Best Three Mobile SIM Deals (April 2022): Get Unlimited 5G Data and Drop Your Bills

When it comes to price, it’s tough to beat Three Mobile. The UK network offers some of the most affordable 5G SIM deals on the market right now. As such, if you’re happy with your current handset or have just bought a new smartphone SIM-free, then a SIM-only deal from Three Mobile could be the best way to boost your mobile phone with all of the mobile data, minutes for calls, and text messages that you could ever want. If you’re looking for the best Three Mobile SIM-only deals to buy right now, Express.co.uk has rounded up some of the ultimate deals available today…

Best Three Mobile SIM Deals: Best For Unlimited Data

If you’re browsing the Three Mobile storefront at the moment, you’ll see the network is offering half-price bills for the first six months of your new unlimited everything SIM-only deal. At £10.50 a month, that might seem like a stellar deal …but we’ve got something even better! You can unlock the same unlimited 5G data, unlimited calls and unlimited text messages for just £16 a month. Better yet, this SIM-only deal has a minimum contract term of just 12-months – that’s half the length of time you’ll be signed up if you decide to add the half-price offer to your shopping basket. As such, you’ll avoid paying the full price (£21 a month) for 18-months.

As such, while you’ll spend less during the first six months of the offer on the Three Mobile website… it’ll cost you more overall. At the end of the two-year unlimited everything contract from the Three Mobile website, you’ll have spent a grand total of £441. But if you decided to stick with the £16 a month deal for the same amount of time (and of course, you’ll be able to renegotiate a new contract after one year), the same unlimited 5G data, calls and text messages will only cost you £384. That’s a saving of £57.

It’s worth noting that Three Mobile no longer includes its Go Roam extra as standard with all SIM-only deals. Instead, you’ll need to pay an extra £2 a day to access your monthly 5G data allowance, minutes and texts in European Union nations, and £5 a day when travelling in other countries around the world. However, Three will include its new rewards scheme, Three+, as standard with its unlimited everything bundle. For those who don’t know, this scheme is designed to challenge the likes of O2 Priority and Vodafone Rewards and offers discounts on cinema tickets and food each week.

Best Three Mobile SIM Deals: Best For Lowest Monthly Bills

Don’t need an unlimited data allowance? If you want to drop your monthly bills to the lowest amount, then Three Mobile is offering an £8 a month bundle with unlimited calls and text messages, and 12GB of mobile data. If you only rely on mobile data to send messages via apps like iMessage, WhatsApp, Messenger and Snapchat …then 12GB should be more than enough. More data-intensive tasks, like streaming lossless audio, bingeing boxsets on Netflix when away from a Wi-Fi network, downloading software updates and games, could soon munch through that allowance – so be careful.

Unsure about how much 5G mobile data you actually need? It’s worth noting that recent research commissioned by Three Mobile revealed that the average 4G and 5G data usage per customer in the UK has jumped to 19GB a month. The study, which deep-dived into data from Three Mobile’s nationwide network in December 2021, shows a huge increase from the average 15.8GB usage per customer just one year ago. That difference, 3.2GB, is over the size of a feature-length movie download. It’s worth keeping that figure in mind if you’re thinking of signing up for this 12-month contract with Three Mobile.

If you’re set on dropping your monthly bills, there are a few things you can do to make sure you stay well below the 12GB data allowance included with this ludicrously affordable deal. For example, downloading albums that you’d like to stream on Spotify or Apple Music when connected to your Wi-Fi network at home will conserve your data allowance. Likewise, downloading films and television episodes to watch on the go before you leave the house will make a huge difference to the amount of data you’re using every day. Connecting to free Wi-Fi networks in the office or in restaurants and coffee shops will further reduce your usage.

Just like the unlimited everything deal above, you’ll gain access to the Three+ rewards scheme, which offers Cineworld tickets for just £3 every weekend as well as discounts on a range of restaurants.

Why Three Mobile?

There are a number of benefits to picking Three Mobile over some of its closest rivals, like EE, O2, Vodafone and Virgin Mobile. The network offers some ludicrously low monthly bills – while still including generous data allowances each month. You’ll also get access to superfast 5G mobile speeds included as standard with all pay monthly and SIM-only plans. According to Ookla, a popular online service that tests broadband speed performance, Three Mobile ranks top with the fastest 5G speeds in the UK. However, it’s worth adding that research by RootMetrics, which is owned and operated by Ookla, shows that EE’s 5G network has a wide reach nationwide.

What Is 5G?

5G is the next generation of mobile internet, following in the footsteps of 2G, 3G and 4G. It offers access to faster speeds – unlocking much faster downloads than most homeowners can achieve with home broadband in the UK, and is able to better juggle large numbers of devices in the same area, like festivals and concerts, which can grind older 3G and 4G devices to a standstill.

Three Mobile includes access to 5G as standard with all of its SIM-only bundles …but that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to access these faster speeds as soon as you pop the new SIM card into your handset. You’ll need to make sure that your handset is 5G compatible. If you’ve upgraded to a flagship smartphone from OnePlus, Samsung, or Apple in recent years, you’ll be guaranteed to have access to 5G speeds.

If you have an older smartphone, you might want to check the Settings menu or the back of the box to see whether you’ll be able to take advantage of faster speeds.

If your smartphone isn’t compatible with 5G, the SIM card from Three Mobile will revert to older 4G networks. Likewise, if you’re in an area that hasn’t been upgraded to the faster mobile downloads, you’ll only be able to access slower downloads via 4G.