VodafoneThree made a big promise right out of the gate: a 20% average speed boost for 7 million Three and SMARTY customers.

The giant merger between Vodafone and Three UK is being called a “seismic shift in the UK’s mobile landscape,” but the focus on speed may be misplaced.

Analysis from Opensignal shows that Three’s customers already get slightly faster 4G download speeds (30.1Mbps) on average than Vodafone’s customers (28.6Mbps). So, while a speed bump is welcome, it’s not tackling the real frustration many of us face.

What really matters for a good mobile experience, as Opensignal highlights, is consistency. After all, what good is a fast connection if your video call keeps freezing or you can’t upload a photo to social media? This is where the real difference between the two networks shows. A measure from Opensignal, called ‘Excellent Consistent Quality’, checks how often the network is good enough for demanding tasks.

On this front, Vodafone is well ahead. According to Opensignal’s report, only 68.6 percent of tests on Three’s network meet the threshold for Excellent Consistent Quality. This is considerably lower than Vodafone’s 75.4 percent.

That gap is the real story. It’s the difference between a smooth, reliable connection and one that lets you down when you need it most. Bringing Three’s consistency up to scratch through VodafoneThree would be a huge win for its customers and would even help boost the UK’s overall mobile experience, which currently lags behind many other countries. In fact, Opensignal’s Global Network Excellence Index for Q1 2025 placed the UK 48th globally, trailing behind Vietnam and Uruguay.

Opensignal’s analysis shows that where you live will make a big difference in how this merger affects you. If you’re a Londoner, you’re likely to see the biggest improvement. In the capital, the situation is flipped; Opensignal’s data reveals Vodafone’s network is nearly 20% faster for 4G downloads and provides a more consistent experience by 15.1% compared to Three. For Three customers in London, having access to Vodafone’s stronger network could be a game-changer.

This pattern isn’t just in London. In several other regions, including Wales, Northern Ireland, the North East, and the South West, Opensignal found Vodafone users enjoy a more consistent experience by a margin of 10-15%.

So, how will VodafoneThree deliver these improvements? The plan is to let customers’ phones automatically roam across both networks, connecting to the best signal available at any given moment. This will be done using something called Multi-Operator Core Network (MOCN) technology.

However, this isn’t a quick fix. The company has admitted that what was first described as a rollout “within a few months” will actually be a much longer process.

Here’s the realistic timeline:

• As of June 2025, only 24 masts have been upgraded with MOCN.
• The plan is to expand this to 10,000 masts by March 2026.
• The full rollout, where 95% of the integration is complete, will take six years.
• The entire project won’t be finished for eight years, taking us to 2033, because some masts require new hardware.

This means whether you see a quick improvement from VodafoneThree will depend heavily on whether your local area is prioritised for the MOCN rollout. While the long-term vision is a powerful, unified network that Opensignal analysis previously showed could boost coverage experience to tie with O2 , it will be many years before everyone feels the full benefit.

(Photo by Christina Langford-Miller)

See also: Vodafone uses satellite-guided sensors to align mobile antennas

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