From 7 October, new and existing smartphone owners who hold a contract with Three will be able to get "all-you-can-eat data" for an extra £3 a month.

The annoucement comes as the company reveals that the amount of data its customers are consuming is increasing rapidly each month.

In a statement, the company says: "...the average quantity of data Three's iPhone 4 customers were using in February this year was around 488MBs per month. By August that number had shot up to almost 1.2GBs."


Three launched a all-you-can-eat (AYCE) data plan for it's the One Plan contract in December last year, and then followed it with a similar deal with Pay-as-you-go customers. This latest deal is hoped will offer "peace of mind for the long term" with packages starting at £18 per month.

O2 currently offers a range of data bolt-ons for its pay monthly customers with £10 getting you 1GB of data allowance each month, while its Text and Web deal for pay-as-you-go customers gives you 500MB of UK data for £10 a month. Orange offers a daily rate of 61.3p per day; £5 per month for 500MB or £10.21 for 1GB of data allowance. PAYG customers can pay up to £2 a day; or £5 for 250MB of data. T-Mobile has an unlimited data allowance plan for £25 per month for pay monthly customers.

However, the Three announcement comes just one day after the company warned it may run out of the data capacity in urban areas as demand soars. It warned it could hit a crisis if the date for the auctions for available airwaves was allowed to slip. As BBC News reports, Three's chief executive David Dyson told a press conference in London: "There is a huge financial incentive for rival operators to delay the auction. We are worried that the other three will attempt to squeeze us out of the market." Set for the middle of next year, the 4G auction will sell off spectrum in the 800MHz and 2.6GHz bandwidths.

Have you found that your data consumption has increased dramatically and if so, are limitless data plans for a set fee the way forward? Your views in the comments below.