Three to add Spain and New Zealand to Feel At Home roaming

by Mark Tyson on 7 January 2015, 12:05

Tags: Three (HKG:0013), PC

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There's good news for those thinking of going to Spain to enjoy a warm Easter break in the sunshine as Three has just announced that its Feel At Home free roaming programme will be extended to cover Spain and New Zealand from 1 April this year.

The roaming plan which rivals are finding hard to compete with, allows Three customers to use the networks abroad without paying any extra on top of their regular bill. This means that users can access calls, texts and data to Check-in, Tweet, text and chat without having to pay roaming charges. With the new destinations, the plan now covers 16 countries, including popular destinations such as the USA, Australia, Hong Kong and France.

"Feel at Home is unique to Three and offers freedom from unfair roaming charges. It is already hugely popular with more than a million of our customers enjoying its benefits since launch. Adding France last year and Spain in 2015 means the two most popular destinations with British holiday makers will be covered," Dave Dyson, Chief Executive at Three, boasted. "Currently, 49% of our customers’ overseas trips are to Feel At Home destinations. With the addition of Spain and New Zealand, I expect that to rise to about 65%. However, my ambition continues to be to eliminate excessive roaming charges globally and we’re working hard to open up even more opportunities for our customers to stay connected and enjoy their phones whilst they’re abroad."

Local numbers not included

To access Feel At Home, Three users simply have to pick up a local network, and it works for all types of contracts and tariffs, whether its monthly, PAYG or SIM-only. It will even work as mobile broadband if you have a dongle. However, a slight catch is that the network will in fact charge you extra if you call and text non-UK numbers, such as local numbers for the country you're in, though it's often easy to skip round these charges by using IM or VoIP apps.

Three's Feel At Home scheme has already attracted many frequent flyers to its network, and with the addition of Britain's favourite holiday destination, Spain, it is more than likely that the mobile network will be gaining a few more users from Easter onwards. Whether it's a trip to the mainland or one of the country's sun-soaked islands, such as the Canaries or Balearics, the change will come just in time for the start of the sunshine break holiday season.

In related news the mobile network has formed a partnership with Expedia.co.uk, offering 12 per cent off a pre-paid hotel booking via the UK Expedia app, until 6 April.



HEXUS Forums :: 12 Comments

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So… 3 just keep giving extra's at no cost? 4G, can tether to create hotspots (some restrictions now) and free roaming in selected countries.

Guess I won't be changing provider when my current contract runs out in August, unless something big persuades me.
Moved from Giff Gaff to 3 about 8 months ago and much happier. Coverage is much better in my areas, LTE more or less everywhere, my trips to Ireland and Italy were made soooooo much easier by being able to use Google Maps etc on the go and as I have my rolling contract before they changed I still have unlimited tethering (4gb on new people).

Heard their customer service is terrible but then I don't think any provider is actually good in that dept. Lets just hope I never have to use them :)

£16 p/m
5000 3-3 Minutes
5000 txt
2000 minutes
Unlimited Data, 4G + Tethering
No Contract - 1 Month rolling

There new deals aren't as good but still better than other offers :D
Dooms
snip my trips to Ireland and Italy were made soooooo much easier by being able to use Google Maps etcsnip

+1 to this!

My trip to Hong Kong was largely made possible because of GoogleMaps, there is so much to do in that (country/state/SAR… whatever you prefer to refer to it as). My girlfriend wanted to go to a cat Cafe so we googled it, found the closest and used maps to get us there, very easy in the end!
Dooms
Heard their customer service is terrible but then I don't think any provider is actually good in that dept.

I've got nothing but good things to say about them; they fix my problems, give me credit when it takes longer than expected, call me back when they say they're going to, add benefits to using them as a carrier and remain the cheapest for my needs.
Jowsey
So… 3 just keep giving extra's at no cost? 4G, can tether to create hotspots (some restrictions now) and free roaming in selected countries. Guess I won't be changing provider when my current contract runs out in August, unless something big persuades me.
Tethering is still there with the AYCE plans, and to be honest I only moved from Virgin Mobile to Three because I want to use the Feel@Home when I'm on holiday in the US in the autumn, (sorry “fall”). Customer service is still meh, the coverage ain't the best, and some of the packages are pretty hopeless wrt texts and minutes. When you can get coverage though, 3G is pretty quick, and 4G was like having home broadband on the move. Just slightly annoyed that EE upped their rollout schedule and beat Three to the punch locally.

Got PAYG SIMs for my kids when they went on a school trip to Italy and it worked out very well indeed. Certainly less worrying than the prospect of a mega bill for roaming from EE for them both.
However, a slight catch is that the network will in fact charge you extra if you call and text non-UK numbers, such as local numbers for the country you're in, though it's often easy to skip round these charges by using IM or VoIP apps.
:o I hadn't realised that - I'd assumed that in-country calls would be at whatever rate the local provider was charging. Anyone got any more info on this?