EE vs Three: which network's best for 4G/5G coverage & speeds?

✔ EE have the more widespread overall network

Looking at coverage for call signal (2G/3G) between EE and Three, you’ll see that they both have a similar percentage of the UK’s geographical landmass covered. And both networks’ signal can suffer indoors.

But when it comes to 4G data coverage, it’s advantage EE (see 5G here). In big cities, Three can more than match EE. It’s just when you’re in smaller towns, villages and country that the difference becomes noticeable.

Three have expanded their 4G network quite rapidly, but they’re still behind EE. These days Three’s focus seems to be on expanding their 5G. But we recommend checking either networks’ coverage checker before buying.

Don’t just check at home. Look around at all the places you’re likely to take your phone, whether that be at school, on your commute, your workplace or anywhere else you go day to day.

Useful link: Our full Three network review

✔ For 5G coverage it’s difficult to say which network wins

EE might have come out on top for 4G and call signal, but the race is still neck and neck between the two networks when it comes to rolling out their 5G networks. It’s difficult to say which is the outright winner.

We’re still talking about 5G on a city-by-city basis though. And sometimes within those locations, it’s a street-by-street basis. 5G is nowhere near as widespread as the other technologies yet.

Looking at sheer numbers, Three are far ahead with 5G live in 300+ UK towns and cities vs EE’s over 160. Both networks offer 5G access on all plans at no added cost:

Best 5G SIMs on EE and Three

All SIM only plans on either network get you 5G access. Here’s what we think are the best value deals:

Numbers don’t tell the whole story. EE only declare a location as covered when 5G covers 50% of the location's area. Three declare theirs much earlier. In any case the best thing to do is use either networks’ coverage checkers below.

Useful link: See both networks' 5G maps

✔ EE have much faster typical 4G speeds than Three

If speeds are a big concern for you, then you’ll want to take a look at the average 4G data speeds collected by independent network testers Opensignal. These show that EE offer by far the fastest speeds over 4G (see 5G here).

Three come second place for average speeds in their tests, but there’s a wide gulf between theirs and EE’s. Average 4G download speeds on EE were measured around 44.0 Mbps and 25.2 Mbps on Three.

Both scores are enough to support things like HD streaming on your phone without buffering. But if you’re a massive downloader, you might be better off on EE. Basic users should be happy on either.

Despite the launch of 5G, Three are also working on improving their 4G speeds alongside the rollout. We could slowly start to see them close the gaps on their rivals for the more-widely used technology.

Useful link: EE's guide to the differences 5G will make

✔ Three tend to offer faster 5G speeds than EE

If you’ve got a 5G-ready phone and live somewhere covered with the new technology, then Three’s impressive 5G speeds could chip away at EE’s overall speed advantage.

Looking at results from testers Opensignal and Speedtest by Ookla, we can predict typical 5G speeds on Three between 103.9 Mbps - 246.65 Mbps and 131.9 Mbps - 158.30 Mbps on EE.

The big variation in results from Three might be due to users being connected to 5G on the fringes of signal coverage. Three have reserved more of their higher signal frequencies into 5G, which means faster speeds at the cost of shorter range.

We’d say that so long as you’re somewhere with strong 5G signal, you should get much faster speeds on Three than on EE. But Three’s speeds tend to suffer more the further away from the 5G mast you go.

Useful link: Read more about 5G's benefits

✔ The two networks have brilliant WiFi calling

It’s important for networks to offer a good WiFi calling feature as standard. This makes it so your phone can connect to calls via WiFi signal if you’re somewhere with poor signal, without needing a separate app.

Both EE and Three’s WiFi calling technology is excellent. They support loads of phones, it kicks in easily when you need it, you can switch to a 4G call without it dropping and you can send/receive SMS.

Check either networks’ list of supported phone models beforehand. Three don’t tend to list all the models that actually worked in our testing. And EE support a massive list of devices.

You’ll now get the feature as standard on every plan on both networks, including pay monthly, on pay as you go and on their monthly bundles. So that’s another good step in the right direction.

Useful link: Our favourite WiFi calling schemes

✔ Both networks offer free WiFi hotspots

Getting free WiFi on the go is helpful for holding onto your data and staying connected in places you wouldn’t otherwise get signal. Both networks offer free WiFi hotspots, but their schemes are quite different from each other.

EE have recently introduced their WiFi Coverage Boost, giving all customers access to 150,000+ WiFi hotspots (provided by BT) up and down the country, including a few at London Underground stations and ticket barriers.

Three also offer free WiFi on the Underground, but they don’t offer any overground hotspots whatsoever. That means the scheme only really benefits those commuting in London, where EE’s does the same while also helping customers all over the country.

It’s good that both networks offer some free WiFi, but ultimately more is better and more customers are likely to benefit from EE’s scheme. EE are the clear winner here.

Useful link: Our EE’s guide to their WiFi Coverage Boost

✖ EE no longer include free EU roaming

More and more networks are getting rid of their EU roaming schemes, and EE are one of them. You used to be able to use your regular UK allowance while in the EU, but that’s no longer the case for new customers.

If you want to have this, have a look at BT Mobile who still offer it and use EE’s full 5G network. There’s also low-cost provider Plusnet that still include it on EE’s 4G network.

While you’re in the EU you’ll have to pay £2 a day to roam to access your regular UK allowance. You can take a roaming pass that covers these destinations and a few extra non-EU ones on any of EE’s Smart Plans:

EE Smart Plans

You can get a roaming pass with one of these Smart Plans:

While you’re actually abroad, we find the roaming on EE really slick. You get 4G wherever it’s available, the speeds are fast and everything just works as you’d expect, in our experience.

Useful link: EE's full guide to roaming on their network

✖ Three also no longer offer free EU roaming

Three used to have the best roaming scheme of all networks. With their Go Roam scheme you could roam in more destinations than on any other network, on most of their plans at no extra cost.

That’s all been scrapped for new customers joining from 1st October 2021 and replaced with a system of £2 daily charges in the EU to use your allowances and £5 outside the EU.

For now this means that Three’s smaller sub-brand SMARTY are actually a better choice for going abroad. They give you a similar network experience while letting you roam in the EU at no added cost.

It’s a bit disappointing. We suspect that Three concentrating investment on improving the quality of their network means they’re removing some of their nice value-add benefits like Go Roam.

Useful link: Three's replacement for Go Roam

✔ EE offer some great benefits with a nice discount

A lot more people are thinking about combining their family’s mobile plans into one single deal (we’ve got a whole guide about it here). And it’s something EE do well.

You get up to a 20% discount on any additional plan you put onto your main EE account, whether on a SIM only, phone or mobile broadband contract. You don’t have to add them all at the same time, you can add each when you need.

And you can share data with EE’s Data Gifting. This lets you share data from one user on your account to another if one user is running out of data and another has some to spare.

This is handy for avoiding extra charges for data. And it helps you avoid the inefficiency of losing unused data you've paid for, if you can pass it to someone who needs it (our data rollover guide has more about this).

Useful link: EE's guide to all their family plan benefits

✔ Three offer existing customer discounts, but no benefits

Three don’t offer anything like EE’s Data Gifting benefit. But there are some exclusive offers for existing Three customers that are typically a bit better value.

There’s no consistent discount across their whole range of plans, but existing Three customers can usually expect:

£1 - £3 off the monthly cost of phone contracts, plus the upfront costs waived on mid-range and cheaper models.

£1 - £3 off the most popular SIM only plans (a smaller range of 12-month contracts)

And similar discounts on tablets and mobile broadband devices too.

While the savings aren’t massive, Three’s plans tend to be quite a bit cheaper than EE’s across most of their plans. So you will end up saving more overall with Three, even though you’re not getting much of a discount.

If you want a provider on the Three network with excellent family plans, also take a look at Three’s sub-brand SMARTY who offer a 10% saving on their Group plans, against already-low prices.

Useful link: All prices for existing customers

✖ Three are pretty thin on the ground in terms of benefits

We used to really like a benefit you got on Three called Go Binge. But it's now been removed. It was basically unlimited streaming data, when you use some selected apps (see alternatives here).

Three’s popular Wuntu app is also long gone, but it has been replaced with their new Three+ app. There are quite as many special offers as there were on Wuntu, but it does give a bit of extra value with your deal.

So they're now looking a little light when it comes to nice extras that make your overall deal a bit sweeter. It's a good job Three have got the lowest prices of a main network to fall back on.

It seems for now they’ve put more effort into expanding their 5G network rather than offering many impressive benefits. We hope they’ll bring out something new soon. For now they’re essentially a no-frills network.

Useful link: Read Three's statement on Go Binge

✔ EE offer some nice extras that come at a premium

When you join EE on any pay monthly phone or SIM only contract you’ll get some free trials to a few entertainment services that give you extra value on your deal. Trials include Apple Music, Apple TV+ and Apple Arcade.

That’s a nice bit of extra value on top of your plan. And the data you use for Apple Music during your trial won’t come out of your allowance. But if you don’t want to start paying for these after the trial then you’ll have to cancel them manually.

On top of that, some EE pay monthly plans are designated as Smart plans. These include a choice of extra benefits, like streaming data passes, more roaming or an entertainment subscription (see all options here).

EE SIMs with Smart Benefits

These plans get you at least one Smart Benefit:

These aren’t freebies. Smart plans come at a higher cost than their regular range. If you don’t mind that and you like the sound of the extra benefits, then going with an EE Smart Plan might be the right choice for you.

Useful link: How to get claim your free trial subscriptions

✔ Both Three and EE offer similar phone contracts

EE and Three both offer phone plans on what we call traditional phone contracts:

These are 24-month contracts (neither network offer shorter options) which combine the cost of your phone and usage (mins, texts, data) plan into one monthly payment. There’s no finance or loans involved, just a monthly payment.

Neither network offer any strong early-upgrade deals, although EE do have a scheme where you can upgrade after 12 months on certain phones/plans (see here) but it involves handing in your old phone.

We don’t typically rate this sort of scheme because you can typically get a better price for your phone by selling it somewhere else. And there are quite a few hoops to jump through in terms of the condition your old phone has to be in.

Useful link: How EE annual upgrade works

✔ Only Three let you buy via a reseller

You used to be able to join both EE and Three via third party resellers, but now there aren’t any resellers that offer EE phone contracts. But there are a few still offering Three phone contracts, and we’ll go over which ones here.

Fonehouse, buymobiles.net and mobilephonesdirect.co.uk all offer Three phone contracts for cheaper than buying with Three directly. And Samsung also let you buy a Three phone contract for their models if you buy with them.

All of these work by providing the phone themselves (rather than it coming from EE or Three). They buy more phones, so get better prices from manufacturers, so can offer cheaper deals to you.

It's definitely something to think about for both networks and our comparison tool on the link below includes all those third party retailers as well as joining the networks direct, so definitely use it to compare.

Useful link: Compare phone contracts