Three Mobile has announced that it is bringing all of its customers along for the super fast 5G ride, at no extra cost and with no speed caps.
The company says anyone on contract, SIM-only or pay-as-you-go tariffs will be able to access what Three says will be the UK’s fastest 5G network. The company has already announced plans to roll out the 5G network later this year in 25 cities around the UK.
The firm is promising reliability and speed that no other network will be able to compete with due to its success in purchasing up a large proportion of the available 5G spectrum.
“Three is the only UK network that can offer customers a ‘true’ 5G experience thanks to its 100MHz of contiguous spectrum,” which ITU Global has earmarked as the standard for bandwidth to provide a full 5G experience, the company says in a press release. Speeds as high as 2Gbps are theoretically possible.
Related: 5G in the UK
Three points out that any of its current subscribers can pick up one of the current 5G handsets available on the market, safe in the knowledge it’ll be future proofed for use on the firm’s 5G network, regardless of how they wish to structure their mobile tariff.
So, for example, if you feel like snapping up the new Huawei Mate 20 X 5G, which the company says is going on sale on Friday (we previously thought a UK launch may be a longshot), you can do so knowing you’ll be covered when the 5G network eventually open-up in your area.
The company says the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 5G and Samsung Galaxy S10 5G are also set to arrive on the network within the coming month.
The firm says after the initial roll out 80% of the traffic currently running on its network will be covered by 5G within three years. Given most of that traffic is likely to be based in densely-populated areas, Three customers in rural areas might be waiting into well into the next decade before they start seeing that 5G icon pop up on their phone.
Three says that as soon as 5G arrives in the customer’s location they’ll be able to change their data contract in order to take advantage of the new speeds.
Dave Dyson, CEO at Three, said: “Three is leading the way with 5G, by providing our customers with unlimited data and the fastest speeds. Our customers will be able to enjoy and explore a full 5G experience, at the same cost as 4G.
“The forthcoming months are going to be game-changing and with our unrestricted plans, we are looking forward to unleashing the full potential of 5G to all.”
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.