I was pleased (and strangely reassured!) to see that so many of you were as excited as I was about the 97% data stat I blogged about a couple of weeks ago.
So, to indulge the numbers geek within all of us, I thought I’d share some of the other truly staggering facts and figures that we’ve come across lately.
With data accounting for an amazing 97% of the traffic carried on our network, we’ve had a dig around to work out what is it that you’re doing online on your mobiles to rack up such an impressive figure.
And I’m sure that it’ll come as no surprise to you that Facebook comes pretty high up the list. Every month, you guys view 1.24 billion Facebook pages!
About 137 terabytes of data pass across our network every day. That’s a giant figure that accounts for 40% of all of the UK’s mobile data traffic combined – roughly the equivalent of 35.8 million iTunes tracks being downloaded on a daily basis.
Bringing things down to a more local level, the amount of data used on our network within the M25 alone during the month of October could be used to download 360 million iTunes tracks. That’s 36 million albums worth of music.
Sounds like a lot, right? It is. If those albums were on CD and were laid down flat side by side, they’d stretch from the West Coast of China to the East Coast – that’s 3,000 miles!
At Three, we’re the biggest advocates of how using a smartphone can enhance your everyday lives, and I’m thrilled to say that we’re clearly not the only ones that think it. 60% of Three customers are now smartphone users, and we expect this number to rise to at least 90% over the coming year when many of our customers upgrade to the latest smartphones. This is brilliant, especially when you consider that last year only 30% of our customers used a smartphone to keep in touch and stay connected.
Couple this with all-you-can-eat data, now available on loads of our smartphone plans, and access to mobile data has never been easier. It’s our aim to make sure our customers have access to all the internet they’ll ever need, and as more and more of you choose a smartphone as your primary gadget, those already staggering numbers can only go one way – up 
.
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I can’t access the data usage option on my mobile broadband. The customer service is a disgrace. I am getting absolutely nowhere with any of the touch points three are making available. I will just have to go to independant blogs and get my point across while also advocating reasons not to choose three. Is this what three wants?
@Malc – Just checked for any issues in your area and a local mast is currently faulty. Afraid I don’t have a date for it to be fixed just yet, but it will be completed as a matter of urgency. Sorry for any inconvenience caused.
Could you tell me when you hope to improve the signals in my area (REMOVED). The evening speeds are dire, at times a waste of time trying to keep a connection going. Slows down from 1500 (schools out) up to late evening. Will seriously reconsider at end of contract keep with 3.
Thanks.
@robbie – We’ve got information on our website which discusses traffic management. There is no distinction, dependant on what plan you’re on – we’re not able to do this.
Well silence says it all, no response to quesions about throttling. I am now down to barely 0.1 Mb/s in the evenings. This is a joke, how are we supposed to use our smartphones for the purpose they were built for as 3 supposedly thinks we should, but then restrict us as soon as we begin to stream video or download anything. If you try and tell me that it is a problem with my local mast, then all the masts in Liverpool must be experiencing issues. Just tell the truth Three and admit you shape al payg ayce plans as a matter of course. This is supposed to be 3g yet my data speeds are not even 2g in the evenings. All you can eat data, as long as you only ue it from 3am til midday.
Hi i have just moved over on to the three payg ayce plan when i purchased a new phone. I have never data issue speeds before at this address, and still dont on my dongle 3gb £15pm plan. I have notice that my speeds are beng throttled to around 0.5 Mb/s from early afternoon to early am, when it shoots back up to 3-4 Mb/s. I have done some quite regular testing with three seperate sims, two of which are on the payg ayce 15, and the other is the mbb 15. I use the mbb for my laptop, one ayce sim in my android phone and the other in my 3g tablet android tablet. I dont use p2p, but i do use my tablet to watch tvcatchup and iplayer alot. The poin is that only the sims on the ayce plan are being throttled and not the mbb sim as that has an upper limit set on purchase of topup. This then seems to be yet another case of the network promising something and actually giving something else. I would like some clarification of throttling with regards ayce payg. I have been told by cs reps that there is no throttling, the issue is network congestion at peak times. I explained that i was running three seperate speed tests on the network aat the same time, and that the two ayce payg sims were running betwen 0.2 and 0.6 Mb/s whereas the mbb sim was run at over 3. The other thing being that peak time is not from 1500 to 0300 hours, which is generally when my speed picks back up. Can you please give a definitive answer on throtling which is sorely lacking in the t&c’s for ayce data tarriff. If you would be so kind.
@Callum – Just taken a look and can’t see any upgrades in your area at the moment. All your local mast are working fine. We are constantly improving our network so hopefully there will be developments in the comings months.
@Nikki – We are always changing our promotions and offers. Please click here for our latest SIM deals.
Where have all of the SIM only deals gone? Last week there were quite a few tarrifs to choose from with all you can eat data… Now theres only 1 @ £25… I was concidering switching to 3 but now will be staying with my current provider…. I think your going backwards as a network by removing the Monthly SIM deals you had… They were really attractive
Hi, I’m using the Three network at (Removed) and I don’t have good signal at all, I only get 1-2 bars now as it has steadily dropped from 4 over the last few months, this could be down to a lot of construction work going on in the area. Are there any planned inprovements this year? Because downstairs the signal often drops out completely. It would be great if there were, especially as my brother has just joined. Hope to hear from you soon, thanks for all the great deals and great customer service!
@Luke Stevens – It depends on which device you put the SIM into. If the filter is activated, you’ll just need to give our customer services a call to remove it.
Is the 18+ content control off by default with the sim only contracts?
@Andyroochoo – Sorry to read that your data speeds are low, just check for any issues in your area and there is a faulty mast that is being fixed today. Hopefully things should be back to normal tomorrow.
terrible speeds for a while now at (removed)
any chance of a mast upgrade, speeds are NEVER above 100kbps.
@ Mark – One of your local masts has been affected in the last 72 hours, the issue has been raised and our team will begin work as soon as they can. Once the work is complete your speeds should be back up to normal
Could you tell me of there’s a problem with any of the masts in m area? My MiFi dongle keeps cutting out and speeds are slow. PC; LS14 [Removed by mod]
@Rehan – Right I’ve had a peek for you and there is a little maintenance on your nearest mast, due to finish tomorrow. You also have 2 new masts planned for your area around March time. This should help improve the network in your area. We manage traffic on peer-to-peer sites during peak hours, but that is all. The speeds shouldn’t be inconsistent. Is this something you’ve found in the last week or so? And thank you
Thanks for the reply Kaz. Postcode is SW19 [removed by Mod]. And could you please tell us if throttling is used on the 3 networks and whats the limits which triggers it.
Also I’ve seen that the data speeds on 3 jump around a lot compared to other networks which have a very consistent speed, slow or fast. Any particular reason.
Thanks guys. Your help here is really making a difference. If all goes well then I’m sure I can convince a whole lot of people to switch to Three.
Keep up the good work!
@ Sam – I’ve taken a look at your postcode, two of your local masts appear to be experiencing issues. The problem has been raised and our team will begin working on your area as soon as they can so you should start to see an improvement soon. Apologies for the issue, let us know if you continue to have problem and we’ll happily take another look.
two days ago, my phone said “we are having trouble connecting to the network, we are working on the problem.” usually, i have 3-4 bars of signal strength in my house, since the ‘improvement’ it’s gone down to 1-2 bars, please can you fix the signal in my area? CF83 [Removed by mod]
@Marcus Welch – Just checked for any issues in your area and looks like there is a fault with your local mast and it’s being fixed today. Hopefully all will be sorted by this afternoon.
@Rehan – Sorry to read that, if you can supply a full postcode I will check for any mast issues in your area.