- Three is introducing speed caps on phone, SIM-only and mobile broadband plans for new and upgrading customers.
- The limit is 100 Mbps in most cases, and Pay As You Go has a lower limit.
- Existing customers are not affected and contract customers will be able to pay more to remove the limit.
Three appears to have taken a step back, because where you could previously get unlimited 5G across all of its plans at no extra cost, the network has now implemented speed caps.
Specifically, new Pay Monthly mobile plans (i.e. SIM-only contracts or a new phone) will be capped at 100Mbps speed, as will mobile broadband plans. It’s still possible to get unlimited speeds, but you’ll have to choose a new ‘Lite+’ plan or pay an extra £4 a month.
On Pay As You Go, the limit is 25 Mbps, or 50 Mbps if you have an auto-renewing package.
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That’s a big reduction compared to what the network is actually capable of: in a January 2026 report, for example, Opensignal found that the average 5G download speed on Three was 187Mbps. But now, to get it, you’ll have to pay an extra £4 a month on the company’s new Pay Monthly plans, and there’s no way to unlock your speeds on Pay As You Go.
The only good news here is that these changes don’t affect existing contract customers, and if you’re currently on a Pay As You Go plan with auto-renewal, you’ll also keep unlimited speeds as long as you stay on the same package.
But of course, when you upgrade your contract, or if you ever change your Pay As You Go package, these limits will apply to you.
The merger could be to blame
Understandably, the internet isn’t too pleased with this change, with Reddit reactions including “it’s time to go,” “my to-do list has moved away from Three,” and “the merger should never have been allowed.” That last quote refers to Three’s merger with Vodafone, which could be to blame for these new speed limits, especially as Vodafone itself restricts speeds on some of its plans.
Interestingly, these changes don’t appear to apply to MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operators) operating on Three’s network yet, and iD Mobile confirms there are currently no speed limits on its network.
So, as well as typically being cheaper than Three, its MVNOs may now have a clear advantage, although how long that will last remains to be seen, with iD Mobile also noting that “the industry trend is clearly moving towards tiered speeds.”
Still, for now, if you’re on Three and need to upgrade, or are considering switching to Three, you might want to look at one of their MVNOs.
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