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It's not just Three's low-cost SIM only deals and phone contracts we like: Plus added benefits like worldwide roaming and unlimited streaming, plus their reasonable plan prices, make Three our best all-round package today. Our guide below shows they've got capable 4G and 3G coverage with good speeds, the best inclusive roaming and data-saving schemes around, all backed up by being the cheapest major network.
There's sometimes confusion that Three use other providers' networks to bring their customers signal. Three operates its own network separately from Vodafone, O2 or EE. They don't have 2G at all. They're not talking about how much of the UK's landmass a network reaches geographical coverage. For that reason, we'd definitely use Three's coverage checker under the link below, to check their signal everywhere you use your phone: Not just at home.
Check Three's coverage now using their official network map. It's generally reasonably well-known that the fastest overall UK network is EE. After that, we think it's between Three and Vodafone who get you the next quickest downloads. This is a decent result for Three and would give fibre home broadband a run for its money, with the obvious benefit of being able to take it out and about with you.
At these kind of speeds, we'd say HD videos will stream with little to no buffering and a typical web page like this one will load in under a second if your phones is powerful too. Check Three have 4G near you with their official map.
Really and truly, the two most important things are sound clarity of calls and how long it takes to set one up. And now make use of 4G too for calls with their 4G Super-Voice technology. That makes Three an all-round safe bet. WiFi calling lets you use the call and text functions on your phone over WiFi instead of regular mobile phone signal. Depending on your phone model, inTouch either works seamlessly via software in the background or with a separate app. The great thing is, there are no restrictions on where you bought your phone from with inTouch.
How WiFi calling works on Three. Not as good as: Many of the big providers now offer you free access to a network of WiFi hotspots in handy locations such as shopping areas, public transport hubs, bars, restaurants and cafes. The benefit of this is that it saves you on consuming your monthly mobile data allowance and lets you carry on using your phone in areas where there might not be any signal, like indoors or underground. They do have free WiFi on the London Underground for all their customers , which lets you tap into free unlimited WiFi at stations across the network.
Same as or better than: EE, Vodafone, Sky and all others. Tethering is the process of using the mobile data received on your phone to create a mini WiFi hotspot around you, which you connect other devices like laptops or tablets to. Each network have different policies to tethering but Three allows it on all their new pay monthly plans , with any phone or SIM.
Hot deals at Three. Go Roam. Use your phone at no extra cost in 71 destinations around the world. Learn about Go Roam. Endless Bingeing. Buy the latest mobile phones and mobile broadband on pay monthly and pay as Our customers get access to exclusive deals on an additional plan or device.
And also now with any Pay As You Go monthly add-on. Read all tethering conditions in Three's guide. But how does it compare now all other networks offer EU roaming as standard too? We'd say no other network still quite gets close to Three's inclusive roaming , which lets you use your regular UK allowances in the 23 extra worldwide destinations listed here , as well as in 48 EU countries. You get it on all their new pay monthly phone contracts and SIM only plans. You can even get it on Pay As You Go, if you've bought a monthly add-on. No other network has inclusive roaming on so many plans.
But for regular travellers, it'll be indispensable. And now you can use the Snapchat messaging app all you like too , without it eating into your data.
There are some other conditions which you can read here but generally this is as generous as it sounds. Read more about it at Three. Some networks offer their customers exclusive perks and discounts on things other than their actual mobile deal. Three now offer something similar called Wuntu. The reviews of Wuntu so far are mixed and the scheme is relatively new. See the types of offers available with Wuntu in Three's guide. In this category, we look for how networks reward their existing customers for taking out extra plans and contracts with them.
This is mostly through family plan discounts and data-sharing schemes. But more importantly, the upfront costs are typically heavily discounted or waived altogether see phone deals here. See all latest existing customer offers. In this category, we're normally looking for things like free subscriptions to apps and services that add more value to mobile deal. But Three being Three, their entry is completely unprecedented:. It lets you check your priority-marked cabin bag for free and it comes out first once you arrive.
Added with Three's leading inclusive roaming scheme, the easyJet offer is supposed to make going abroad on the network even more enjoyable. We think it's a nice quirky little benefit that regular travellers will like. How to get free upgrades on easyJet. Quite a few networks have started to offer data rollover schemes , which let you keep any data you don't use for future months. But this isn't something that you'll get on the main Three network.
Instead of letting you pile up data you're not using, SMARTY will actually pay you back the money it cost to buy that data in the first place. They do this by discounting your next month's bill read more here. For us, this is a much fairer scheme even than other networks like iD Mobile , who use the Three network too. If you're comfortable knowing data you use, it's less of an issue to fret about, because you can just pick the right plan in the first place on Three. Read our guide to Data Rollover plans. It's hands-down the best value plan on the market temporary offer.
If you don't need that much data, there's excellent pricing on other SIMs including: Savings over the course of 24 months. See all latest Three offers.
Number of plans available: Three offer what we'd call 'conventional' phone contracts. They last 24 months, and there's none of the complicated financing arrangements some of the other mobile companies have like O2, Sky and Virgin. Generally speaking, we'd say Three are the cheapest of the big four mobile networks Three, EE, O2 and Vodafone for the minutes, texts and data you get with your phone, although this varies per model and tariff.
On pay monthly, Three really do offer the most value in your overall deal too. You're getting a phone and a plan at a decent price, and you're getting all Three's added benefits we describe in the perks and extras section. If you've got a particular phone in mind, use our phone contract price comparison tool here to choose the contract length, minutes, texts and data you want, and we'll show you whether Three stack up as the best priced deal available.
See Three's latest phone range. Get a free SIM. And below that we've also handpicked the best the network has to offer on flagship handsets such as the iPhone XR and Samsung Galaxy S9. Want to browse the best phone deals at other networks too? Simply head over to our best mobile phone deals page. The iPhone XR hits a sweet spot between high tech and reasonable pricing. It looks a lot like its more powerful brethren - both in appearance and on the spec sheet - and boasts a glorious 6. This is the cheapest you can get it in the early running, but there are cheaper low data tariffs available from other networks at the moment.
View this deal direct from Three. The upfront spend is reasonable too. So if it's all the data you need, it's all the data you'll get with Three. OK, so the Samsung Galaxy S9 doesn't make massive strides on the S8, but that doesn't mean it's not still one of the premier Android phones on the market.
The cameras in particular are awe inspiring and tangible improvements have been made to the biometrics and position of the fingerprint scanner. This tariff gives you absolutely unlimited data - the kind of volume other networks just can't reach. Get this unlimited data S9 offer from Buy Mobiles. Oh gosh, Apple went and did it. After years upon years of incremental upgrades, it finally made something special to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the iPhone. For the iPhone X it has dropped the bezel altogether, while the 5. If that sounds like your mindset, then this is the deal you're going to want to see.
Directly from the Three network the only major purveyor of unlimited data deals , the upfront spend is fair and the monthlies nowhere near as bad as you may probably feared. See this all-you-can-eat deal from Three Mobile. We can't imagine you'd even be considering this if you wanted something cheap - all that streaming, surfing and downloading comes at a cost. It might be high but it is the price you'll have to pay for unshackled data use. View this iPhone X deal at Three. But with this amount of space for your music and videos, we can't imagine you'd need that much data anyway as streaming becomes less of a necessity.
View this big storage iPhone X deal at Three. Samsung has now well and truly put the flaming memory of the Note 7 behind it. If the Note 8 was exceptional 6.