Sorry to hear about problem in your area. I imagine a lot of areas will get like that soon. 4G is meant to help resolve this problem not sure how it will perform though. But that really is a good deal even via retention.

They don't have the backhaul to offer 50GB for £20 but they have adequate backhaul to offer unlimited for £25?

Not sure I follow your reasoning there.

It's because it slightly different most people who have unlimited probably use 1-3GB a month. I agree there probably is some people who use 70-100GB a month on it but they are a minority. If they market it as mobile broadband service with a massive 50GB it may over use the backhaul they have as they will likely use more than 1-3GB a month. I think the 15GB one they do is a good amount for a lot of people. I hope that explains it better for you.

This part here contains two massive and presumptive leaps though.

Firstly, no-one mentioned marketing such a theoretical service as mobile broadband - the person you had replied to about backhaul specifically talked about a SIM with calls, texts and ~50GB of data.

Secondly, would the average usage really be higher?
If the majority of people on tariffs with an unlimited allowance only use a couple of gigs, why would people on a 50GB tariff use more?

True you do have a good point and honestly think they might as they might think it is limited similar to virgins or something similar.

While I think about it, Three's backhaul seems to be about the most robust anyway.

I tried a 3 PAYG SIM in my S4, got 10Mbps download speeds where I live (wee village north of Edinburgh) and 15-16Mbps in places like Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee.
With my T-Mobile SIM, on the other hand, I get up to 18Mbps at home but struggle to get 2-3Mbps in the likes of Edinburgh or Glasgow.

So, in an entirely unscientific way, it strikes me that Three have ample backhaul in place compared to their biggest competitor.

Interesting I think Three have come a long way recently and certainly now a proper contender.

No this was the one with the totally unlimited data and tethering. He made a point of saying about the tethering and the unlimited data.

It was 2000 minutes, 5000 texts, 5000 3 to 3, totally unlimited data with tethering for £15 a month on a rolling contract. He also offered to throw in something that I could connect up at home that would solve the signal problems in the house but I forget the name of that now.

I would have stayed but the network around this area really has become next to useless, data throughout the day averaging 200 kbs and almost constant cell breathing problems.

I can confirm that the rumours were true. Went into my local three store and they showed me this:

The One Plan for £15pm on a 12 month agreement and £18pm on a 1 month agreement.
2000 minutes, 5000 texts, 5000 3 to 3 minutes and unlimited data with tethering. Coupled with their free 4G proposition this is clearly providing the best value on the market for high end users. Unbelievable!

http://db.tt/2M5wtYok

Excellent news. I've been thinking about using 3 purely as a broadband connection, as the speeds are fantastic compared to ADSL in my area (13Mb 3G vs. 1.5Mb ADSL). £15 a month for unlimited data and tethering seems unbeatable.

Presumably I could just stick the SIM in a cheap Android phone with wifi tethering, then connect other devices around the house to it?

Three is the only network where I can routinely get 10mbs+ speeds, i've never seen more than 4mbs on T-Mobile and Virgin rarely crawls above 2mbs

Back in 2010, I was on a mobile internet deal from Orange which offered a dongle with 10GB of data for £25 a month, speeds in this area were also around 4mbs and it was good and stable, however Orange scrapped the deal about 3 months after it was introduced, and they have never seemed to offer any decent 3G allowances ever since.

There does seem to be a lack of deals in the 5gb to 25gb range, and its strange that customers who routinely use only 2gb to 3gb a month would pay more for an unlimited or a suggested 50gb deal, when one of the cheaper deals, offering less data would do just as well.

I suppose that paying for the one plan and unlimited data and tethering is good value for money if you download 100gb+ data every month, however its expensive for medium demand subscribers only using 5gb to 50gb a month, and this is where packages for rural customers with poor land line speeds are lacking.

Is 18 pound a month really an awful lot for a 10-20MB connection speed these days in rural areas they probably not getting even high that. I think it might be slightly above the average price but not an awful lot more.

I only just saw the POS scan which jabbamk1 had linked to after i'd made the above post, and £18 is more like it.

Prior to that, the price reduction was just internet rumour. Happy to see its actually going to happen. Especially as Virgin Mobile have also just announced a July price increase.

I can see this certainly increasing the amount of Three contract customers.

For future reference, if I say something is likely to happen you can pretty much bank on it.
I wouldn't've started a thread if I wasn't confident it would turn out to be the case.

you actually used the word rumour in your own opening post


rumour was YOUR choice of word, not mine.

Rumour is code word for "truthfact"

In which case choosing to use exactly the same word shouldn't have caused any offence

IS the 12 month one plan actually the same as 30 day and 24month options and truly unlimited now?

Yup.

Makes my £12.50pm loyalty deal look insignificant now...

I know.
But there's 'This is almost certainly going to happen, I just don't have anything in my hand that proves it' rumours and there's 'I read on some one man blog about how the royal family are all giant space lizards' rumours.


As I also said, whilst I couldn't prove beyond all doubt it was going to happen, I wouldn't've started the thread at all without good reason.

In a market one exchange you are paying roughly 18 quid a month for broadband alone. Satellite is obviously significantly more.

This is a great move by Three ahead of the other network's 4G launch.

True and if someone is willing go on the 12 month package they can an extra 3 pound a month specially with 4G going to be free I think Three is going to be the network for people who like sim free phones or want an alternative internet connection.

this is an amazing deal. I wonder what the other networks reaction will be to this. These are unbeatable deals.

Does anyone know if the pay as you go tariffs will get any sort of shake up?