Three have commented on our request for information on when or if Three UK will introduce 4G Plus as follows :
"Three are not currently commenting on this, however, on background I can say Three has no plans to introduce 4G plus at present"
Our earlier article follows :
Three Ireland has just announced massively increased 4G speeds, through a new service called 4G Plus. The service, which is initially only available in a limited number of locations and likely only on a handful of handsets, boasts speeds of up 225Mbps.
To put that into perspective typical 4G offers speeds of just around 14Mbps. Now, the speeds touted by Three Ireland are probably theoretical, with real world ones likely to be a lot lower. But even EE’s similarly named 4G+ service tops out at around 150Mbps, with real world speeds tending to be around 90Mbps.
So whatever speeds people will actually get on 4G Plus it’s likely to be among the fastest 4G around and far, far faster than what we’re seeing from Three in the UK at the moment. Which begs the question, will 4G Plus come to Three UK?
Right now there’s no word on its arrival. We’ve contacted Three for a response and will update you when we hear something, but it seems likely that it could be coming. Both EE and Vodafone offer LTE-A speeds in select locations so to remain competitive it’s something that Three will need to start offering too, especially once these sorts of speeds become more widespread on rival networks.
The fact that Three Ireland now offers it suggests that the company has been looking into it and has the know-how to bring it to the UK, so it’s hopefully only a matter of time.
Three has previously shown willingness to increase its network speeds with the recent roll-out of 50% faster 4G, so this can be seen as the next step.
The question then is how and when or if Three will offer 4G Plus. It’s not known for sure what tech is behind 4G Plus, but it’s likely an LTE-Advanced service, achieved through carrier aggregation, which is to say combining multiple spectrum bands. Standard 4G by comparison uses just one spectrum band at a time.
Three has access to the 800 MHz and 1800 MHz bands, so it’s got the spectrum to do this and assuming its acquisition of O2 goes through it will have a lot more spectrum to play with in the 800 MHz band.
But that brings us to the when. If it is on the cards it’s likely to be a slow rollout. Its availability in Ireland is initially going to be quite limited and both EE’s 4G+ and Vodafone’s LTE Advanced services are only available in a handful of cities right now. So if you live outside London or another major metropolis you could have a long time to wait.
We feel confident that Three UK will have 4G Plus or something, so while the wait could be a while we bet it's coming. In the meantime, the network is hardly short of other compelling extras, such as Feel At Home, 4G at no extra cost and 4G Super-Voice.
