Three UK’s Ultrafast 5G Mobile Goes Live in 86 New Locations
Mobile operator Three UK has revealed that their ultrafast 5G based mobile broadband network has gone live in 86 new locations since the start of this year, including rural and coastal “staycation” locations like Dartmouth, Milford on Sea, Aberystwyth, Holywood and Irvine.
The news comes hot on the heels of Three UK announcing that they’ve once again been named by Ookla as the fastest 5G network for median download speeds – 292.57Mbps (here), although today’s news is largely intended to highlight the release of their new ‘Appy Holidays‘ report, conducted by consultancy Development Economics
The report claims to show that good connectivity is proven to be a boost for tourist businesses, with 24% of people saying they would likely spend more when mobile phone reception is excellent due to the ability to read reviews and make bookings or online purchases. Over half (58%) of Brits who go on holiday would be less likely to choose accommodation with poor mobile coverage, while 42% would decide not to visit a place to eat or activity for the same reason. Similarly, 24% would be unlikely to visit a holiday destination if they found reviews describing the area as having poor coverage.
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All told, good connectivity is said to contribute £3.4 billion per year in new revenue for British tourist businesses, which delivers a knock-on boost to the economy of £1.97 billion in gross value added (GVA). North Devon, Torbay and Great Yarmouth are just some of the areas that see a particular benefit from tourists using their mobiles to plan and enjoy holidays. In 2019 – pre-pandemic – the report suggests that £28.4m of visitor expenditure was “safeguarded” by mobile in these places combined.
Elaine Carey, Three UK Chief Commercial Officer, said:
“Whether it’s a coastal trip to the seaside, a quiet cottage getaway, or a city break, there is an expectation from holidaymakers that they will be able to stay in touch with friends and family, make use of online review and booking platforms, and post about their trip on social media.”
We should point out that going live with 5G in a new area is not the same as achieving 100% coverage of that location. Often, operators will only “go live” with a very limited degree of initial coverage, which is then expanded over the following months and years.
UPDATE 9:55am
The full list of locations can be found below.
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Three UK’s 86 New 5G Locations (Since Jan 2022)
Aberystwyth
Ackworth Moor Top
Alton Park
Amesbury
Ammanford
Appleby-in-Westmorland
Appledore
Arundel
Aviemore
Barrowby
Bembridge
Bideford
Bodmin
Brackley
Brading
Broughton (Preston)
Burry Port
Cambridge
Carnaby
Chinnor
Chippenham (Wiltshire)
Churchill (North Somerset)
Coleshill (North Warwickshire)
Colsterworth
Coningsby Airfield
Cramlington
Cumnock
Dartmouth
Daventry
Derrington
Derry City
Dorking
Ebbw Vale
Finedon
Fleetwood
Follingsby
Gaerwen
Gerrards Cross
Gorseinon
Great Houghton (Barnsley)
Grimethorpe
Guisborough
Haddenham (Aylesbury Vale)
Haslemere
Hatfield Peverel
Haverhill
Higher Wincham
Holt (North Norfolk)
Holywood
Irvine
Keady
Kilsyth
Launceston
Lisburn city
Looe
Maesteg
Milford on Aea
Milton
New Addington
Newington
Newton Mearns
North Petherton
Paddock wood
Pershore
Potters Bar
Potton
Rathfriland
Ripon
Saffron Walden
Seaham
Sleaford
Soham
Sonning common
South Queensferry
St Columb major
Stepps
Stotfold
Thorp Arch
Tintinhull
Tranent
Walton-on-the-Naze
Widdrington Station
Widnes
Winchburgh
Worthing
Yate
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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Impressive. Meanwhile Vodafone hasn’t bothered to expand in 5G at all since they started.
Vodafone seem to be a bit busy rolling out proper full 5G-SA in some parts of UK.
Admittedly most of the new sites are in London.
JP that’s interesting. Because I went to see their “private 5G” trial in Cranfield and since then I saw nothing from their NSA deployments. But I’m not surprised they’re London focussed it seems they are only interested in very large cities.
There is a list of towns/deployments and it does not appear to have grown in 2021/2022 but perhaps I’m wrong. It looks like they have just expanded the areas they are already in with additional masts.
So how is that shown on my network bar? Am i right thinking black 5G in a filled white Box means 5G NSA (On my 3 Sim) and 5G in white writing without a box around (Just like with 4G) is SA 5G? (My VF Sim)
And then theres also 5G in a white box but not filled and i understand thats 4G from 5G capable site?
Sort of makes sense if what you are saying is true.
Take note of the system subtypes in this link
https://tinyurl.com/cellmapvf5g
Three have put a mast up the top end of my road. It doesn’t seem to make any noise so I think it’s not connected. How long does it take for them to go live with the mast ? 3 couldn’t understand my question
Seriously considering Three when my contract is up.
Definitely worth doing. They are so much better over the last 2 years.
@Michael “Definitely worth doing.” is a tad of a over statement sure Three have improved recently but still problematic quite often.
I’ve done quite a bit of travelling in different parts of the UK in the last few years Three is good if you’re in a 5G area usually faster than EE if available in the same area where Three has issue is 4G it very hit and miss in someplace it’s fine in others it’s totally unusable.
That’s the main issue with sure Three 5G is faster than the competition but outside 5G area data reliability is poor, on EE and most of the time on Vodafone if got 4G it a
probably actually works on Three is 50/50 if it works.
Use Smarty sim. Owned by three. Same signal as three but half the price and can chop and change every month. Three customer service used to annoy me but their signal didn’t.
There is a new 5G Three pole of wonder in Yateley, Hampshire.
Dont get too excited, I have had one outside my house for over a year, still off
Went live in Midhurst last Thursday. I am getting 180 meg very impressed!
Three crap I get 400 mbps on ee with there 4g plus
Three’s 4G+ is very very good, don’t underestimate it. This was in an area with 5G also but I didn’t test nor connect to it as I needed my battery to last as long as possible.
https://ibb.co/0tcKbkN
I’ve been a three customer since the early days of three except for the odd service improvement never had a problem with them excellent service and customer care both on line and in shops and can’t wait for 5g in my area
You don’t typically see Holt (North Norfolk) on lists like this. It is a smallish market town a bit inland from the sea (and nearby villages are not that dense, with some tricky hills from a coverage point of view). The area is a bit upmarket so the uptake will be good, although not as upmarket as Burnham (Up)Market. Significant numbers of incoming retirees, second homes, with a significant 2nd tier public school in the town.
Also interesting that Holt is on the list but nearby Cromer, Sheringham, W. Runton are not (unless they already had 5g), and the mast in Holt wouldn’t reach that far (that part of Norfolk is NOT flat, certainly unhelpful for coverage out to the coast)
I suspect a lot of people will start swapping from fixed broadband to fixed 5G (monthly or PAYG) or using tethering more often, The fixed broadband is variable: Openreach/Sky/TT VDSL is the only option in parts of the town, mostly at a 30MBs level, newer build sometimes has fibre from Openreach or developer.
The joint Three/EE mast in Holt is taller and better located than the joint Voda/o2 mast (so the coverage is much better, from personal experience). So maybe “low hanging fruit” for Three in terms of an upgrade to 5G from 4G. I would expect EE will be matching this shortly if they haven’t already (didn’t have it when I last looked a few months ago)
We camped near holt recently. My three phone did say 5G occasionally, but mostly just very slow 4G and even 3G!!
@Luke Depends where the campsite near Holt was, as the terrain is a bit bumpy, and you may not have had a clear path to the mast.
2+ years ago I was usually getting solid 4G from Three in the town, from a house that is about 700m distant and nearly line of sight (over the rooflines) to the Three/EE mast. The actual bandwidth achieved wasn’t always consistent, but I think that is more a backhaul/core network issue rather than a local issue.
And I checked Three, EE for 5G in Holt, Cromer, Sheringham online (didn’t bother checking o2, Voda as I’m fairly sure they don’t/won’t yet). Three has 5G in Holt only, neither have 5G in more populous, touristy Sheringham, Cromer. Three is even offering 5G home broadband for Holt postcodes (at a competitive rate vs FTTC VDSL at 30mbs, although I suspect some legacy customer retention on ADSL type packages will still be cheaper.)
I wonder if there is an specific reason why Holt got bumped up the list (an executive with a second home/hybrid work location, perhaps)
If they switched on all the unused Masts they have put up, they’d have far far far more coverage.
been waiting over a year now
I am in the middle of Dorking right now at Waitrose.. No sign of 5G.
I do get 5G in Guildford and at Nanhurst Crossroads in Cranleigh.
5G in Guildford is actually really good! Haven’t been to cranleigh for ages!
I see Cambridge has 5G. Will this be better than their 4G, where I was unable to find any signal in large parts of the city?
Can’t even get decent 3G never mind 5G
Yep. Three has very very poor coverage where I live (Winchester). Well, so does every other carrier because apparently we can’t have anything nice.
Some locations are simply forgotten and ignored. Sigh.
Three crap anyway
Well – I live near Gerrards Cross and visit it frequently – yet to see 5G in the town centre but I do see it on outskirts.
Although at London City Airport it’s blindingly fast, touching 400-500mbps right now.
Bent must be the user who signed up for 24 months before checking the speed, signal or customer service and took the £150 cashback at £8/month.
Maybe the coverage was OK initially… then Three decided to shut down that mast or started work on a mast & never completed for whatever reason. BTW this is happening a lot, just look at their twitter feed.
Currently seeing anything up to 850mbps on three. three must do better
For the few not the many
Just my own view but I feel I need to add a edit to the article simply because said investment is slowed down by protestors not wanting infrastructure to be upgraded yet would be the first to use it or the fact that companies themselves upgrade their infrastructure at a glaciar pace by not further extending existing 5G coverage.
Often, operators will only “go live” with a very very limited degree of initial coverage, which is then expanded over the following years and decades.
It’s all very well the companies announcing they now offer 5G at various locations but they need to and cut the time its taking to provide infrastructure in half and the same applies to FTTP, the companies need to accelerate their rollout programmes a lot more.
On a personal note, it’s good to see one location on that list getting 5G from Three as in years previously, you be lucky to get any signal from Three inside a home.
The catch is the upload speed. In central Brighton our 5G home broadband from three gets 150-300meg download but only around 5 meg upload. After doing some reading it seems that their 5G is like a stepping stone to the full SA version that boasts better upload speeds too.
Who use telephone network for internet haha. Even if you get good speeds you’ll be restricted like a bandit inside the prison. All the websites blocked and other nasty limitations.
Are there any Chester area Three 5G users here?
If so, where in Chester are you?
Is your 5G use on a phone or in a home router with / without external antenna?
What sort of DL / UL performance are you getting & is it consistent?
FYI In the rural Christleton area I’ve used Three 4G for c3yrs with mainly a Huawei B525-23a but also MikroTik hardware outside with a MikroTik LHG antenna. I now have a Quectel RM502Q-AE 5G modem I’m about to try.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Thanks, Steve
The problem with Three is its massively over subscribed meaning in 4G areas you’re lucky if you get 1Mb.
what do you expect its for poor people network peasants network .
Can anyone figure out Three’s PAYG data SIM prices–how much do you have to pay to reload once the initial block of data is consumed?
Can’t find that info anywhere on Three website, only there topups for data which seem to be aimed at more general pay monthly deals who have exceeded allowance (and maybe PAYG phone users)
@Miles T.
https://www.three.co.uk/terms-conditions/price-guides
Looking at Threes 86 new locations I can confirm it’s live in Dartmouth and Yate.
Excellent speeds.I have also found 5g in places you would least expect.
Clearly 3 only care about new 5g business, I have their 4g service and barely get 2mb. Joke of a company, not interested in helping just upselling.
what do expect from a poor peasants network.
@bent
you really do have bee in your bonnet when it comes to three
why don’t you just close the browser and move on. i mean if you hate three that much why are you reading and commenting on something you hate so much.
Personally I get fantastic speeds from three and I wouldnt choose anyone else for my ISP or mobile.
Factor in the huawei ban and anti 5g campaigners everywhere, then you’ll get a better understanding wy mobile networks are poor in some areas.
I quite agree, Bent offers nothing to any discussion and is constantly trolling any article about Three.
I’ve been a Three customer on and off for a number of years and while there have been times and locations that I have struggled to get a 4G signal, you could say the same could apply to any operator.
I’ve used their 5G offering and I stand by my view that the Three 5G offering is equivalent to the EE 4G offering.
The only reason I had moved from Three to EE and am still with EE is because back when covid19 hit and I took on a management role for my employer, I needed a provider with coverage everywhere and sadly there were blackspots where Three were unable to provide a acceptable service for my needs unlike EE where I hardly had issues with signal coverage.
As to Three, one of my longest friends lives in one of the newest areas to get 5G from Three and I can remember as far back as 2007 being unable to get any Three signal unless I left it in a particular room and near a window do I hope that with 5G noiw being available,that is something of the past.
If you look at some places that have Three 5G, you can see that instead of having universal 5G coverage for that town or city, it’s only partly available in some parts of that town or city and this is what Three need to concentrate on as do other operators.
They need to fill in the 5G blackspots bordering 5G served areas to better provide a more universal 5G coverage for that town or city for example Peterborough, Luton, Bedford etc all have partial Three 5G coverage but what would be best for the economy and for customers would be if Three got rid of much of the 5G blackspots as possible to extend their 5G coverage over more of those locations.
Sadly, a mix of the Huawei ban with nimbys at both residential and council level is making it difficult to improve the infrastructure so maybe its time to grant the operators emnergency powers to build infrastructure where its needed regardless of the nimbys.
No fibs 100%, the street my main window faces is listed as 5G now, yet when I jar the window and put a 5g router with a 5g sim in the gap no 5g. Bizarely my street address proper that is a different street as I am on a junction says no 5g for me yet
I must say that 3’s 5G rollout in Northern Ireland looks a little bit leftfield – while obvious major population centres are starting to be covered like parts of Derry city as well as a few places around the Greater Belfast area, a few seem… odd? For example the (presumably) single sites each serving Keady & Rathfriland, both of whom have a pop. of around 3000 apiece, whereas nearby larger towns like Banbridge, Newry and Armagh (city) are still in 4G land, not to mention coverage from a site between Toomebridge & Randalstown that doesn’t appear to cover any notable settlement! (Though it will give some brief 5G coverage to travelers along this piece of the main Belfast/Derry road). Now, hey – if you live in these coverage areas then it’s likely you’re laughing! But I do wonder why 3 have gone for these sites this early in their roll out? It certainly puzzles me as to where the next rollout of 5G coverage will happen in NI? As it is, I see 3 have started to upgrade a few rural sites in NI to handle 4G on Bands 1, 28 & 32 as well which is a nice capacity boon on its own.
Despite not being on the list, 5G appeared on my phone at Barry Docks yesterday – as far as Cadoxton. Speeds averaging 60mb.
Is this an actual rollout to those areas or just a paper one?
When they first rolled out 5G in Bristol, they didn’t cover any of the actual city and just had coverage over in Avonmouth from what I remember. Granted they have sorted that now but thought it was a bit rich to claim they had rolled it out in Bristol back then!
Northampton isnt on the Three 5G list 🙁
Maybe one day lol
Three performed a system upgrade yesterday 26 July, in Lewisham area, SouthEastLondon. Before I got around 180-220mbps. After upgrade completed it is way improved. 560-620mbps!
list is a little inaccurate bodmin doesnt have 5g it just has a few patches land in a field on the outside of the town so no use to anyone
We are in a ‘NotSpot’ here in Walton on the Wolds and were delighted when 3 installed the mast and equipment in Decemnber last year. And there it stands today, still not comissioned. Something seriously wrong with their project planning.