3 Store

After a terrible experience at a different 3 Store location, it was with doom, dread and despair that I solemnly walked into this upper street outpost. I knew I would be spending yet another long and frustrating day at Heathrow airport waiting out Sno-​mageddon 2010, so rather than watch as the TV reporters continued to talk about the hell I was simultaneously experiencing, I figured I might as well accomplish a bit of work, which requires the internets.
Here’s how it went this time:
Laura: Hi. I (gulp) need to top up my dongle.
Store Man: No problem, that’s easy! (Begins transaction) But have you seen our new Pay & Go Mi-​Fi? It’s actually cheaper than a dongle and up to 5 devices can connect at a time, so if you’re traveling or meeting with co-​workers you can…
Laura: (temporarily stunned by great service and helpful advice momentarily zoned out…)
Store Man: …But I’m happy to just top up your dongle… instead… ?
Laura: Um, you have been so helpful.
Store Man: Thank you?
Laura: I’ll take it. You take AMEX, right?
Store man: Oh, I am so sorry, we stopped taking AMEX just over a month ago. But, (he whispers), I’ll give it a try — I think it will still work.
It worked.
And the Mi-​Fi? It’s working beautifully at LHR as I’m waiting out Sno-​mageddon 2010. In one more hour it will have paid for itself in hot-​spot internet charges.

I was a late bloomer, telephonically speaking, buying my first mobile phone at the ripe old age of 19. Although still not a great fan of the telephone I’ve accepted I need to have a mobile, if only because rented accomodation and shared land lines usually equal disaster.
For years I was loyal to my brick-​like pay as you go Vodaphone, blissfully unaware of how ruddy expensive it was. An epiphone later and I moved to Orange on a contract but recently moved again to Three as I reasoned that a £35 monthly bill for someone averse to the phone was nothing short of extortionate.
The Three store in Islington is great. Fabulous, friendly staff and quite frankly the cheapest — I think — mobile company in the UK. After a little prompting one of the girls in the Upper Street branch conceded that Three’s prices were competitive as the its initial branding as the ‘video phone network’ had gone down like a lead balloon and so their only option was to undercut the competition.
Prices quoted for Three contracts are refreshingly transparent being inclusive of VAT unlike some other mobile phone providers and contracts start at about £15. My one criticism of Three is their international pricing scheme. I got a terrible fright when charged upwards of £20 for a call to my nana on the Isle of Man which, although within the UK is considered by Three to be an international destination. Other than that, top marks.