‘Time to leave’: Tre has just introduced speed limits on its plans – and customers are not happy

Three introduces speed caps on phone, SIM Only and mobile broadband plans for new and upgrading customers
The cap is 100 Mbps in most cases, with Pay As You Go having a lower cap
Existing customers are not affected and contract customers will be able to pay extra to remove the cap

Tre seems to have taken a step back, because where previously you could get unlimited 5G on all your plans at no extra cost, the network has now implemented speed caps.

Specifically, new Pay Monthly mobile plans (meaning SIM Only contracts or with a new handset) will have a speed cap of 100Mbps, as will mobile broadband plans. It’s still possible to get unlimited speeds, but you’ll either have to choose a new ‘Lite+’ plan or pay an extra £4 a month.

On Pay As You Go, the ceiling is instead 25 Mbps – or 50 Mbps if you have an automatic renewal package.

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That’s quite a reduction from 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 uncap your speeds on Pay As You Go.

The only good news here is that these changes won’t affect existing contract customers, and if you’re currently on an auto-renewing Pay As You Go plan, you’ll also keep unlimited speeds while sticking to the same package.

But of course, when you come to upgrade your contract, or if you ever change your Pay As You Go package, you’ll want these caps in place.

The merger may be to blame

Three’s merger with Vodafone may be a factor in these speed limits (Image credit: VodafoneThree)

The internet is understandably not best pleased with this change, with Reddit reactions including “time to leave,” “my to-do list has moved away from three on it,” and “the merger should never have been allowed through.” The last quote refers to Three’s merger with Vodafone, which may be to blame for these new speed limits, especially since Vodafone itself limits speeds on some of its plans.

Interestingly, these changes do not appear to apply to Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) operating on Three’s network yet, with iD Mobile confirming that there are currently no speed caps on their network.

So, as well as being typically cheaper than Three, its MVNOs may now have a clear advantage – but how long that will last remains to be seen, with iD Mobile also noting that “the industry trend is clearly towards tiered speeds.”

Still, for now, if you’re on Three and due for an upgrade – or were considering switching to Three – you might want to look at one of its MVNOs instead.

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