Three UK Introduce 1-Month Term on 5G Home Broadband Plans
Last week we reported that Three UK had cut the standard charge on their 5G unlimited Three Home Broadband packages and also introduced the more expensive ‘option‘ of a 1-month minimum contract term. But it seems they were a bit premature, since the new monthly term has only now gone live.
As previously mentioned, the new 1-month plans cost an extra £4 (total price of £24 per month) vs the usual 24-month terms, and you don’t benefit from any first-term discounts. But the good news is that you’ll still receive their new ZTE 5G Hub router for that price (no upfront fees) and the offer of a 30-day money-back guarantee remains, which is surprising given that the kit they bundle isn’t exactly cheap. But if you cancel, you’ll need to return it or face a charge.
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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90% of addresses I put into the Three Broadband checker return a “we are expanding our network” message. It seems strange to have capacity issues while reducing the costs of the service.
Has any announcement been made by Three regarding network upgrades?
So apparently there’s a non return charge if you don’t send the router back, but the T&C links to a non existent page so No idea what it actually is
https://www.threebroadband.co.uk/help/account-and-billing/i-want-to-leave-three-broadband-do-i-need-to-return-the-hub
£350
As to if this is enforced or not seems to be a bit of a mystery. I have seen screenshots with three customer service telling customers flat out it’s yours to keep. But the T&Cs are clear you don’t own it. But several are for sale on eBay and CeX etc. I hope those people don’t end up selling a router and then getting a £350 bill. And it’s for that reason that I chose to buy this router from Amazon. No chance of it being bricked by three for non-payment etc.
I fully expect nothing will come of it. But given the current shortage of everything, who knows if three will start trying to claw their routers / the money for those routers back or not. It’s a risk. One I personally wouldn’t take but many do.
According to the Three Home Broadband Price Guide:
“5G Hub Device
If you decide to leave you must return your 5G Hub to us under our Terms
& Conditions. If you don’t return the hub a charge will be placed on your
account. Full details of our Returns and Exchanges Policy can be found at:
three.co.uk/support/device_support/returns”
So no: not a source of cheap 5G hardware!
They really need to make that clearer on their website for customers.
https://www.threebroadband.co.uk/help/account-and-billing/i-want-to-leave-three-broadband-do-i-need-to-return-the-hub
Claims £105 under the non return charge after 14d.
SO yes cheap for a 5G router.
Opps I really should read the whole thing, they claim they’ll still want it returned even after charging £105
From the wording on their website it appears they are saying the router remains theirs forever even if you are out of contract and decide to leave.
That cant be right. Every other contract, the device is yours after the contract term ends.
I can understand if this policy is for rolling one month contracts but the wording doesn’t state that. It just states for their 5g routers, it remains the property of three regardless of contract term.
Am I missing something?
“But if you cancel, you’ll need to return it or face a charge.” – I think this applies on the 24 month contracts as well?
I returned mine, Pile of junk. Reboots every Tuesday randomally.. The UI is horrible.
pity we might have been able to help you on the forums. We know that there certainly are some bad firmwares floating about for this device. Mine has been on the original firmware since day 1 and has been as totally solid as my Huawei 5G CPE. But yes the modem has it’s flaws like most do.
There is a setting that make it reboot on every Tuesday, you can turn this off.
That’s interesting! I had this service and router for about three weeks and it was appearing to reboot every couple of hours – most annoying and weird. I contacted three and they said it was something to do with the weak signal from the mast?? I have no idea if this is the case (in my view this is nonsense, as when I speed tested, it averaged over 500 mbps). So, explain that to me.
Does this device fall back to 4g if there’s no 5g service? If it’s similar pricing to 4g broadband it seems reasonable to order this instead of 4g for future proofing (which would require giving a 5g live postcode to their checker but then delivering to a different address).
Yes, it falls back to 4G if 5G is weak/ not available. Its the same with all 5G routers. There is lots of info on the ZTE MC801A on the ispreview forum
https://www.ispreview.co.uk/talk/threads/zte-mc801a-review.37993/
I have a good 4g service with Three right now so when my contract for this ends later this year, if they don’t give me a deal I’ll just get 5g at the same price then and use it on 4g until 5g goes live. Thanks!
The returns are enforced. We bought one and the signal was rubbish. So we sent it back during the ‘cooling off’ period. They sent prepaid RoyalMail special delivery bag. Three claimed they didnt receive it back (Even though royalmail site shows proof of delivery/ signature). My guess is someone at the receiving warehouse is stealing them & selling them on.
And they charge me £27.10 a month and I have a service that keeps going down and they won’t allow me to change the hardware or leave.. This will give me new legal ammo so thanks for the news on it
It’s also ironic that they send me a Samknows invite – I sign up get accepted set the box up and all of a sudden 5G is not available in my area LOL
Coincidence?
Simon, you should contact them via their twitter.
I’ve done some reading about this and from other experiences on online forums and reading Three’s terms and conditions the router is on loan for its entire length of use even after a contract. I won’t be getting this!
I think 3 is throttling its connections with their propriety (quietly hidden in the terms and conditions & use) which is trafficsense™️ stealing bandwidth from other towers probably to let the lucky to have 5g customer’s download an email at 1000Mbit!
I would like more than H+.0.056Mbit this am where once was 90Mbit full bore 4g all the bars constantly, they’ve probably turned tower power down to save electricity #Threeuk
Oh just try and live chat 3…I dare you! 2.5hrs complaining, (IT by trade, I’ve been down every change of wire, position & beyond, they’ve turned off 4g+ on 4 towers in my car run of 11 miles, only H+) the live chat cut out many times! 3 UK are notable to tell me what the problems are or when it’ll be fixed… & I spoke to UK tech guy, no ideas! Time for a small claims court action I feel – no ps5 xbox 4k online, updates all day, on phones – pc software updating pointless. 2 routers 2 sim accounts both Huawei see you in court #threeukcares NOT A JOT dir debits cancelling, 4 no. So are my Facebook friends!
Three are god awful, anyone that goes with them (unless they have no other choice) has only themselves to blame.
I have just had a confusing chat with ‘3’ via the chat box. I have an ID Mobile sim ( uses 3 Network) and I can 5G on my balcony but not indoors. When I go to order the 5G hub I’m told it is not available in my area! The Chat agent says it’s a different signal to a general 5G mobile signal via a sim which sounds odd. I was going to get a Bluespot antenna and mount it on an external wall and connect it to the two available antenna ports on the hub. My current Hauwei CPE gets a 3 5G signal when I hold out of the second floor window of my flat.
Any thoughts!
Why are people getting miffed with sending the router back? I thought this was the norm, even with fixed line broadband.
From my experience with BT, postoffice/ shell broadband they requested for the router back after we cancelled (this was even after being with them for years) If it wasnt sent back they said theyd charge like £100 (or something) We gladly sent the routers back as they were like at least a year old tech & wouldnt be of any use (AFAIK) with a different supplier.
I cant wait for Three to offer 5G (even 4G) broadband in our area. Probably be 2030-40 lol & by the time the networks sorted, theyll make us go through another grind of network upgrades 6G, 7G, 8G / whatever lol