With its emphasis on all-you-can-eat data plans, rather than calls and texts, Three is doing all it can to portray itself as the network for data-hungry smart phone addicts.
There's no limit on Three's all-you-can-eat data plans so it won't hit you with charges or slow down (throttle) your connection if you use too much -- a particular bugbear of mobile users. You can sign up from £12.90 per month, with deals offering between 100 and 1,000 minutes of calls.
Three doesn't yet support 4G data, but has promised that it will soon -- although it's not in any rush to roll it out. EE is currently the only network to provide 4G speeds, but it demands a hefty price. Three, however, has said that all customers will be automatically switched over to 4G at no extra cost. Lovely.
In the meantime, Three supports DC-HSPA which is a faster variant of 3G -- 3.5G, if you will -- which promises speeds up to 11Mbps. That's faster than standard 3G and not much less than proposed 4G speeds, but you will find speeds vary, depending on where you are.
Three still struggles to offer the breadth of coverage of its competition though, so it's essential that you take a look at its coverage checker before you invest.
Three used to be the worst of the UK networks for customer service, according to Ofcom research. It's either upped its game since then or everyone else has gotten much worse though, as fresh Ofcom data showed that Orange and T-Mobile receive the most complaints now.
Three offers some great deals, particularly for the data-hogs among you. Check out our top-rated phones below, which are currently available with Three.
Additional writing by Flora Graham and Andrew Williams.
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Comments 13
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anonymous 25 July, 2011 11:10
Do you guys thing there'll ever be no "free" unlimited data for mobile phones? It looks like it's going that way, and 500mb is absolutely nothing on my iPhone 4.
anonymous 6 August, 2011 23:51
In Serbia,with a contract with Telenor,we have unlimited internet,1200 minutes,and 3000 messages.:)
anonymous 15 November, 2011 08:27
I have unlimited internet usage in local usage on Vodafone, roaming shall cost extra, otherwise I pay USD.10 per month for unlimited access.This offer was for limited period only and I switched to this, keep a watch on new offers, you may never know,.......
anonymous 1 May, 2012 11:57
In Kazakhstan we have no money for mobile telephones so we have to shout very loud so our friends and neighbours can hear us!
anonymous 4 July, 2012 14:17
Where is an iphone 4s £7/month?
anonymous 4 July, 2012 14:18
or £10.50/month even!
james79 4 July, 2012 15:04
Im on 3 and yes ive got unlimited data but for £15 a month on pay as you go! Good plan but internet is unusable on some evenings especially sundays! I got sony wt19i live with walkman which is an awsome phone for the price. Nothing can match it in its price range but I broke the lcd and as youve guessed - NO SUPPORT! 3 is good in theory but not so good if your travelling as coverage can vary so much in just a few mile radius! Check before you buy and dont take their word for it on coverage!
anonymous 4 July, 2012 17:22
Agreed that unlimited (actually rumoured to be 80GB in practice) is good but be aware of speed throttling between 3pm and midnight for heavy users - you'll be lucky to get over 100Kb if this happens to you.
Customer services is diabolical! Took multiple attempts tip cancel a broadband dongle. Call centre staff in India use predictable scripts - using initiative is neither required nor offered...
They've also just hiked a lot of contract customers contract prices mid term which means I'll never take another contract with Three EVER.
To sum up... Caveat emptor (let the buyer beware!)
anonymous 16 November, 2012 13:18
Stay away if you want to avoid dissapointments, headaches and hidden charges. Three.co.uk is the worst internet and mobile service provided I had to deal with in 10 years. They lie, the contracts have hidden charges and they make it difficult when you want to close the contract with them so that you pay more. Really bad company, bad service and dishonest... go for Vodafone, Orange, O2, but this money makers!
jayce35 3 April, 2013 16:43
3 is best then 02 ,vodafone ,orange are tied take it from who tried them all as i got lot of phones .
anonymous 3 April, 2013 17:32
@anonymous 13:18 maybe that's just you! Maybe it's just your opinion idk. But I have experienced none of what you mentioned neither has anyone of the many people that I know to be on Three ever had anything to complain about. They are much better than orange, 02 and T mobile. They are arguably the best providers. But they offer the best 3g service, fact.
anonymous 3 April, 2013 20:47
Why anyone would even consider anything other than 3 or giffgaff is beyond my comprehension!
Smartphones are for data use. Stop getting ripped off people
M13 8 April, 2013 17:20
I don't understand the praise for the Xperia Z. It's basically the same phone as the HTC Butterfly.......except with a worse screen.....and worse speaker. The Butterfly beats it at everything.....and came out months before it. And both are water resistant.