Since our launch in 2003 we’ve been focused on building a mobile network for easy access to the internet.  We’re not afraid to say that we <3 it. Right from the start, it’s what we were built for. And we know you’ve all been chomping at the bit for an update on our network story so without further ado, let me put you in the picture.

In our last network blog post we talked about our advanced and award winning network. We’d been busy rolling out HSPA+, which has now made fast internet access available to almost 90% of the UK population.

But we haven’t stopped there; we want to be able to offer Ultrafast internet. To do this, we’re deploying DC-HSDPA technology in our network and increasing the speed of our big data pipes, that connect everything back to the internet.

In 2013, we’ll add LTE to our Ultrafast network to increase our capacity even more. Our Ultrafast network will give you guys even faster browsing, social networking and downloading. You’ll also enjoy increased speeds that will be more than enough for data-hungry services like HD video streaming.

By the end of 2012 we aim to have Ultrafast internet rolled out to over half of the UK population, with more than 80% of the population covered by April 2013. In fact, right now, 39% of the population already have access to our Ultrafast network, with coverage available in 50 of the UK’s biggest cities and towns. Which is good, because we’ve added a million customers in the past year.

All You Can Eat data is the perfect partner for our Ultrafast network, so it’s easy to see why we carry over 40% of the UK’s mobile data traffic.

We already have a number of devices that are Ultrafast compatible – iPhone 5, the new iPad, E2356 dongle, Sony Xperia T and Windows Phone 8X. So if you’re using any of these in an area where this has already been rolled out, you’re going to enjoy even better internet speeds.

To check if this Ultrafast network has been rolled out in your area, click here.

The roll-out of Ultrafast on Three.

I’m a sucker for anything that comes in miniature and this fabulous new Samsung Galaxy SIII mini is no different. Like its larger cousin it’s inspired by the beauty and simplicity of nature and it’s just as elegant in appearance. It fits in the palm of your hand nicely and is surprisingly light.

But it also comes packed with some really nifty and intuitive features. Simply move the phone towards your ear and it knows you want to make a call. Look at the screen and see how it doesn’t turn off until you look away, clever phone. It also vibrates to let you know when you’ve missed a message or a call. And all that’s needed to wake it from it’s lock screen is a simple voice command.

Despite its size the Samsung Galaxy SIII mini still comes with a large 4.0” Super AMOLED screen, not to mention a speedy 1.0GHz dual core processor. This makes it the perfect smartphone for browsing the internet or using the likes of YouTube for streaming.  You also get the latest Android OS 4.1 (Jellybean) software meaning all the best Google features.

If photos and photo sharing are your thing then you’ll love the 5MP camera which captures sharp images and also features Best Shot. Best Shot takes a burst of 8 photos ensuring you never miss a smile or have to put up with someone blinking!

To help you really make the most of this great little smartphone it comes with 50GB of storage from Dropbox for 2 years.

We’re the perfect partner for the Samsung Galaxy SIII mini with our All-You-Can-Eat data packages and our network, which was built for the internet.

Find out more in our sneak peak video

Samsung Galaxy SIII mini.

The Nexus 7 from Google and Asus was always an enticing device, I don’t know about you though, but I always felt like there was something missing… Not any more though! We are very pleased to announce that we will soon be ranging the Nexus 7 3G. Hoorah! Now, this stylish, light and powerful tablet is 3G enabled, so you can truly enjoy everything it has to offer, on the go.

It’s the all round Google entertainment tablet, featuring  Google Play^TM apps pre-loaded, such as – Gmail^TM, Chrome^TM, Google+^TM and YouTube^TM and running on the latest Android 4.2 Jelly Bean means beautiful new widgets, smarter notifications and homescreen customisation to boot. Access to a whopping 675,000 apps and over 4 million ebooks means you’ll always be entertained.

With a beautiful scratch resistant 7” screen, that is impressively sharp and crisp, the Nexus 7 3G fits perfectly in the palm of your hand and with over 9 hours of HD video playback, 10 hours of web browsing or e-reading, and up to 300 hours of standby time, it is the ultimate portable device, you’ll be tied to your charger no more.

Couple this with a really powerful 1.3Ghz quad-core processor and you can see it’s a hard tablet to beat. If gaming is your thing, then you’ll want to know about the responsive 10-finger multi touch screen and sophisticated sensors that provide a dynamic and smooth gaming experience. Not to mention the fact that the screen is vivid HD, enhancing all entertainment experiences that little bit more. But to really get the most out of the gaming and streaming experience on this great device, you’ll want to be on a network that gives you the freedom to do that. Where better than Three where you can get 15GB a month for as little as £15.99 a month?

This great tablet is coming soon to the network that can best show off all it has to offer.

Nexus 7 3G – Coming soon.

We’ve just launched a brand new Dongle on Three, the Huawei E3256. But this one is a little bit special. It’s the first dongle from Three to feature Dual Carrier HSPA+ technology, which makes it the most advanced dongle we’ve ever had. Especially when you consider it working on our HSPA+42 network, which is being rolled out at the moment and should cover half of the UK by the end of the year.

Not only is the new dongle stylish, but it features a rotating head with a USB connector which tucks in and then swivels out when you need to use it. Just like a mini aerial, this flexible little fellow can also bend to stand vertically.

With the E3256 and our HSPA+42 network working together you’ll be able to enjoy ultra fast streaming, browsing, downloading and well, whatever you want really! Get your hands on one in store or online now.

Huawei E3256

The much anticipated Samsung Galaxy Note II is now available on Three! And what a phone it is too… It’s bigger, slimmer and faster than its popular predecessor and has a plethora of new and exciting features, some of which we first saw in the Samsung Galaxy S III.

Best Picture, is one of these. It takes a burst of 8 shots and automatically picks the best one, based on whether anyone is blinking or not smiling, meaning you can relax and know you’ll always be getting the best shot.

And Smart Stay (also seen in the SIII) uses the front camera to sense that your eyes are looking at it and makes sure the display stays lit for as long as you need it – clever.

The S pen is the focus of many of the new features on this amazing smartphone, not least the rather nifty Air View which allows you to preview content without having to open it, simply by hovering  over whatever it is you want to preview, be that picture galleries, emails or videos. No actual contact is required! Perfect for when you’re on-the-go. Easy Clip is another of the S pen’s advanced features which will help you unleash your creative streak. Just press the dedicated S pen button and the Note II will know that you want to clip or edit whatever you have selected on screen, so it’s immediately ready to save, share or paste. I also love the fact that you can edit web or digital images instantly, even with your own handwriting. It’s like using pen and paper again, but with all the benefits of the digital age!

Multi tasking is taken to a whole new level with this phone too, three new features make it quite unique in this area. Imagine being able to watch a football game, for example, whilst at the same time looking up a player’s statistic? Well this is what you can do with Popup Note, which lets you open an S Note as a pop-up window, anywhere on the screen. Or you could make notes on the S Note while your friend gives you directions over the phone or maybe even sketch those directions as a map, the possibilities are endless. Popup video is a nice little feature that makes a video you’re watching become a floating window on your screen, the video will continue to play and you can reposition it to any part of the screen, leaving you free to load other applications underneath. Finally Popup web means you can open a web browser anywhere on screen, without having to switch screens. And if you’ve got All You Can Eat data with Three, then there’s no need to worry about having all those pages open at the same time!

And you’ll be doing all of that on a gorgeous 5.55” Super AMOLED HD display. With a super-fast 1.6GHz quad-core processor and an 8MP camera behind you. Enjoy this amazing new smartphone on Three now! http://bit.ly/QELfih

Samsung Galaxy Note II.

Here at Three, we’re always looking for ways to improve our customer’s experience, whether that’s online, on the phone or in your local Three store.

So we’re really excited to be able to tell you about our new stores. Over the past year we’ve been hard at work revamping the layout of some of our most high profile stores. The goal was to provide a worry-free visit and help you learn about the best deals available, in a nice environment.

If Bluewater, Birmingham High Street, Fulham, Sheffield Meadowhall or Middlesbrough is your local Three store, you may have spotted they’ve have had a bit of a face lift. And we have to admit, we think they’re looking pretty good! We worked with an architectural design agency to design the ultimate in-store experience. Discovery, simplicity and quality were the three principles we followed.

Our customers all played a part in this as the insights for the new design actually came from detailed research studies about how people behave in store, shopper journey trackers and external retail analysis, as well as customer feedback .

The whole store layout was redesigned including the flooring, lighting, furniture, digital ticketing and signage, areas where customers can discover and be inspired, a support area, a full range of live demo handsets, and even an area for children to play while their parents shop.

The stores have been open for a few months now and judging by some of the reactions we’ve had from customers who’ve visited them, they’re going down really well. Highlights have been the fact that all products on display are live, which gives you an opportunity to get stuck in and really experience devices before deciding to buy. It’s hardly surprising that customers have found this genuinely surprising compared to the old dummy handset experience. And parents in particular have loved the children’s areas.

The store design has also been popular; ‘open’, ‘spacious’, ‘airy’, ‘well-lit’, ‘interactive’ and ‘relaxing’ are just some of the words that have been used by customers when asked for their initial impressions.

If you want to check out our new stores but don’t live close enough to pop in, we’ve posted a few pictures on our Facebook page. You can check them out here

Measuring the success of these stores has been really important. The feedback we’ve had has been a key part of this, so please let us know what you think: our Buyers Guide, which you can pick up in store, includes a ‘Tell us what you think form’ so please take advantage of that.  And of course, if you can – pop into one of the stores and take a look around.

And since these stores have been so well received, we’re really pleased to announce that we will be opening a few more of them around the country before the end of the year, so keep your eyes peeled!

We hope you like our new stores

New stores.

We were so impressed with the amount of data you guys got through during the Olympics on our network, that we blogged about it. The games certainly lived up to the ‘Digital Olympics’ name it was given. We did some more digging to see if the Paralympics could also add ‘Digital’ to it’s crown and we could never have predicted it would see even larger data highs.

We saw our biggest spike in data usage of the whole summer on ‘Superhuman Saturday’ during the Paralympics. That was the day that Ellie Simmonds broke the world record in the 400m freestyle S6 and Sarah Storey won gold in the 500m time trial in the velodrome. More data was carried across the Three network than at any other time throughout the summer. It’s good to know that you guys are using our network in the way it was intended!

Not only that but we also experienced a data surge during Sunday’s Paralympics closing ceremony that was double that of the official Olympic closing ceremony only a month earlier. I think that just goes to show how inspired you all were by the Paralympics.

And like the Olympics, we also saw evidence of this in other, more surprising, ways. Traffic to Fitness First online almost doubled (42%) halfway through the Paralympic Games and Weight Watchers saw an increase in traffic of 61% the day after ‘Superhuman Saturday’.

The First ‘Digital’ Paralympics

We’ve some great new smartphone news today. We will soon be ranging our first Windows Phone 8 devices. Both the Windows Phone 8X by HTC and the Windows Phone 8S by HTC will soon be coming to Three.  I, for one, think that’s something to shout about.

There’s something of a buzz around Windows 8 and it’s easy to see why with these stylish smartphones. They’re all you’ve come to expect from HTC with the added bonus of the latest Windows OS. What more could you want?

Both phones come with Beats Audio™ technology, which will be music to the ears of all you music lovers out there. The 8X also features an amazing 8 megapixel camera – great for taking perfect snaps on the go – as well as a really crisp 4.3” HD screen to show them off on.

The 8S is also a feature packed phone, but is on the more affordable side. It has a bright 4” screen, a 5 megapixel camera and of course, access to over 100,000 apps through Windows Phone Marketplace.

Take a look at the little sneak peek we’ve done for the 8X if you want to know more.

Windows Phone 8X by HTC and Windows Phone 8S by HTC – Coming soon to Three.

We’re very pleased to announce that we will soon be ranging the new Sony flagship device -  Sony Xperia T

This new device is being heralded as the phone with the ultimate HD experience, so you can imagine there’s quite a bit of buzz about it. It’s got the highest camera specification currently available, with 13MP (remember when 3MP was something to get excited about?!) and way more excitingly, it’s being featured in the new James Bond film! I’m suitably impressed by that, I have to say!

The 4.55” HD Reality Display (powered by the Mobile BRAVIA® Engine) means you can view all your snaps and videos with vibrant, razor sharp clarity. Or if you want to share them with all your friends, the phone also features HD connectivity, so you can link it to bigger screens and really show off!

The already impressive camera also features Fast Capture which allows you to take a photo from sleep mode in just over a second, even in low light.

As if all that wasn’t enough the phone comes with 16GB of internal memory and 50GB of online storage from Box, so you can securely back-up, browse and share thousands of photos, videos and documents.

There’s plenty to keep you occupied as the phone comes pre-installed with video, music and gaming apps from the Sony Entertainment Network.

This classy phone has some amazing features so I know it’s going to be much sought after. And to make the most of the ultimate HD viewing and sharing experience, you’re going to need the best network for the internet, now who could that be?!

Check out our sneak peek to find out more.

Sony Xperia T. Coming soon to Three

We’re really pleased to announce that the Sony Xperia J will be coming soon to Three.

The Xperia J features a stylish arc design and illumination light at the base of the phone. This great feature means you’ll never miss a party invite or a tweet again, it will light up at every notification from all your social media accounts, including Twitter and Facebook.

This superb phone also features an impressive 4” display, which gives your photos games and streamed videos excellent clarity. And viewing all of this on a Tablet, TV or PC is easy too, with DLNA contactless connectivity.

The Xperia J runs on Android so thousands of apps from Google Play are at your fingertips. And with a 5MP camera to top it all off, you can’t go wrong with this great new smartphone, coming soon on Three. If you want to find out a bit more about it, check out our little sneak peek!

Sony Xperia J – Coming soon to Three