The best value of the main mobile networks

Three has always tended to be at the cheaper end of the scale among the major phone networks, and the customers we surveyed seem to be in agreement. Three’s value satisfaction score of 78 per cent is better than O2, Vodafone and EE, although it’s a distance behind our award-winning virtual networks: Tesco Mobile, Lebara and Giffgaff.

At the time of writing, Three was offering a cut-price deal which made its 60GB per month plan as cheap as its 1GB plan, albeit the 60GB deal is for two years instead of one, with annual price increases included.

The £25 per month unlimited data deal is also at the cheaper end of the scale, especially compared to its major network rivals. The 5G Home Broadband deals start from £23 per month for unlimited data, too, which isnicely competitive.

Three also offers data-only SIMs, which you can use in laptops or tablets that don’t need to make phone calls or send texts, starting from only £9 per month.

Speed

Score: 3.5/5

The speeds on offer from Three are largely fine, with almost three-quarters of the customers we surveyed saying they were satisfied with the network’s performance.

A paucity of 5G coverage might be holding it back. Regulator Ofcom’s latest report pegs Three’s outdoor 5G coverage at between 39 per cent and 71 per cent of premises, which is a wide margin that’s poorer than that of EE (86-89 per cent) and O2 (70-76 per cent).

Reliability

Score: 4/5

Three customers are largely satisfied with the network’s reliability, with 83 per cent giving it the thumbs up. Data coverage was the weak spot here, with only 64 per cent satisfied. That probably reflects what we noted above about the lack of 5G coverage, although the merger with Vodafone should help rectify that.

Customer service

Score: 3.5/5

Three’s customer service was the best rated of all the major networks, according to the customers we surveyed. Just over three-quarters (76 per cent) are happy with the ease with which they can get through to support, and 74 per cent are happy with the quality of the support.

Roaming

Score: 3/5

Roaming isn’t a given on all of Three’s plans. The cheapest ‘Lite’ plans don’t include roaming, for example, and you must pay £2 a day to unlock your allowances in Europe, and up to £7 a day in other destinations. If roaming is important to you, then it’s probably best to look at the more expensive ‘Value’ and ‘Complete’ plans.

This approach probably explains why only 57 per cent of Three customers in our survey said they were satisfied with the roaming value they’re receiving.