Tethering on Three

Is tethering allowed on Three?

Tethering is allowed on Three's network, but not all plans come with a tethering allowance and there are limits to the amount of data you can share with other devices every month. You can also tether data when abroad although usage limits also apply.

Which plans include tethering?

Three's current Pay Monthly phone and SIM plans come in two different types called Advanced and Essential plans. 

Advanced plans come with tethering included at no extra cost and you can use as much of your data allowance as you want for tethering up to a maximum of 30GB per month.  Essential plans don't include tethering, but an add-on is available at additional cost.

With a mobile broadband device or data only SIM you can use all of your monthly data allowance towards tethering. The maximum data allowance on a mobile broadband plan is 100GB a month.

None of Three's Pay As You Go plans include tethering, but you can still get generous allowances for mobile data on your smartphone including unlimited data bundles.

Can I tether when abroad?

Yes, you can tether abroad on all plans that come with a tethering allowance as outlined above. When roaming in an EU destination data usage (and tethering) is limited to 13GB, while in a Feel At Home destination outside the EU data usage is limited to 12GB per month.

Will Go Binge usage come out of my tethering allowance?

On a Pay Monthly phone or SIM only contract then any use on Go Binge services will come out of your tethering allowance. However, on a mobile broadband or data only SIM plan you can use Go Binge services on other tethering devices without it coming out of your allowances.

How can I check my tethering and data usage?

Tethering can use up a lot of data so you’ll probably want to monitor your usage. On Three that’s easy to do though. As it just comes out of your normal allowance, in most cases you can check how much data you’ve used and got left by heading to your My3 account here, where the remaining amount will be shown on the main screen.

If you’ve got an all-you-can eat data tariff then you’ll have a separate Personal Hotspot allowance. To view this head over to My3 and select ‘Allowance’.

What if I want to continue tethering beyond my allowance?

If you’ve used up all your data and want to keep on tethering then you’ll usually be able to buy an add-on. There are a range of add-ons available for all types of plans including Pay Monthly, SIM Only, Mobile Broadband and tablets. View add-ons by logging into your My3 account here.

Older Plans Tethering Allowances - Prior to July 12th 2016

Three plans taken out before July 12th 2016 include different tethering policies depending on the contract type and when the contract was first taken out. We've summarised the tethering limits for older plans in the tables below.

Pay Monthly Phones

* If you have a Three Pay Monthly tariff which started on or before March 17^th 2014 then tethering won’t be included and you’ll have to pay £5 for a 1GB monthly personal hotspot add-on.

SIM-Only contracts

* If your SIM-Only plan started before the 15^th of July 2014 then tethering won’t be included and you’ll have to pay £5 to get a 1GB monthly allowance.

The information contained on this website has been written to assist our readers. We do not represent Three or speak on its behalf and are entirely independent of Three.