The People’s Operator (TPO) Review

Coverage

The People’s Operator has good coverage across a 4G and 3G thanks to its use of Three’s infrastructure. There’s 98.3% 3G coverage and even speedy 4G has around 99.8% UK population coverage.

The People's Operator Coverage

Network Type	Coverage by population
4G	99.8%
3G	98.3%
2G	N/A

Use The People’s Operator’s coverage checker above to find out more about The People’s Operator’s 4G coverage in your area, including signal strengths and details on both indoor and outdoor coverage.

Coverage Comparison

Network	4G Coverage by population
EE	> 99%
Vodafone	99%
O2	99%
The People's Operator (Three)	99.8%

As you can see in the chart above, Three (and by extension The People’s Operator) have 99.8% 4G coverage, which is likely beaten only by EE, though all networks are now close on coverage.

4G from The People’s Operator is now available in hundreds of towns and cities. Locations with 4G coverage include but are not limited to the following cities:

Aberdeen, Birmingham, Blackpool, Bolton, Bournemouth, Bradford, Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Coventry, Derby, Dundee, Durham, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Gloucester, Huddersfield, Ipswich, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Luton, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Northampton, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Preston, Sheffield, Southampton, Southend On Sea, Stoke on Trent, Swindon, Watford and York.

Three (and by extension The People's Operator) is also expanding its 4G coverage all the time, so if you don't have any where you are now, you probably will do soon.

Network Speeds and Frequencies

The People’s Operator mostly uses standard 4G, which is roughly 5 times faster than a standard 3G network.

OpenSignal – Mobile Networks Update, October 2018

Network	4G download speeds	4G latency (ms)
EE	28.9Mbps	39.77ms
The People's Operator (Three)	18.78Mbps	48.15ms
Vodafone	21.92Mbps	40.78ms
O2	14.61Mbps	42.38ms

In an OpenSignal report from October 2018, Three was found to have average 4G download speeds of 18.78Mbps, which is beaten by EE and Vodafone. The People’s Operator’s speeds may well be similar, since they share infrastructure and spectrum.

Three’s latency is worse though, with an average of 48.15ms. That’s the average time the network takes to respond to a request, so The People’s Operator’s may be similarly slow.

Speedtest – Mobile Speedtest Data, Q3-Q4 2017

Network	Download/upload speeds
EE	28.80/9.29Mbps
Vodafone	17.26/8.16Mbps
The People's Operator (Three)	14.58/7.35Mbps
O2	14.11/7.13Mbps

In a Speedtest report from late 2017, Three was found to have an average download speed (factoring in both 4G and 3G) of 14.58Mbps, while its average upload speed was 7.35Mbps. That’s a slightly slower result than the OpenSignal report above, but that can be explained by its inclusion of 3G in the results, and as with the above report The People’s Operator’s results are likely to be similar.

Network Frequencies

Frequency	Frequency Band	Network
800MHz	Band 20	4G
1800MHz	Band 3	4G
2100MHz	Band 1	3G

The People’s Operator uses the 800MHz band and 1800MHz band for 4G.

The 800MHz band is long range, making it a great fit for countryside locations, and it can also penetrate walls, for good indoor coverage.

The 1800MHz band is shorter range but has more capacity, making it great for busy areas.

For more in depth information, check out our 4G frequencies guide.

Planned improvements

The People’s Operator is mostly reliant on Three for improvements and that network tends to keep its plans quiet, however we do know that Three plans to spend over £2 billion on network improvements ahead of 5G.

Traffic management

The People’s Operator doesn’t allow tethering. Beyond that it notes that: “We reserve the right to impose network protection controls, limit the speed of, suspend or block your access to services, or disconnect you if your usage is excessive and/or not in keeping with that reasonably expected of a private individual.”

Plans

The People’s Operator offers a range of SIM Only plans, as well as a Pay As You Go service. All plans come with 4G at no extra cost, but none allow you to tether.

Pay Monthly Plans

The People’s Operator doesn’t currently offer any Pay Monthly plans that come with a phone, but it does have a range of SIM Only plans all of which last 30 days and automatically renew every 30 days.

The People’s Operator also offers three different Data Only plans designed for use with tablets. You can get 512MB of data for £3.49, 1GB of data for £5.49 or 6GB of data for £16.99.

Pay Monthly Plans

	SIM Only Plans	Data Only SIM Plans
Max Data Allowance	8GB	6GB
Contract Length	30 Days	30 Days
EU Roaming	✔	✔
International Roaming	✖	✖
Tethering	✖	✖
Data Rollover	✖	✖
WiFi Calling	✖	-
VoLTE	✖	-
No Credit Check	✔	✔

The fact that 10% of your monthly plan cost goes to charity is a big bonus, as is its short-term plans, but in many other ways these plans are lacking, as data limits are low and there’s no tethering.

Pay As You Go

The People’s Operator offers a number of Pay As You Go bundles, each of which lasts 30-days and can be set to automatically renew.

Outside of your bundle you’ll pay 4p per minute, 3p per text and 2p per megabyte of data.

Tethering

Tethering isn’t allowed by The People’s Operator, meaning you can’t use your phone as a Wi-Fi hotspot to get other devices online.

WiFi Calling

Wi-Fi Calling isn’t offered by The People’s Operator. That means you can’t use Wi-Fi to make and receive calls seamlessly using your normal number.

VoLTE

VoLTE (Voice over LTE) also isn’t offered by The People’s Operator. That means you can’t call and text over 4G – which is something you might want to do if you’re somewhere with a 4G signal but no 3G or 2G.

Roaming Destinations

The People’s Operator allows customers to use their minutes, texts and data at no extra cost in the following European destinations:

Aland Islands, Austria, Azores, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Canary Islands, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, French Guiana, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guadeloupe, Guernsey, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Jersey, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madeira, Malta, Martinique, Mayotte, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Reunion Islands, Romania, San Marino, Saint Martin, Saint Barthelemy, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Vatican City.

Customer service

Customer service is always hard to judge, especially in the case of The People’s Operator, as no recent studies into it have included the network.

Our best resource therefore is its Trustpilot score, which currently sits at 5.6 out of 10 (based on 493 reviews) and is considered ‘average’. However, while that might by average by Trustpilot’s standards it’s actually above average compared to other mobile networks, so The People’s Operator’s customer service might be reasonable.

Conclusion

The People’s Operator is the network for anyone who wants to give something back, with 10% of your spend being donated to a charity of your choice.

It’s a great way to help without having to spend any extra and it’s something no other network offers.

But even beyond its charitable nature The People’s Operator is worth considering, thanks to short-term plans and decent prices.

However, a lack of inclusive roaming beyond Europe and the fact that you can't tether holds it back. Plus, none of its plans are suited to very heavy data users.