De-mystifying Three's The One Plan, All You Can Eat data and Tethering

[Hands0n]

**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

1. 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)
2. 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.

1. The One Plan with AYCE: SIM only, 12 month term, £25/month, includes Tethering
2. The One Plan with AYCE: SIM-only, 30-day term, £25/month, includes Tethering
3. 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.