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3UK customers knocked back a massive 80TB of data on New Year’s Eve 2011

I’ve got news in from 3UK that you might want to have a look at. Instead of doing the re-writing thing, I reckon their update deserves publishing in full.

Here we go:

Smartphones and Facebook helped to drive a massive 500% surge in New Year’s Eve handset data in just 12-months, according to mobile firm Three.

The amount of data Three’s smartphone customers used on New Year’s Eve leapt from 14 terabytes (TBs) in 2010 to a massive 80TBs in 2011.

To put it in perspective, it’s the equivalent of almost 21m MP3 tracks, or roughly 118,000 DVD movies, downloaded onto smartphones in the UK in just 24-hours.

The trend continued through New Year’s Day, with 74TBs used compared to 14TBs the year before.

Facebook was one of the most popular services as people rung in the New Year, with a 20% jump in traffic between midnight and 1am.

Three expects smartphone adoption among customers to reach almost 100% this year, as more and more people realise their capabilities.

Traditional mobile traffic grew too, but this growth was hugely outstripped by data. SMS levels grew from 36m on New Year’s Eve 2010, to 46m this year, while calls went from 19m last year to 21m.

Three’s Marketing Director Thomas Malleschitz, said: “It’s a phenomenal amount of growth and shows just how much smartphones are changing the way our customers communicate. This kind of demand vindicates Three’s focus on building a network designed for the internet.

“It also shows just how important data bundles are becoming – and of course the value of plans which offer genuinely All-you-can-eat handset data allowances.”

The one thing you simply cannot argue with when it comes to 3UK is data. The company made a bet on 3G data early on — and as a result, it’s very well placed to handle all your burgeoning data demands.

I have to say that I’m thoroughly enjoying their service on my iPhone. I’ve had an iPhone 4 with them since 2010 — and I’ve just recently swapped to an iPhone 4S. Their all-you-can-eat truly unlimited data plans are simply genius. No other UK network competes with it. What’s rather interesting is that I’m using my primary BlackBerry on Vodafone less and less because I’m finding 3’s connectivity so fast.

I also have a MiFi unit from them too. It works really nicely on the train provided I’m in a decent signal area — which is about 80% of my daily commute — so very, very useful. And even at train speeds, the connectivity typically feels the same as a fast fixed line.

Good work 3!

2 COMMENTS

  1. I made the jump from Voda to Three back in Nov and haven’t looked back, coverage seems as good if not better than Vodafone for where I usually find myself and the data network as you point out is simply brilliant, so another +1 to Three from this corner

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