Three UK has announced in a press release that its LTE upgrade, which is set to arrive later this year, will be added to existing and future plans with no upgrade fee. This means that consumers on supported plans will be able to take full advantage of improved network performance without forking out extra pennies (should you have a capable smartphone, of course).
Currently 4G is restricted in the UK to EE, but other mobile operators in the country are preparing to launch respective upgrades early 2013 once the doors have been opened up. The exclusivity to a single company has led to astonishingly priced plans being published for those who wish to hop onto the LTE train early.
What's more is Three states that all plans will be supported. All you'll need is a 4G Windows Phone and you're good to go. The mobile operator currently supports DC-HSDPA technology on its network and covers 55 percent of the UK. The company plans to reach 80 percent of the population by the end of March 2013, as well as incorporating 1800Mhz in the second half of the year.
So what happens when LTE arrives on Three? Will you need a new SIM, phone, plan? Not at all, only if you haven't got a 4G capable handset. The Lumia 920, Lumia 820 and HTC 8X are all available from Three - be sure to double check that it will be able to use the upcoming 4G upgrade when purchasing. No new SIM is required and your plan should sport the improvements once LTE has launched.
Three UK chief executive, Dave Dyson, had the following to comment on the improvements:
"Our customers choose Three because they love the internet and know they can get great speeds and great value on our award-winning network. As we add the next wave of technology to our Ultrafast network, we’ve listened to our customers and thought long and hard about the right way to do it. We don’t want to limit Ultrafast services to a select few based on a premium price and we’ve decided our customers will get this service as standard. With Three, it’s simple, great value and Ultrafast. What you might expect from the network that was built for the internet."
Perfect. Three is already preparing for the arrival of LTE, which will launch later this year. Good news all around. Thanks, Racxie, for the tip!
Rich Edmonds is a word conjurer at Windows Central, covering everything related to Windows, gaming, and hardware. He's been involved in technology for more than a decade and knows a thing or two about the magic inside a device chassis. You can follow him over on Twitter at @RichEdmonds.
