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Mobile phone network operator Three today announced a new SIM-only deal aimed at smartphone users who don’t want to worry about how much data they use.

Three’s new “all-you-can-eat” tariff costs £15 for 30 days’ access to the Three network, with 300 inclusive voice minutes and 3000 inclusive text messages. The good bit, however, is that there is no limit on 3G mobile data use — there isn’t even a ‘fair use’ policy , according to Three.

Actually, that’s not strictly true, since another contact at Three has independently informed us that the “all you can eat” deal is actually limited to 80GB for each 30-day top-up. Let’s not be churlish, though — that equates to 2.6GB a day, which is a vast amount of data for most people.

So, this means the Three PAYG tariff is deal for caravanners who want to make heavy use of mobile data while in the UK, whether for large downloads or video streaming using the likes of YouTube or BBC iPlayer.

Better still, the PAYG nature of the tariff means that it only needs to be ‘topped up’ when it’s needed and £15 for a couple of weeks’ non-stop, effectively unlimited, use compares very favourably with mobile data tariffs from other 3G operators — all of whom employ a fair use policy that clamps down on perceived ‘heavy’ users.

Three provides PAYG SIMs at no charge (in pairs) and is currently running a free-to-enter competition to celebrate the launch of the new “all-you-can-eat” service for the next month. Prizes include first class rail tickets for Europe and free grocery shopping.

[Three]