Three UK Offer GBP250 Cashback for Switching to their Network
Mobile operator Three UK has begun offering new customers “up to” £250 cashback when you switch to their network, which will come in the form of a pre-paid Mastercard. The offer is available, until 7th July 2022, across both their top handset bundles and selected SIM Only mobile plans via their 4G and 5G network.
As you can probably guess from the use of that “up to” terminology, the level of cashback varies depending upon the plan or bundle, and it’s not available across every package. For example, so far as we can tell the one SIM Only plan that supports it is their unlimited data (broadband) tariff on a 24-month minimum term (this gives you £100 cashback), which currently costs £11 per month for the first 6 months (£22 thereafter).
The biggest returns on cashback are attached to Three UK’s handset bundles with Smartphones from Apple, Samsung, Honor and Xiaomi. For example, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra 5G will attract £250 cashback, while the plan itself costs from £62 per month with unlimited data (plus £80 upfront) – this also comes with 6 months of Disney+. But drop that bundle back to a 100GB data plan and the cashback falls to £200 and so forth.
Andy Foy, Three’s Director of Marketing, said:
“With a record rise in the energy price cap and many other soaring household bills, we want to give something back to customers so that they can save money in other areas of their lives.
By ensuring that switching to Three provides amazing value and is as simple as sending a text, we hope to help people where we can during these challenging times.”
Naturally, you’ll need to request a PAC code from your existing operator before you can benefit from this (text the letters ‘PAC’ and the account holder’s date of birth to 65075), but after that you’ll be able to sign-up using that PAC via either Three’s website, their high street stores or over the phone.
However, take note that the pre-paid Mastercard holds a 12 month “expiry” date – once 12 months has passed, a £2.95 fee will be deducted from your balance per month until the Mastercard has been used.
Summary of Three’s Cashback Levels
| Device | Unlimited | 100GB | 30GB | 12GB |
| iPhone 13 | £200 | £200 | £100 | £75 |
| iPhone 13 Pro Max | £200 | £200 | £100 | £75 |
| iPhone 13 Pro | £200 | £200 | £100 | £75 |
| iPhone 12 | £200 | £200 | £100 | £75 |
| Sam A13 | £200 | £200 | £100 | £75 |
| Sam A22 | £250 | £200 | £100 | £75 |
| Sam S21 FE | £250 | £200 | £100 | £75 |
| Sam S22 Ultra | £250 | £200 | £100 | £75 |
| Xiaomi 12 Pro | £200 | £200 | £100 | £75 |
| Honor Magic Pro | £250 | £200 | £100 | £75 |
| Unlimited SIM £22 6MHP | £100 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
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 and Linkedin.
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I would think we will see more of these kinds of offers given the cost of living crises is now on everyones mind and is pinching budgets.
Monthly mobile plans are a cash cow for operators and are treated as such, with lock in contracts and sneaky yearly increases.
Meanwhile PAYG plans have not increased in their cost but competition on those seems very limited and mostly done by MVNOs.
If the cost of living crises means companies battle it out to keep our custom then so be it
Yeah, thinking about it, it’s almost predatory. Someone desperate for money may well sign up to this to solve an immediate financial crisis and then be saddled with a contract.
The UK has some dark days ahead.
Three has actually massively bumped up its PAYG charges recently.
Contract SIM plus a interest free credit offer over 12-24 months for a high end handset (with an upfront discount) plus warranty is the deal that isn’t on offer direct from networks. Yes you might get the same financial outcome in the end by other means but this would resonate better with some demographic.
O2 refresh
Vodafone Evo
There are two examples that run this type of program.
£100 cashback on a SIM-only contract which has a £462 total cost over 2 years? It’s not really that attractive. Equates to £15 per month.
According to MSE, Three will sell you an unlimited SIM for £16 per month with £40 cashback, which is a better deal than this one. And it’s only a 12 month contract.
If you don’t mind doing a cashback deal (i.e. one where you have to periodically claim the cashback) you can get it even cheaper than that – around £10 a month on a 12 month contract. It’s what I’ve done for the past couple of years.
No offers/incentives or line rental reductions for existing customers.
Handset deals are normally hugely overpriced – even with cashback factored in. The best deals are usually SIMO – from websites such as top cashback or Quidco. Last year I got 100GB for £10 on a 12 month contract from Three, plus £50 cashback. This year though, three really are in a mess. They have massively hiked their PAYG prices and withdrawn free roaming. Free Roaming was a huge selling point for them, given that their network might politely be described as “patchy”. They do seem to be in a mess and there’s a huge amount of talk of them merging with Vodafone. A recent article in the Daily Mail also suggested they may close down if they can’t merge. Hutchison, their parent company, is very keen to get rid of them.