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- Competitive pricing on phone contracts
- Speeds and 5G coverage improving
- Inclusive roaming on some plans
- Poor scores for customer support and satisfaction
- Disappointing reliability and performance results
- Low-end contracts are poor value
This year’s Mobile Network Awards find Three in a difficult position. It’s one thing to be frozen out of the key awards, but quite another to languish near the bottom of most of the results tables, including those for Best Overall Mobile Network, Best Value Mobile Network and Most Reliable. Three has fewer enthusiastic promoters than any other network and more unhappy customers. It’s not quite the worst performer when it comes to customer service in our survey, but it comes worryingly close.
It’s not that Three is slow or that coverage is awful – the latest figures from the performance testing experts at RootMetrics are very positive, and it’s one of the leaders when it comes to 5G speeds. All the same, the major story that emerges from Three’s survey results is one of relatively low customer satisfaction. Only 37% of the customers we spoke to would actively recommend the network to a friend, and 23% would do the opposite.
Three review: What do you get?
Three merged this year with Vodafone, and the new company – VodafoneThree – is now the UK’s largest mobile network operator in terms of subscribers. While the two networks are currently separate, customers are free to use either network, which should help to boost coverage and reliability across both 4G and 5G services.
Three has generally been one of the cheaper networks when it comes to buying new smartphones on a contract. At the time of writing you could have an iPhone 17 with 150GB of data for £55.86/mth over 24 months plus £30 upfront. On EE, the equivalent deal would cost you £71.86/mth plus £30. On Three, a Samsung Galaxy S25 comes in at £58.65/mth on the same terms, plus £25. On EE, it’s £66.86/mth plus £30. None of these figures include annual price rises, but going with Three could save you a significant amount over a two-year period.
It’s reasonably competitive on SIM-only contracts too, with three different sets of plans. The cheaper Lite packages cover the basics only, with more data as you move through the price range plus unlimited calls and texts. The mid-range Value packages add roaming in 49 European destinations plus six to twelve months of Paramount+, while the top-end Complete packages give you roaming in 160 worldwide destinations plus a full 12-24 months of Paramount Plus depending on the length of your contract.
The most basic, low-data contracts aren’t great value, but things step up once you hit the 120GB to 250GB area, and you can look out for limited deals that give you the first six months half price. Three also has some of the cheapest unlimited deals of the major networks, though the cheaper no-frills networks go cheaper still.
Sadly, it looks like Three’s customers don’t rate it when it comes to value. Of those we surveyed, only 26% said they were very satisfied with the value of their service, though 58% described themselves as satisfied. 8% were dissatisfied, making Three the lowest-scoring network for value in our survey. Three also came last for value, service and satisfaction on SIM-only contracts, and just above iD Mobile for monthly phone contracts.
Three review: Customer service
We’d like to say that there was better news on customer service, but Three fared badly here as well, with only iD Mobile scoring lower. 64% of Three users who had made a complaint said they were satisfied or very satisfied with Three’s support, but that still left 8% dissatisfied or very dissatisfied, putting Three behind O2, Lebara and Smarty by a margin of 10% to 17%.
Ofcom’s latest figures for customer service aren’t much more complementary. While 87% of users Ofcom surveyed said they were satisfied with Three overall, 18% of customers said they had a reason to complain – 4% over the cross-industry average – and only just over half (51%) were happy with the way their complaint was handled; the worst result of any network.
It may be growing pains from the Vodafone merger, but Three really needs to sort its customer service out and improve its levels of satisfaction.
Three review: Coverage, reliability and speed
Between them, Three and Vodafone cover more than 99% of the UK with a 4G or 5G signal, while 5G coverage is growing fast. Approximately 71% of the UK population should have 5G coverage by the end of 2025 and VodafoneThree has plans to grow that to 99% by 2030.
The latest figures from RootMetrics put Three a close second to EE in terms of 5G performance, with a UK median download speed of 217.3Mbits/sec to EE’s 231.2Mbits/sec, and the top 5% of customers getting speeds of over 900Mbits/sec. It’s beaten in mixed 4G/5G performance by EE and Vodafone, at 45.7Mbits/sec to 110.8Mbits/sec and 48.4Mbits/sec, but again that should improve now the merged company shares the same network.
The Three customers we surveyed were less positive. 70% told us they could consistently get a fast enough connection for web browsing and 72% said the same about streaming, but only 51% were happy with the performance for online gaming, and some negative scores pulled Three further down the rankings. Meanwhile, Three landed at the bottom of the table for satisfaction with the speed of mobile data and how confident users were that their connection could maintain a fast connection in demanding tasks.
Three review: Roaming
Three offers free roaming in 49 European destinations on its Value plans and 160 worldwide destinations on its complete plans, so signing up to one of those could make sense if you’re a frequent traveller. Outside those plans you’re looking at a £2 to £7 daily roaming charge to get your inclusive calls and texts and up to 12GB of your data allowance. You can also buy a Go Roam pass for up to 14 days for between £5 and £60 depending on the time and destination.
Three review: Other features, services and spending caps
Three has its own rewards scheme, with vouchers for restaurants, shops and train tickets through its Three+ app. It also offers Wi-FI calling both at home and on the London Underground. You can also use the app to set spending caps on your account, and Three has a default worldwide data roaming limit of £45/mth plus VAT, to make sure you’re not whacked with a painful surprise when you return from your holidays.
Three review: Verdict
Three’s speeds and coverage should be improving on the back of its Vodafone merger, but customer service and satisfaction seem to be heading in the wrong direction. Plus, while it’s cheaper than its major network rivals, that doesn’t seem to be translating to great value, where the no-frills networks are more competitive than ever. Together, Three and Vodafone have some real potential as a 5G powerhouse, but Three needs to get the basics right.
