Three confirms 4G roll-out will start in December

Three has got all official on its 4G plans, confirming that the network's roll-out will begin in December 2013.

If you already have a 4G handset and a Three SIM then 4G speeds won't cost you any extra - all you have to do is install a software update from the network to activate it.

Those on monthly plans with all you can eat data won't see any caps imposed on their data limits either, which sounds like a pretty sweet deal.

Money talks

London, Manchester and Birmingham will be the first cities to get the 4G network, with the switch on set to "accelerate" in January bringing 4G access to over 1.5 million customers in the new year.

By the end of 2014, Three intends to have 4G coverage in 50 cities across the UK, and nearly the whole country covered by the superfast connection by the end of the following year. This is thanks to the numerical networking managing to nab some of the 800MHz spectrum to deploy 4G speeds to the rural parts of the British Isles.

Three is a fairly slow horse in the 4G race though, with EE having launched its 4G network back in October 2012, and Vodafone and O2 following suit today.

• Time to ask the question: which is the best 4G network?