New customers of Three UK‘s 5G powered unlimited Home Broadband service, which claims to offer “average download speeds” of 100Mbps (this will vary.. a lot), can now take the service from just £21 per month for 24-months of service (dropping to £14 on their 4G package). Various other discount options also exist.
The new promotion actually went live a week ago, but we didn’t cover it at the time because Three UK’s availability checker was returning a different set of deals from the ones being announced (i.e. we opted to wait until they fixed that, so as not to cause confusion). The good news is that they seem to have corrected the bug and thus there’s now a selection of different offers.
We should add that all of Three’s Home Broadband plans include a mobile broadband router by default and you will of course get slower speeds on 4G, while their 5G service is very much restricted by availability. In fact, one general caveat of Three’s Home Broadband service is that they’re generally still restricting its availability vs their normal SIM-only plans (i.e. sometimes you can’t take the ‘home’ service, even in areas where their 4G and 5G data is live).
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Three’s 5G Hub Home Broadband Plans
➤ Hub Only
£21 per month for 24-months➤ Hub + 32in Toshiba TV
£15 per month for 6 months (£30 thereafter for 18 months)➤ Hub + Samsung Chromebook 4+
£30 per month for 24-months
Three’s 4G Hub Home Broadband Plans
➤ Hub Only
£14 per month for 24-months➤ Hub + 32in Toshiba TV
£11.50 per month for 6 months (£23 thereafter for 18 months)➤ Hub + Nest Hub and Nest Audio
£20 per month for 24-months
Three’s 4G PLUS Hub Home Broadband Plans
➤ Hub Only
£17 per month for 24-months➤ Hub + 32in Toshiba TV
£13 per month for 6 months (£26 thereafter for 18 months)➤ Hub + Nest Hub and Nest Audio
£23 per month for 24-months
A shorter 12-month term also exists for these packages, but you will pay more for that.
If you have your own 5G hub and are signed up to three business. If you call them or speak to them on chat they can sort you out a data only simcard for 6 GBP Inc vat on a 24 month contract. In central Birmingham B1 postcode area, we get speeds around 200Mbs and about 500Mbs on the outskirts of the city.
I know THREE are selling these based on post code but with ID Mobile and now Smarty offering 5G (and by default 5G devices having excellent LTE functionality) is the current THREE network up to it as many sales will be concentrated where fixed broadband speeds are poor.
Congestion here we come for the umpteenth time.
“which claims to offer “average download speeds” of 100Mbps”
Is it april 1st already?
I get anywhere between 500-900mbps depending on the time of day.
Most UK speed tests do show them averaging above 100Mbps, much like other 5G providers, so they’re probably safe in that respect. But of course, speeds may fall below or go above an average for individual users.
When is Broadband Fixed? My understanding is that these are being sold as fixed location broadband solutions. Therefore isn’t it time for leading Mobile Providers (market share) to adopt the voluntary Ofcom code of practice https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/information-for-industry/codes-of-practice for Home Mobile Broadband.
In addition I would like to see them offering properly installed Outdoor CPE as that is more likely to satisfy the general customer expectation for the problem they are seeking to solve.
Agreed – My Three 4G speed started collapsing again at night for the past six weeks – up to 90mbps during the day until 7, then drops to 1mbps. Disgrace, all with a full signal, and on a mast in the country which is definitely not overused.
I never had these issues when I first joined. I’d say most people saying here promoting Three as great are still in the 6 month honeymoon period, after that the problems start and they start limiting their customers on services Three decides they are overusing.
A ping of 40ms during the day to 1000ms at night, at the same time I have a vodafone sim that manages around 30ms to 38ms without fail at the same time – something funny is going on at Three network and always is – and then they palm you off. So glad Fibre is coming to my area real soon and can finally say f*ck off Three for good.
I just picked up an unlimited data only business one for £8.33 + vat (£10 a month inc vat).
I’m also getting 700mbit on it. Bargain!
The issue here isn’t the theoretical maximum speed available at specific locations or the use of a superior specification modem in a moving mobile device. The issue is that these products are fixed location and hence will be dependant on their nearest mast, bands and distance as well as being multi device with common peak/congestion use patterns with others. As we know the service available from all providers can vary widely. At least THREE include a “Try it. If it’s not for you, send it back”.
three 5g arrived for me december 2021. consistent ~270mbps. no issues at all from three. would recommend them to anyone. Currenty using a voice sim in a Huawei 5G CPE Pro 2 cost £13 a month for unlimited data.
Enjoy it whilst it lasts, in few years it will be only marginally better than their 4G.
Despite having Virgin’s 1Gig service available to my home, £62 a month (£58 via an offer) is too much to warrant – what with everything else going up in price now-a-days; the upload is pitiful also. Besides, my current M500 service from Virgin doesn’t go over 440Mbps in my area (congestion issue apparently). They also want to put it up (I’m already paying £43/month).
I decided to give Three’s 5G service a go. I was estimated averages of 100Mbit and uploads at 10% of this (so 10Mbit). Not too good then I thought but lets see, worth a punt with 14-days money back guarantee. I am on the edge of outdoor 5G availability according to their coverage checker map.
The kit arrived next day (a rebranded Huawei 5G CPE Pro 2 router [yes not version 1]). I plugged it in on the windowsill as advised, gave it a moment and then jumped onto WiFi. I quickly ran a test stood next to it with the only client using the service being my phone. I averaged 87Mbps down and just over 10Mbps up. Pretty disappointing – I double checked I was on the correct network, and I was… Off I went to make tea (dinner to some folk) and came back to try again/tinker some more.
I was shocked – The next test came back with 882Mbps down and 87Mbps up (with a burst to 1.1Gbps at one point). Various other tests between 6pm and 8pm were the same. I decided to move it to a location more suitable (on top of a cabinet), set it in bridge mode and connect my current mesh network and every client that goes with it.
It’s now been just shy of 24 hours. My average throughput has been 663Mbps down and 57Mbps up on a wired connection. My pings average about 23ms and 2ms jitter.
I have decided to give Virgin my 30-days notice and stick with Three. It really is incredible for the price of £21/month.
Maybe in 5-10 years time we’ll get Three 5G (or even 4G) broadband in Northampton.