Along with Vodafone and O2, 3UK has decided to drop unlimited deals for its customers. However the company has announced a replacement – a new low cost tariff which includes a 1GB Internet allowance.

The reasoning behind this is that 3 hopes to reassert itself as the leading network for smartphones.

The deal, known as One-Plan is a SIM only tariff comprised of £25 per month for which you get 2000 minutes, 5000 Three to Three minutes, 5000 texts plus 1GB data allowance per month.

Vodafone, O2 and 3UK decided to get rid of their unlimited deals because they wanted their tariffs to be ‘transparent’.  This could cause heavy users to start thinking about the costs.

3UK have said that they intend giving their customers what the company called real-time information on their data usage. This contrasts with the other network’s approach of sending a text message informing its customers that they will be charged so much for going over the limit.

At a press conference, 3 told the audience: “that around a half of all UK data traffic was through their network and these new deals are an attempt to uphold their reputation at the network of choice for heavy data users.”

They also said that they will offering customers further improvements: “…network capacity…” will be “increased somewhere between 60-80% in the near future.”

This is likely to secure the confidence of the data hungry users looking for a reliable 3G network.