Three review: Customer service
Last year’s survey results for customer service weren’t exactly complementary to Three. Only 19% of users told us they were very satisfied with the network’s customer service and support, and a further 37% were fairly satisfied. O2 was worse and Vodafone was in the same region, but Three still lagged behind Tesco Mobile, Sky Mobile and EE. This year’s results are better: 21% of the Three users surveyed said they were very satisfied with Three’s customer service, and an additional 51% were very satisfied. This puts Three comfortably ahead of iD Mobile and Lebara, even if it’s worrying to see that over 18% of users were fairly or very dissatisfied. These results are still worse than average.
Ofcom’s latest research into customer service and satisfaction noted lower than average levels of the latter and more customers with a reason to complain than the industry norm. That said, recent figures put Three’s number of complaints per 100,000 subscribers as bang on the industry average of four; not ideal, but better than O2’s eight.
Three review: Coverage, reliability and speed
Three has spent the past few years jostling with Vodafone as the UK’s second-fastest network, with EE in the lead. According to the latest testing from RootMetrics, Three clinched the second position for the first half of 2024. Its UK-wide 4G and 5G median download speed of 44.5Mbits/sec means it’s a long way off the pace set by EE, but still a couple of Mbits/sec ahead of Vodafone, and even further ahead of O2.
On 5G connectivity, things are a little more complex. RootMetrics’ tests indicate that Three and EE now have similar levels of 5G coverage, with both covering over 60% of the UK. What’s more, Three’s 5G median download speeds were over 100Mbits/sec in every market where RootMetrics tests, and over 200Mbits/sec in nine of 16 UK cities. In fact, they were over 300Mbits/sec in two of those. Three’s UK-wide median 5G download speeds (210Mbits/sec) and fastest 5G download speeds (879Mbits/sec) actually place it ahead of EE, although the latter’s more consistent availability and performance give it the edge as an overall 5G experience.
Impressively, Three also bests EE – and most other networks – with its results in the performance section of our survey. Nearly 90% of users told us their connection was always or often fast enough to browse the web, and 74% said it was always or often good enough for audio streaming. Even with video, which frequently trips up networks, nearly 65% of users thought that Three was always or often capable. Vodafone did slightly better here, and Voxi and Smarty better still; but Three is meeting expectations on performance for most of its users, most of the time.
Three review: Roaming
Sadly, gone are the days when all Three plans included EU roaming. Now the higher-end Complete and Value packages include 28 or 56 daily roaming passes, which can be used to let you access your calls, texts and data allowances for a day while you’re abroad. Otherwise, you’re looking at a £2 per day charge.
Outside the EU you’ll need a Go Roam Around the World pass, costing between £5 and £7 per day, with data subject to a 12GB cap.
Three review: Other features, services and spending caps
Three offers Wi-Fi calling – not just in the home, but in more than 250 stations on the London Underground. It also allows for spending caps: you can pick a level between £10 and £100 over your regular contract charge and you won’t be allowed to make additional calls or use any extra data beyond that.
Three review: Verdict
Three is now a leader for 5G coverage and performance, running neck-and-neck with EE. It’s still playing runner-up on 4G speeds, but not to the extent that it could be described as slow. Pay-monthly phone contracts are as affordable as they get on the big four networks, while there are some decent SIM-only deals. Sadly, customer service remains a thorny issue for Three, and its customer recommendations aren’t as high as they should be. It’s a case of onwards and upwards for speeds and coverage, but Three still has work to do elsewhere.
