

Iain.