Three's free 4G hits London, Birmingham, Manchester and Reading in December
Three have today shed light on a few more details of the UK network’s 4G rollout, revealing the first four cities set to get the superfast data speeds come its launch in December.
London, Birmingham, Manchester and Reading will be the first cities to get access to Three’s 4G service, as the network looks to compete with recently launched rival services from O2 and Vodafone, as well as the UK’s 4G stalwart EE.
That initial rollout will also see Oldham, Dudley, West Bromwich and Wolverhampton covered, with a further 42 cities to be added next year.
The cherry on top? Three promise that the 4G service will be provided for free to all its users.
“We think everyone should enjoy the wonders of 4G, with no catches,” reads a statement from Three.
“So when we start rolling out 4G, we’ll nudge up our customers who have a 4G Ready device at no extra cost. No hefty price tag. No extra charges. No expensive new phones or contracts. And no fuss.”
There may be one slight catch though – according to the Three website, the network suggests its 4G speeds will hit around the 14Mbps mark. Compare that to EE’s 30Mbps speeds, and it looks as though concessions have been made to deliver 4G for free. Of course, that may simply be Three covering their own backs – better to undersell speeds than face a backlash if they can’t consistently hit adventurously high claimed speeds. Indeed, our experiences with Three’s DC-HSDPA network sees our connection consistently out-perform the network’s own listed average speeds. We’ll reserve judgement until it’s all gone live and we’ve put it through its paces then.
