Considering joining the Three mobile network?
In this article, we’ve reviewed Three, using one of their SIM-only plans.
We’ve assessed this mobile network based on its speeds and coverage, value for money, customer service, and more, to see if it’s any good.
Before we begin, if you’re searching for a new mobile plan, on Three or any other network, use our comparison site to find the cheapest pay monthly phone plans or SIM-only deals on the market right now.
Contents
- Three overview
- Coverage and speeds
- Roaming allowances
- Value for money
- Customer service
- Verdict: should you join Three?
- Alternatives
- Conclusion
Three overview
Three is one of the big four mobile networks in the UK at the moment, alongside O2, EE, and Vodafone.
This means, Three owns and operates their own network infrastructure, rather than leasing access through another network.
Like the other big four providers, Three has a good range of pay monthly phone plans and SIM-only deals you can choose to buy, on a 12, 24, or 36 month contract.
However, compared to the likes of EE, Three has a much greater range of pay as you go SIM deals to choose from, which is good to see.
Also, their plans are typically more basic than what most other big four networks offer, in terms of extras and benefits included.
You don’t get free Apple TV+ or Apple Music on most of their plans, like you do with O2, and they don’t offer data-free social media usage, like VOXI does.
Though, you can get benefits such as free Paramount+ access, if you buy one of Three’s more expensive pay monthly plans.
We think the lack of extras on most deals can actually be a good thing, as it allows Three to offer cheaper prices on their plans – but we’ll discuss their value for money more a bit later in the article.
Three’s phone plans are available as eSIMs and are WiFi calling compatible, which is good.
Also, Three makes it easy to order a free SIM card and add data to it later, if you’d prefer to get started without passing a credit check. They’re a fair bit easier to get up and running with compared to Vodafone and EE at the moment.
Coverage and speeds
According to data from speedtest.net, Three has the fastest average 5G speeds in the UK.
Three’s median download speed from user tests was 236.25 Mbps, compared to 149.80 Mbps with Vodafone, 100.56 with EE, and 73.86 Mbps with O2.
From our testing, Three does have very fast 5G, especially when it comes to download speeds.
Our uploads weren’t the best when measured indoors, as you can see from the speed test above. However, we don’t get above 7-8 Mbps up on any other network at this location either.
Three’s 5G coverage is great, especially in towns and cities. We could get fast 5G, generally faster than 150 Mbps, essentially everywhere in most urban and suburban areas.
On 4G, Three’s coverage isn’t as good as the likes of EE or O2. However, it is still very strong, and offers fast download speeds.
We think, if overall speeds or 5G availability are your top priority, Three is a great choice. They’re the fastest network on average in the country at the moment.
We had no issues with call quality or dropouts when testing the Three network in our area.
If you want the best possible 4G signal though, you might be better with an EE SIM, as they have the best overall coverage of any of the big four providers.
The problem is, EE can be very expensive, so you might like to consider one of their piggyback networks, like 1pMobile, instead.
Roaming allowances
Three’s roaming allowances are one of their major downsides compared to the other big networks at the moment.
The first issue with Three roaming is, the fair usage limit is quite low on most of their plans, at just 12GB per month.
This means, even if you have an unlimited data SIM, most of the time you can only use 12GB of data each month when roaming with Three.
For context, O2 and Vodafone’s fair roaming limit is 25GB. Tesco Mobile allows you to use your entire allowance in Europe, with no fair usage limit.
Also, Three charges you £2 per day to unlock your 12GB roaming allowance (or £5/day in most non-EU destinations), unless you have a “Value” or “Complete” plan, which comes with a certain amount of inclusive roaming.
Most other networks, like the ones we mentioned above, include free European roaming for their pay monthly customers, no matter what type of SIM plan you have.
With Three, you do have the option of buying a more extensive roaming pass, helping you to save money on longer trips, which is good.
Also, on pay as you go SIMs, there is no charge to use your allowances overseas, in most destinations – though you won’t be able to use your entire data limit most of the time.
Value for money
One of the best things about Three is their value for money.
They almost always offer the cheapest prices of any of the big four networks, and they’re quite cost competitive with most mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) as well.
On a cost per gigabyte of data basis, Three’s SIM plans are great value, especially given they offer the UK’s fastest 5G.
And it’s a similar story if you want to finance a phone on a contract – Three is normally one of the cheapest options on most handsets.
Part of the reason Three is so cheap is the lack of extras on most of their plans, and the fact that they charge more for roaming.
But despite the lack of benefits, we still think they’re one of the best value mobile networks on the market, unless you’re constantly overseas, and need unlimited inclusive roaming.
Customer service
Three’s customer support team is not UK-based, but we’ve found they perform quite well from our testing.
When you call them, you don’t normally have to wait long to get connected, and we’ve found their team is knowledgeable when it comes to phone plans and billing.
They’re not super technically-focused, so aren’t the best if you have a more complicated question about using your phone. But with most network-related issues, Three customer support does quite well.
There is also a live chat you can choose to use to get help, if you’d prefer.
It can take quite a while to get in touch with someone this way – we have spent up to 15 minutes in the live chat queue during busy periods. However, once you get connected, their team is once again very helpful.
According to Ofcom data, Three receives three official complaints per hundred thousand subscribers on average, compared to two with EE, two with Vodafone, and four with O2.
So, Three is about middle of the road when it comes to customer service, but in our experience, they perform well with most types of queries.
Verdict: should you join Three?
There is a lot to like about Three if you’re looking for a new mobile network.
They get the two most important things right: they offer great coverage (with very fast speeds), and low prices. Meaning, their deals are generally excellent value for money.
Three’s customer service performs well from our testing, and we like the way their deals are structured, whereby you don’t have to pay for any extras you don’t need.
The main issue with Three is roaming can be expensive, especially if you’re going overseas for a long time.
Overall, we rate Three 4.4 out of 5. They’re our favorite big four mobile network at the moment.
Best Three alternatives
If you’re not sure whether Three is right for you, here are some alternative mobile networks it might be worth considering.
1. Smarty
If you just want a cheap pay as you go SIM, Smarty might be a better choice than Three at the moment.
Smarty is an MVNO that uses the Three network, meaning they offer the same fast 4G and 5G from our testing, but for a much lower price.
Despite being cheaper, Smarty still has good customer service, and decent roaming allowances as well compared to buying from Three directly.
2. 1pMobile
As we touched on above, when it comes to 4G coverage in remote areas, EE currently outperforms Three.
But EE’s SIM plans can be inflexible and expensive. So, you might be better off choosing one of their MVNOs, like 1pMobile, instead.
This provider is very basic, and isn’t the cheapest on the market, but they give you an easy way to access the EE network on a pay as you go SIM, for a fairly reasonable monthly cost.
3. Vodafone
Compared to Three, Vodafone has a more responsive UK-based support team, and better roaming allowances.
They also include more extras on their SIM plans, and offer other benefits to mobile customers, such as discounts on Vodafone Broadband.
The downside is, Vodafone is considerably more expensive than Three at the moment.
Conclusion
This is the end of our Three Mobile review.
Still not sure which mobile provider to join? Leave us a comment below, and we’ll help out as soon as we can.
About the author
Tom is the founder of Green Smartphones. You’ll find him writing about phones on the Green Smartphones blog, or talking about SIM deals and mobile networks on our YouTube channel. He’s the Android expert on the team – currently using a Google Pixel 9, recently upgrading from a very long-suffering Note 20 Ultra. When he’s not working on Green Smartphones, you’ll find him playing football or hiking.