Three Go Roam: how to get worldwide / EU roaming in 71 countries
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We review how to get inclusive EU and worldwide roaming on Three, by joining on the correct plans or paying daily. Last updated: 9th February 2023.
How Go Roam works on Three
Use your UK allowances in 71 EU and worldwide destinations
✔ Use your UK allowances in multiple countriesSee latest full list
at Three.co.uk
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For years, the most popular benefit on Three was their Feel At Home roaming, today called Go Roam. This let you use your regular UK minutes, texts and data allowances in 71 countries in the EU and beyond.
It used to be the case that you got the benefit included automatically on any Three phone contract or SIM only plan. But a couple of years ago, it was removed from pay monthly and replaced with paid daily roaming passes.
Now, it’s back. Sort of. Depending on what plan you take (see how to get it included below), you can get inclusive worldwide/EU roaming, without having to pay the extra daily charges.
There are still rules on things like fair usage: you can only use up to 12GB data while abroad per month, even if your plan is bigger. But we're pleased to at least some way of getting roaming included back on Three.
Useful link: Read our full Three network review
Roaming for new Three customers
Join on a Plus or Premium plan to get inclusive roaming
There are now 3x types of plan on Three: Standard, Plus and Premium. The amount of inclusive roaming changes on each. With Standard, there is no inclusive roaming, you’ll have to pay a daily charge while abroad.
But when you take a Plus or Premium plan, Three will throw in a set number of these daily passes to use throughout the year when you’re abroad. The cost of these is included in the plan’s monthly cost.
On a 12-month Plus plan, you’ll get 14 passes per year, on a 24-month Plus plan, it’s 28 passes per year. On a 12-month Premium plan, you’ll get 28 passes per year, on a 24-month Premium plan, it’s 56 per year.
These include 14/28 roaming passes per year (12-month contract / 24-month contract):
Generally, Three’s Plus plans cost £5 a month more than their Standard equivalent, so you are paying extra for this as a benefit (but there are extra perks you get in addition to roaming). Premium plans cost a further £5 vs Plus.
We’d say this is the best choice if you know you’re going to be away for more than two weeks per year, especially outside the EU, where costs would rack up pretty quickly otherwise.
Useful link: Read our guide to Standard vs Plus vs Premium
You also get Go Roam with Three’s pay as you go
Whether it was through accident or design, Three left Go Roam in as a benefit you get on their pay as you go plans, even when they scrapped it from pay monthly. And that’s still the case if you join today.
It means you can use your PAYG plan at the same cost in the 71 countries as in the UK. Currently, if you literally pay as you go by topping up, you’ll get these rates:
Or there are some better value monthly pay as you go bundles to choose from here:
Activate any of these bundles and Three will include Go Roam destinations at no extra cost:
For us, these are a great short-term option if you’re off to America or any of the other 71 countries and need a SIM to get you by while you’re there, without changing your main mobile plan to Three.
Useful link: Order a free PAYG SIM card from Three
Or you can just buy roaming passes on a daily basis
The final option can still be the right one if you typically only go away for a week or so per year. And that’s just taking a Standard plan, and paying a daily charge for accessing your allowances abroad.
You’ll pay £2 per day in the EU and then £5 a day in further afield destinations in Three’s Go Roam countries. That might sound a pain but remember Standard plans cost £5 a month less than Plus plans with roaming.
As a Standard plan effectively costs £60 less than a Plus, if you went to an EU country for a couple of weeks, that would be £28 and you’d still be paying less than on an inclusive-roaming plan.
Remember though that some countries aren’t even covered by roaming passes and you’ll pay extra to roam there per minute, text and MB data. See the latest costs here.
Useful link: Our guide to the best networks for roaming
Alternatives to Go Roam
For basic EU roaming, there are still plenty of options
If you're mainly interested in retaining free roaming in the EU, there are still a few options available, including on the Three network. SMARTY are owned by Three and have kept EU roaming. iD Mobile still have it too.
If you want to join a main network, O2 are the only provider left still offering inclusive EU roaming as standard on all their plans. Otherwise EE and Vodafone make you join on premium plans to get it.
There are some more networks too. Read our best roaming network guide here for the full rundown.
Useful link: Our review of SMARTY
Inclusive worldwide roaming is now very rare
If you want to go further afield to places like the USA, there are now very few plans that include this without paying extra one-offs or paying as you go.
Take one of Vodafone's Unlimited Xtra plans to get 83 worldwide roaming destinations included with your deal. Here's the current cheapest SIM only plan with that:
Or take a Smart plan from EE and you can choose a Roam Abroad Pass as your Smart benefit, which will let you use your allowances in the EU and 5 extra worldwide destinations.
With O2, you'll also get a small amount of inclusive roaming data worldwide with their Travel Inclusive Zone.
Some other providers do have daily passes you can buy to unlock extra roaming destinations too, read our full roaming guide here to see them all.
Useful link: Compare SIM only deals