De-mystifying Three's The One Plan, All You Can Eat data and Tethering
**UPDATE** - It just gets better. Three have changed their Tethering rules for their SIM-only, 30-day The One Plan. Tethering is now permitted on this 30-day plan.
In this article I intend to present to you an FAQ of sorts on Three UK's controversial The One Plan with it's All You Can Eat mobile data and Tethering. Jump to the Summary at the bottom if you don't want the detail.
It all started with ...
In July 2010 Three launched their The One Plan (TOP) that featured 2000 any-network calls, 5000 text messages, 5000 Three-to-Three minutes and 1GB of mobile data for £25 per month on a 12-month contract.
TOP could be had SIM-only or included with a Three-supplied smartphone.
A few weeks later ...
It did not seem very long, on 15th December 2010, Three made a very significant extension to The One Plan, they enhanced it with All You Can Eat (AYCE) mobile data. This was Three's very clear and distinct selling of truly Unlimited mobile data, without any restriction or Fair Use Policy (FUP).
Tethering
At the same time as Three gave us AYCE they also made the completely surprise announcement that this particular plan included Tethering. The combination of AYCE and Tethering blew everyone away. A lot of people did not understand or even believe what was being offered.
But it was all true. Here was the UK's smallest mobile network operator offering completely unlimited mobile data plus tethering bundled into an extremely generous plan of call minutes and texts. In the industry, no doubt, this was complete heresy seeing as the other MNOs were winding back their mobile data allowance to 500MB or less even.
Pay as You Go (PAYG)
As if all that was not enough, Three later announced that they were bringing AYCE to their PAYG tariffs. For the price of a £15 30-day add-on you could buy AYCE data out of your PAYG top-up and use the Internet without any fear of over-running any allowances or FUPs.
But, and this is a big but, AYCE on PAYG does not permit tethering. This initially caused a lot of confusion and misinformation at the time. But Three did make it quite clear that Tethering on AYCE was only permitted on the The One Plan 12-month contract.
Two AYCE plans then ...
So upto that time, prior to Wednesday 4th May 2011, Three had two plans that supported AYCE mobile data - one that allowed tethering (The One Plan) and one that did not (AYCE on PAYG).
The One Plan - 30-day
Completely unexpectedly, on the 4th of May, Three announced that The One Plan with AYCE was available on a 30-day contract SIM-only basis. Previously, their 30-day SIM was constrained to 1GB of mobile data. This was yet another extraordinary move by Three.
**See Update** But a lot of confusion initially arose. While the announcement of TOP with AYCE on SIM-only was clearly understood there was an initial and incorrect assumption made by myself and others around Tethering. Initially, we thought that it was permitted. It turns out that it wasn't.
No Tethering
**See Update**To be absolutely clear, Three have stated via their Twitter channel that [for the 30-day SIM-only The One Plan with AYCE] Tethering is not permitted. So in that respect it is the same, for mobile data, as the PAYG version of AYCE.
*Update* The above is no longer applicable. Three announced via Twitter on Friday 6th May 2011 that, in response to customer feedback, they are relaxing the restriction on tethering on this 30-day plan. So, as with the 12-month The One Plan new 30-day TOP customers are allowed to tether using their smartphone as a 3G modem or wireless hotspot.
This is very good news indeed and represents yet another UK first by Three. No other network, at this time, allows tethering on truly unlimited data.
So what is the point of this newest plan?
A good question. Why not stay with PAYG and the AYCE add-on? Well, why not indeed? If mobile data is your priority and calls and texts are not, then the PAYG+AYCE is probably a perfect plan for yoiu.
But The One Plan 30-day SIM-only is ideal if you want:
the freedom of the 2000 minutes, 5000 texts and 5000 Three-to-Three minutes that The One Plan gives you
and without the obligation of a 12-month contract
and you don't need to Tether
But I want to Tether
There are two bits of good news here.
If you are a new customer there are two possibilities
Order a 12-month The One Plan SIM-only from Three's call centre (it seems to be not available on-line at the moment)
Order a 30-day The One Plan on-line from Three's website
In summary
So there you have it. Three AYCE plans now exist, two with Tethering, one without.
The One Plan with AYCE: SIM only, 12 month term, £25/month, includes Tethering
The One Plan with AYCE: SIM-only, 30-day term, £25/month, includes Tethering
Pay As You Go with AYCE add-on: Add-on lasts 30 days, £15 per add-on, Tethering not permitted
I hope that has cleared up all of the mystery, speculation and rumour that has spread with each iteration of these plans and add-ons.
Last edited by Hands0n; 6th May 2011 at 09:55 AM. Reason: Three now allow Tethering on the 30-day SIM only plan
Even I was confused, i signed up yesterday for a 1 month TOP deal expecting to tether as when the idea of the plan launched back in November it was heavily pushed that you can tether no problems.
First i heard you could not tether was on Twitter today when it was pointed out to me and I then got this confirmed by @ThreeUK.
There really does need to be something put on the blog or more important on the website when you order even next to the AYCE Data have a * and at the bottom say *does not allow tethering use so customers are aware.
If I made that mistake and I work in mobile phone retail and know whats going on with most phones and networks then the average customer will make that mistake too I am sure.
I tend to agree with both of your comments. Announcements such as these should be quite unambiguous. Even I was caught out initially and gave out some incorrect opinion. A short five or six line FAQ to accompany such launches would go such a long way to preventing initial confusion and speculation.
The original post is under some fairly frantic updating as news and information come to me. I have been tidying up the time-line of events, dates etc., that seem to have occurred much more closely spaced than in fact they did.
What is really confusing some is that it appears that the 12-month (tethering allowed) plan has gone. Three's Twitter team tell me that it continues to be available via the Call Centre even though it does not appear on their website. I suspect the reason for this is that their eCommerce pages are constrained and there simply is not room to place the two plans, so they've chosen to only show the 30-day deal.
But of course, with no mention of the 12-month plan on-line, potential customers will not be aware that Three offer a tether-capable plan and so not be able take up the plan.
A conspiracy theorist may arrive at other conclusions
Ok may not be the best PR given the confusing around it. BUT lets face facts, they are still the only network to allow it, and it shows they now take on board what users want as per their tweeter feed.
I'm still a little confused by what I've got. In February this year, I upgraded my current tariff (ends November 2011) to TOP, the selling point being AYCE, my thinking being that it would probably mean paying exactly the same every month, having fallen foul on a couple of occasions to hefty extra data charges. So far so good.
What puzzles me though, when I access my 'Allowance' on the My3 Account is that it still refers to having for example '652 mbytes remaining' this month. What happens when it drops to zero, or worse still goes into minus figures? I notice that my plan is labelled The One Plan 2010 - is that significant, and am I on an older version of the plan without AYCE? It was most certainly sold to me on the basis of AYCE.
If you are at all on Twitter it may be worth asking @ThreeUK to put your mind at rest. However, since the launch of AYCE on The One Plan there has been so much misinformation put about that it has turned into a whole mass of confusion, mistrust and disbelief. Certainly FUD is everywhere about TOP and AYCE.
Three's social media team on the Twitter channel have many times stated that Three have not completed updating their systems to reflect AYCE. They wanted to get the product out into the market as soon as they could - and the software teams (or company) that build and support their website have not caught up with the development of the product. So, the My3 pages give false information about your account.
See the attached image - as long as your account states "The One Plan" then you are automatically with AYCE and have no risk.
Eventually Three's website will catch up with the product and the FUD will be cleared.
Then all Three will have remaining is to convince the public that AYCE really is "unlimited" in the truest dictionary definition of the word. Shameful that the other operators continue to use the word "unlimited" accompanied with FUPs.
De-mystifying Three's The One Plan, All You Can Eat data and Tethering
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