We've got mail: Cathal O'Gara from Ashford, Co Wicklow, joined the 3 network last October and signed up for a year. Soon after he signed up he was dismayed to learn that he could not send or receive texts from his family in Australia.

"I have reported this at least five times to 3 and they told me they can send or receive messages only to 3 customers in Australia. I have a son and a daughter living in Australia and they are both Vodafone customers. He says he has asked 3 if he could have his old number back and return to to Vodafone but has been told that unless he waits until his contract ends it will cost him €470 to switch.

We contacted 3 on our reader's behalf. A spokeswoman said the company took our reader's feedback "very seriously as it is our absolute aim that all of 3's customers are fully satisfied with the service they pay for". And to prove it she sent us a very detailed e-mail outlining 3's position in regard to text messages.

For mobile users to send SMS messages to foreign networks, operators need to put roaming agreements in place and technically integrate the networks. This allows SMS messages to be sent between the networks. In some cases an additional SMS Interworking agreement is required.

"Although 3 is a huge enterprise internationally, we are a relatively new network in Ireland and therefore we have a large number of networks around the world with whom we are currently negotiating roaming agreements, in order to expand our roaming services for our customers who travel abroad but also to expand the available destinations and networks to whom our customers are able to send and receive SMS messages to/from." She said that the process was "very time-consuming" and requires the co-operation of foreign networks, "some of whom have no interest in putting the agreements in place or investing their resources and capital in integrating the networks". She said that while it clearly is "not a satisfactory position", the company is "actively addressing" it. With regard to the specifics of our reader's complaint, she said 3's customers were able to send and receive SMS messages to three of the four GSM networks in Australia - 3, Yes Optus and Telstra - which account for 83 per cent of the Australian market. "Specifically addressing your reader's query, we are presently in discussions with Vodafone Australia to conclude an agreement." She said that the €470 for paying out the contract was "standard practice with all mobile networks for customers who sign up to a contract and it is very clearly outlined at the time of signing up".

She said that as our reader has just four months left on his contract he would have to pay €200 to close the account. Helpfully, the spokeswoman also said thatif our reader contacted the customer service centre and changed to a lower tariff package it would lower the cost of his early termination to around €100. "We would, however, encourage him to stay on the 3 network as the negotiations with Vodafone Australia are well under way," she concluded.

Best before €2.99

A PriceWatch reader has been in touch to see if we can resolve an ongoing issue she says she has with Tesco over its stores' attitude towards price stickers obscuring the best-before dates on items they sell. Deirdre from Dublin says that while Tesco has assured her it does not the block the best-before dates on special priced items she has seen it done "on numerous occasions in several branches".

"I've noticed it on sensitive items such as mussels," she writes. "They seem to be hiding dates from the buying public." She says she raised it first with the manager of her local Tesco who reassured her that it was a one-off but she has subsequently seen special prices obscuring the best-by dates.

We contacted Tesco and were also reassured that if the best-before tags on any products are obscured by the price, then it is a mistake.

"Our policy is that it should not happen," a spokeswoman told PriceWatch, and if it has, then it happened in error.

Use your loaf

Áine Joyce e-mailed to say she went shopping for a breadbin. "Nothing fancy was required and eventually I paid €11.50 for one in Arnotts. But then I noticed an almost identical one in Stock for almost €60. What surprises me is that someone might pay €60 for a breadbin," she says.

Value for veggies

Some time ago we highlighted the high cost of the vegetarian option in a south Dublin city restaurant. It prompted Gabrielle Hyland to get in touch, not to complain but to commend. "I would recommend a restaurant called Layla in Pembroke Street, Dublin, for a delicious and cheap vegetarian lunch. I am not a vegetarian, but a few days ago I ate a delicious vegetarian main course there costing €5! . . . I have absolutely no connection with the restaurant, and have no reason to promote it."

Email:pricewatch@irish-times.ie Text:085-1645267