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4G on Three will be at Standard Prices and Unlimted Data
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Three have committed to bring 4G LTE as a standard price and unlimited tariffs unlike EE. Looks like Three will break from the crowed
http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/03/threeuk-lte-price-pledge/
Three to offer latest technology as standard with no price premium.
Three UK today made a public commitment to offer Ultrafast services as a standard feature on all its smartphone price plans. LTE, otherwise known as 4G, will be added to Three's Ultrafast network later this year. Unlike some other UK mobile operators, it will be available across all existing and new price plans without customers needing to pay a premium fee to 'upgrade'.
Three's Ultrafast network, currently supported by DC-HSDPA technology, already covers 55% of the UK population with an initial focus on 50 towns and cities. It will reach 80% population coverage by the end of March and in the second half of this year it will incorporate 1800Mhz spectrum already acquired by Three to add even more coverage and capacity.
Any customer with an Ultrafast ready device can already enjoy great speeds on Three's Ultrafast network without paying a premium or needing to swap SIM cards or price plans. LTE will be available as standard with all customers' price plans when the roll-out begins later this year.
"Our customers choose Three because they love the internet and know they can get great speeds and great value on our award-winning network," said Three UK chief executive Dave Dyson.
"As we add the next wave of technology to our Ultrafast network, we've listened to our customers and thought long and hard about the right way to do it. We don't want to limit Ultrafast services to a select few based on a premium price and we've decided our customers will get this service as standard. With Three, it's simple, great value and Ultrafast. What you might expect from the network that was built for the internet."
Customers with Ultrafast ready devices, including the Apple iPhone 5, Nokia Lumia 920, Sony Xperia Z, Apple iPad mini and Apple iPad with Retina display, can already enjoy Three's Ultrafast network and will also be able to use the 1800Mhz spectrum when it is added later this year. Device choice is growing rapidly with new Ultrafast ready LTE versions of the Samsung Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II being launched on Three within the next month, and the BlackBerry Z10 launching mid-February.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/03/threeuk-lte-price-pledge/
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Never mind its good news for everyone expect those who sighed up for EE at a premium with crap data caps. It may encourage EE to be more generous? Certainly good for competition.
I might actually switch from T-Mobile when this happens.
My contract with O2 is up this year so this may well sway me to Three. Don't even get me started on O2's 3G coverage :mad:
It's a shame because I know I'll never get another deal like the one I have.
But unlimited LTE for a decent price is so tempting...
By the time Three launch their LTE service, those people will maybe only have a year left.
Potentially a year of LTE before any other network offered it, of course you'd have to pay premium prices for that.
Also, to be fair, this announcement goes against everything Three had said previously about their LTE pricing.
No-one could have expected this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-Mobile_UK
This isn't the case at all! I will have 4G for about 6 months before Three even start rolling it out and even then, there is no indication at all as to their roll out plan. It could be the slowest roll out plan ever for all we know or the coverage may be crap for a good while. It could also be well over 2 years from when I got my 4G until it gets rolled out over here making my EE contract very justifiable.
I think you should wait and see their roll out plan, how fast they roll it out, where they will roll it out to first and how long it will take to cover all the UK's major Cities before saying we are unlucky. I for 1 see myself as very lucky, particularly as I have £10 off my line rental for the entire term of my contract.
Bear in mind that EE will be about 9 months or more ahead of Three and the others with the roll out of 4G so my contract could be up before Three 4G is even here. Also, if everyone jumps on the Three bandwagon the network will be so congested that you'd be better off without a 4G contract and stick to the DC-HSPA!
That's O2's plan
If Three and the other networks get a chunks of 800MHz and 2.6GHz then they could be up and running by about May 2013.
Wishful thinking? On a serious note, three aren't starting from scratch here, they purchased LTE spectrum a while ago, you think they would have been sitting idly by? Three are all about the internet, they will likely be up and running fairly soon.
Either way there is no premium price plans. At a worst case scenario, we will have 80% coverage of DC HSPA at no extra cost either, and that is still plenty quick.
If you are talking about the 1800Mhz they purchased from EE after the Orange and T-Mobile merger, they aren't getting that until September. If they aren't up and running by then on other bands then they will be seriously lagging behind...
It depends on how much work they will do in the mean time. They have plenty of time to build their 4G network and just switch on 1800MHz in September. Its what I would do. Plan ahead. Other networks may be more reactive rather than proactive. Namely O2
Maybe the auction of the 800 and 2600MHz bands have progressed faster than expected or maybe this relates to recent Ofcom talk of allowing all frequencies to be used for all types of network.
Or maybe it's just a PR stunt to try and put people off switching to EE.
As a loyal customer to Three, this worries me. At the moment the 3G is fine, but lots of extra people at once will congest the 4G signal.
With EE4G at the minute until December 2013 so can jump ship then but it's their customer service that puts me off, sadly.
But the unl data bit is good.
Or maybe Three didn't manage to get anything at the auction, so only have to upgrade what they have got (and what they will get from EE) and that's why they won't be charging extra