Unable to top up using MiFi

[Gwaihir]

I use a MiFi hotspot for connecting devices when away from my home wi-fi. Recently I topped up before leaving but ran out of data whilst away. I was unable to log in to top up until I returned home. I always thought the 3 server would allow logins for the purpose of topping up but this appears not to be the case. This means if my data or time expires I'm locked out. Surely this can't be right?

Also, where I was staying at the time there was no signal on my (non-3) mobile network which would have meant I'd have been unable to receive the texted code for logging in. Is there a way around this problem? Note: the login attempt didn't get that far on the MiFi but it would have scuppered me if it had.

[SarahC]

Hey @Gwaihir 

Ugh, running out of data unexpectedly is the worst. Our my3 app and top up services are zero-rated which means they don't require data or wifi, so it's a real shame you couldn't access these.

Are you using an Apple product? As this may be causing a blocker, due to iCloud private relay being switched on. Alternatively, a VPN may be causing the same issue. To find out how to turn iCloud private relay off, you can find out more about accessing zero-rated webpages by following this link.

Hope this helps! If not, be sure to drop us some information and we'll get our investigative heads on 🔎

[Gwaihir]

Oh well, 2 weeks without any further response. Looks like it's time to search for another provider. 3 doesn't appear to be competitive anyway and I don't get why there are so many hoops one has to jump through just to get logged in - it's not a bank for heaven's sake!

I've topped up for our forthcoming break. After that I'll be looking elsewhere. As a matter of interest in the past I've bought a new SIM instead of topping up because that was cheaper for the amount of data. I don't know if that's still the case but I could never understand the rationale behind it.

[SarahC]

Hi @Gwaihir 

I'm so sorry I missed your reply, I have just been alerted to it as you sent yesterday's follow up.

It sounds like the signal where you were was potentially not strong enough, which is not ideal for logging into My3. We wouldn't expect not having any data to reject your password, so we have sent you a private message as we'd definitely like to discuss the issue further with you and try identify what the root of the problem was too.

We understand that you have now had to take your own measures to resolve this issue and we're disappointed we weren't able to help in this resolution, so we do hope that we can discuss this further.

Thanks,
SarahC

[Gwaihir]

Hi Sarah, thanks for responding.

We don't have any Apple products. We're using the 3 data SIM in a Huawei mobile broadband MiFi, accessed from Android phones and tablets and laptops running Windows 10 and we don't use VPNs. I was trying to log into my My3 account from my laptop but it wouldn't accept the login. I can't remember now what it objected to but I was able to log in using the same bookmark and stored login information once I was connected to my home wi-fi. This means that it couldn't have been due to things such as ad-blockers and tracking blockers in my browser (Firefox). It also eliminates the firewall and anti-virus, both standard Microsoft. I did try connecting several times, checking I hadn't entered anything incorrectly. It just seemed like it wouldn't connect because I'd run out of data.

I'm sure several years ago I did manage to top up after running out of data but that was on an older laptop running Vista (tells you how long ago that was!). Actually, thinking about it, that may have been using the SIM in a USB dongle, I don't know if that would make a difference.

I hope the above information may be helpful.

[Gwaihir]

Hi @SarahC 

Since my last post things have got worse. Now I can't log in from my home PC because when I enter the phone number and click on 'Next' nothing happens. If I click on 'I'm the account owner' I'm presented with four possible logins in addition to the one for this community. If I choose the one for my SIM phone number it reports 'email address not registered' although it is cleverly partly hidden by a window of saved logins which I presume is popped up by my browser. In fact all the logins get the same response. The browser saves the used login details which have obviously worked in the past so it almost looks as if my account has lapsed. I have now removed the top 3 logins from the list stored in my browser as they relate to an older SIM that I no longer use.

As I commented in my original post logging in to Three seems to have been made increasingly difficult and now I'm completely unable to top up my SIM. The last time I tried I got totally confused because it seemed to be trying to force me to create a new account based on my mobile number. I don't intend to create yet another account so it seems I have no option but to look elsewhere. It's a pity because the Three mobile broadband package was ideal for my occasional use and has served me well for many years and most, if not all, of the others seem to be based on rolling contracts which I do not want.