Three 100Mbps speed cap: what it means and alternatives

There are now limits on how fast your downloads will go on Three. With their pay monthly plans, you will get 4G/5G limited to 100 Mbps. On pay as you go, it’s half that at 50 Mbps. So what difference will you feel?

Over a mix of 4G/5G, independent network testers Opensignal say Three’s average downloads are around 50 Mbps. In 4G areas, you are unlikely to ever hit the 100 Mbps limit, as it’s rare to exceed that anyway.

The cap will only really bite on 5G connections. The same testers, who use millions of people’s measurements, put Three’s typical 5G around 180 Mbps. That will now have the top sliced off it.

The key question is will you notice it? Do you need speeds over 100 Mbps? Our own view is “not really”. Only if you’re using your SIM for vast downloads (think Xbox games) will you end up feeling any delays.

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As Three point out in their guide here, you can comfortably stream 4K video even at 50 Mbps and online games work fine. At 100 Mbps, HD video calls should be ultra reliable and gaming. Day-to-day, you’re unlikely to notice it.

But it does beg the question: what is the point in building the UK’s fastest 5G network and then saying most customers cannot benefit from it?

This is straight up about money. For all the promises of the merger between Three and Vodafone meaning a better experience, this move has taken things in the opposite direction for consumers.

Surprise surprise you can pay £4 extra a month for a ‘Full Speed Add-on’ to remove the limits. You even have to add this to Three’s more expensive plans. Value and Complete plans also come with the 100 Mbps cap.

On a broader level, this is about building in differences between Three and Vodafone. Somewhere in their head office, someone has gambled that more people will now choose the uncapped, more premium brand Vodafone.

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Our bet is people won’t and this backfires. It is such a bad idea to take a successful brand like Three and deliberately hobble it. If you don’t want to play the game, join an uncapped alternative on Three’s network.

If we were being kind to Three, we’d say that there are some network benefits to introducing speed caps. It does mean that in congested areas, people will get a more evenly shared connection speed.

It’s similar to how motorways slow down speed limits to 50 Mph to get more cars through at busy times. Yes, individually you’re going slower but you get more cars through without constant acceleration and braking.

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But the problem with all this explanation is that it undermines the whole point of 5G. 5G is specifically designed to handle more users at once. Yes it’s a faster motorway, but more importantly it’s a wider motorway.

So for us, it’s clear this is primarily a commercial decision by Three. And we think it’s a terrible one. What is the point in building the UK’s fastest 5G network and then saying no-one can use it?

Though this move has been to encourage people to spend more money. We think it will actually force people onto cheaper alternatives like Three’s own-brand SMARTY.

SMARTY don’t deliberately cap top speeds. Our review generally found comparable speeds to Three directly. This leaves a baffling situation where the “premium” Three brand is worse than the “low-frills” SMARTY.

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You also get EU roaming on SMARTY, which is also not standard on Three. There’s no contract to sign. Just month-to-month deals you can quit any time, with no notice.

Other than a few niche features and things like a lack of telephone customer service, it’s hard to see why you would want to join on a hobbled Three SIM vs an uncapped SMARTY one.