More information about leaving Three

Why choose Three?

If you want to leave, don't forget that there's some great reasons to stay with us. It's not too late to change your mind. Call us on 0333 338 1082 or chat with us on Live Chat.

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Chat to us

To get help fast, start a Live Chat with one of our team.

Live Chat is open 08:00 – 22:00 Monday to Friday, and 09:00 – 20:00 Saturday and Sunday.

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Ready to move on from Three?

Leaving us doesn't have to be painful, and we've got all the info you need right here. You can do everything easily online, through a text message or by giving us a call.

Your outstanding charges

Whatever you choose to do with your Three number, you'll still have to make sure you pay any final charges or settle an outstanding balance with us.

Your outstanding amount includes any discounts or charges. And if you’re a Pay Monthly customer, you’ll get a final bill from us once you’ve left. This is confirmation of your cancellation.

If you decide to leave us within your minimum contract period, you may be charged a cancellation fee to cancel your contract early.

This will be equivalent to the total of the monthly charges remaining during the minimum term of your agreement, minus a variable discount. From 14 December 2020, the discount will decrease from 20% to 3%. This is due to a change in the VAT payable by Three on cancellation fees.

If you’ve got a device plan on Three Your Way and cancel your Airtime plan, you'll need to continue paying off your device until the outstanding balance is paid.

You can settle your outstanding balance at any time via bank transfer. Once you’ve cancelled your Airtime plan, you won't be able to log into your account. For more information, see our device plan FAQs.

How to see your outstanding charges

You can check your outstanding charges in your My3 account, or by texting INFO and your date of birth (DDMMYY) to 85075.

Once you've requested your outstanding charges, we'll send you a text immediately with all the info you need, including the code.

Pay As You Go customers

If you’re a Pay As You Go customer, any remaining credit will be confirmed when you request a PAC or STAC code, or when you ask for your balance. 

Once the transfer to your new provider is complete, contact us to get a refund for any remaining credit balance and unused Data Packs or Add-ons.


Leaving Three with your number

If you want to take your number with you when you leave Three, you’ll need a PAC. 

A PAC (Port Authorisation Code) lets you take your old number with you when you change service providers. And is valid for 30 days. 

Give it to your new provider and they’ll transfer your Three number over to their network. 

If you don’t’ use your PAC, your Three account will stay open, and you’ll continue to be charged for your service. 

There are a few different ways you can get your PAC from us:

Contact us

You can get your PAC by getting in touch with us on 0333 338 1082 or by using Live Chat.

We’ll guide you through the process, giving you the key information, and answering any questions.

My3

Alternatively, you can get your PAC by logging into My3.

  1. Log into My3
  2. Scroll down the home page, select More Actions
  3. Select Leave Three

We’ll provide a PAC immediately, along with some important information. If you’re leaving before your contract ends, you’ll be able to see any early termination charges.

Text message

If you’ve only got 1 number with us, you can get your PAC by texting PAC and your date of birth (DDMMYY) to 65075. 

For example: PAC060385

We’ll reply with your PAC and some important information. If you’re leaving before your contract ends, we’ll include any early termination charges. 

Got 2 or more numbers? Call us on 0333 338 1082 to get your PAC.


Closing down your Three number

If you’re leaving Three and don’t want to keep your number, you’ll need a STAC instead.

A STAC (Service Termination Authorisation Code) lets you cancel your mobile number with your previous network when you change to a new provider. 

Your STAC is valid for 30 days. All you need to do is give it to your new provider – they’ll do the rest. 

If you don’t use your STAC, your account will stay open and you’ll continue to be charged for your service.

How to get a STAC

You can get your STAC by texting STAC and your date of birth (DDMMYY) to 75075. 

For example: STAC060385

You can also get your STAC and check any outstanding charges by logging into My3, using the Three app, by calling us on 0333 338 1082 or by using Live Chat

Important: you won’t be able to upgrade online for 30 days once you’ve requested a STAC. If you don’t use it within 30 days, you contract with us will continue as normal.


How to cancel my contract 

If you want to leave Three and don’t want to move to another provider, you don’t need a PAC or STAC. Simply give us a call on 0333 338 1082 to cancel your account.

You’ll need to give us 30 days’ notice and at the end of it, we’ll cancel your number and stop billing you.

Important: if you cancel this way, you’ll lose your number forever – we won’t be able to get it back. If you want to keep it, you’ll need to get a PAC and take it to a new provider.


FAQs

The following information is applicable from 3rd April 2023.

If your PAC or STAC information hasn’t arrived within one minute of submitting a request either via SMS, through our Three app or your My3 account or one minute from the end of your phone call where it was agreed this would be sent, you could be entitled to compensation.

To discuss your compensation rights or make a claim, please contact us.

Business customers may be entitled to compensation if a PAC or STAC code hasn’t arrived within 2 hours of asking for it via the phone, or within 2 working days from an online request.

For businesses with 24 mobile numbers or less, you may also be entitled to compensation if your PAC or STAC code hasn’t arrived within 2 working days from requesting it by SMS.

To discuss your compensation rights on a Business account, please contact us.

Yes, your account will remain active until you share your PAC or STAC with your service provider, your account will remain active. 

There are two key steps in both the PAC and STAC processes. You first request a PAC or STAC code and then you share this code with either, your future provider (PAC), or with your existing provider (STAC). 

If you requested a PAC or STAC on a Pay As You Go account, you’ll be given an up-to-date balance of any remaining credit you have at the time of the request. Once the transfer has completed, you can request a refund of any remaining credit that was still on the account when it was closed, and any entirely unused Add-ons and Data Packs, where the product hasn’t been used since purchasing.

To request a refund of this, please get in touch. We can arrange for this to be refunded to the card it was purchased from (where possible) or transferred to your bank account.

Note: refunds on remaining Pay As You Go credit balances are only available when leaving Three through the switching process (i.e. obtaining a PAC or STAC and giving this to your new provider).

You’ll receive your final bill within 38 days of you cancelling your account with us.  

We’ll send this final bill to your registered billing address. If you need to update your registered billing address either using your My3 account or contact us here.

To ensure everything runs smoothly, please do not cancel your direct debit with Three until you receive your final bill, and your final payments are settled.

If you’ve been abroad recently, you may receive an additional future bill. Some international roaming charges can take up to 3 months to register on your bill.

If your account is in credit when your account closes, you may be entitled to a refund.  

Any refund owed to you that’s over 50p in value will be sent directly to your registered bank account within 14 days of your receiving your final bill. 

If your refund is less than 50p, you can call 0333 338 1001 to arrange a refund, otherwise we will donate this credit to our charity partner. 

Please note, not all types of credit are eligible for a refund. To find out more about our terms and conditions on refunds, please visit three.co.uk/terms-conditions.

No, your account will not automatically cancel when you reach your contract end date.  

If you wish to leave Three, you are required to get in touch to close your account. 

When you close your account with Three, your My3 access will soon be deactivated. Typically, your My3 account will be available for 30 days. In some scenarios, your My3 account may be deactivated earlier. 

If you have any queries about your account or final bill or final invoice, please get in touch. 

If your PAC/ STAC was still less than 30 days old, we recommend contacting your new provider, who will be monitoring all switching requests. You may be entitled to compensation if your switching request failed or delayed – this will be managed by your new provider.

If you’ve selected the wrong code in error, we’ll need to cancel this PAC code for you before we can raise a STAC code for you.  Please get in touch. 

If you’ve selected the wrong code in error, we’ll need to cancel this STAC code for you before we can raise a PAC code for you. 

Please get in touch and we will support you with this change.  

If you've got more than one number associated with your account, you'll need to use My3 or give us a call to request a PAC or STAC code. You'll be able to switch up to 24 numbers at the same time this way.

If you’ve paired a smartwatch to your Airtime plan and wish to cancel before the end of your contract, both will end, and you’ll be charged an early termination fee. 

When you close your contract with Three, any associated insurance contract will also be closed.

If you’re a business customer and you’re thinking of leaving Three, you’ll find more information in our business help section. If you’re not the actual Three account owner, please speak to them first. 

We'd hate to see you go but if you’d like to leave us then you should look to gain a STAC code. Using this code, you will be able to close your account with Three.  

Alternatively, please get in touch and we can arrange this for you.  

If you’d like to move your current Three number to another Three account, please get in touch.   

Please note, due to system constraints, this can be a complicated process and may take some time to complete. We are looking to improve this process as soon as we can.  

If your account was closed less than 90 days ago, you can still request a PAC to switch your number from Three to another provider. To request a PAC on a closed account, contact us.

If you want to understand the services that Three offer to ensure that your new provider can match or offer suitable alternatives, visit the below pages for more information:

Log into your account

You need to be logged in your My3 account to make any changes