Three's phone contracts: everything you need to know
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Compare deals and find out the key information about joining Three on a phone contract, including credit checks and upgrades. Last updated: 10th July 2024
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Useful information about Three’s phone plans
Their finance based contracts offer brilliant flexibility
Three offer most of their phones on flexible finance-based contracts (essentially loans). Your monthly payment is made up of one payment for your phone and another for your usage plan (mins, texts, data).
This lets you pay off the cost of your phone at any point to upgrade to a new one. No need to wait for your contract to end. And Three let you choose a contract length of 12, 24 or 36 months to suit your budget.
But even if you pay it off early, you’ll still have to stay on your usage contract for the full 12/24 months. And you can’t switch to a smaller plan during your contract, but you can move to a bigger one if you need.
The overall cost of your phone stays the same no matter what, which isn’t the case on all networks. Bear in mind, some of their older phones are on less flexible 24-month contracts, so check the phone you want here.
Useful link: See all current phone models on Three
There are some technical things you should know about
You will have to pass a credit check to join on any Three phone contract. This is because they’re buying and shipping you your new phone with the expectation that you’ll be able to pay them back over your contract.
They’ll look at your history of making payments and your credit score. We’re not exactly sure how strict they are, but if you’ve missed a few payments in the past then we think it’ll be hard to pass the check.
If you want to leave before your contract is up you’ll have to pay off the rest of your loan and an early termination fee for your usage plan. You can see how they calculate it in their terms and conditions here.
Your phone will be delivered by DPD the next working day if you order before 8pm or in 2+ working days if you order after 8pm or live in a very remote location (see full details here).
Finally, if you’re switching to Three from another network and want to keep your number you can request a PAC from your old network and send it to Three at any point. They’ll port your number over for you.
Useful link: Read Three’s full terms and conditions
Other benefits of being on Three
A good mix of coverage, blistering fast 5G and more
Three own the network they use to provide signal. They offer good coverage for calls (3G) and their data signal (4G/5G) is rapidly expanding to more and more locations, giving you an excellent overall mix.
If you’re on a 5G-ready phone you’ll get access to 5G in these 500+ UK towns and cities. Coverage within these locations tends to be widespread, so you’ll typically stay on 5G quite often.
That’s definitely a good thing as Opensignal and Speedtest got typical 5G speeds on Three between 237.7 Mbps - 286.27 Mbps, with peak speeds up to 696.73 Mbps. Opensignal measured typical 4G speeds around 35.4 Mbps.
They’re the second-fastest network for 4G and 5G speeds, only behind EE. They also have a brilliant WiFi calling scheme and you can join Three directly on an eSIM if you wish
.Useful link: Our full review of Three’s network and benefits