To cancel your Three contract, text PAC to 65075 if you want to keep your phone number, or STAC followed by your date of birth in DDMMYY format to 75075 if you don’t. Give the code to your new provider, or let Three close the account. If you’re still inside your minimum term, you’ll pay an early termination fee for the months you’re skipping. If your minimum term has ended, you leave with 30 days’ notice and no penalty.
Check Your Minimum Term Before You Do Anything
Your contract end date decides everything about the cost. Log into the Three app, tap Account, and look for it there, or check your latest bill.1Three. Leaving Three If the minimum term has passed, your contract is running month-to-month; you still give 30 days’ notice, but there’s no termination penalty. If it hasn’t passed, run the fee calculation below before you cancel.
The Two Text Codes
How you cancel depends on whether you want to take your number with you.
- Keeping your number: text PAC to 65075. Three sends back a Porting Authorisation Code, which you give to your new provider. They handle the switch.
- Leaving without your number: text STAC followed by your date of birth (DDMMYY) to 75075. Three sends back a Service Termination Authorisation Code and begins closing the account.
Both codes are valid for 30 days. If you don’t use a PAC within that window, your Three account stays open as if you’d never asked.2Ofcom. Switching – Mobile
You can also request a STAC through the Three app under Account > Help > Leave Three, or call 0333 338 1082 (333 from a Three handset), or use Live Chat on the Three website.3Three. Leave Without Your Number Live Chat gives you a written record of what was agreed, which is worth having.4Three. Contact Us
The 14-Day Cooling-Off Window
If you signed up online, over the phone, or anywhere other than a Three store, you have 14 days from the day you entered the contract to cancel without penalty. This right comes from the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, which classify those sign-ups as distance contracts and give you an unconditional exit.5Legislation.gov.uk. The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013
If a handset came with the deal, you may need to return it in its original condition. For the service itself, cancelling inside 14 days means no termination fee. It’s the cleanest exit available, so move quickly if you’re reconsidering.
How the Early Termination Fee Is Calculated
Leaving before your minimum term ends means paying for the months you’d have paid anyway, minus a small discount. Three’s formula: monthly charge × months remaining, then subtract 3% or 10%.
- New customers in their first minimum term get a 3% discount on the remaining charges.
- Existing customers who renewed or upgraded into a subsequent minimum term get 10%.
Six months left on a £30 plan works out at £30 × 6 = £180, then £180 minus 10% (£162) for an existing customer or minus 3% (£174.60) for a new customer.6Three. Terms and Conditions for Three Services for Pay Monthly Customers Long-standing customers who just renewed are in the better bracket, which surprises people. Check the app for your exact end date and run the numbers before you commit.
Your Device Plan Doesn’t Cancel With Your Airtime
If you’re paying for the handset separately through a device plan, cancelling the airtime contract does not close the device agreement. The remaining balance still has to be paid, either by continuing the monthly payments or by clearing it with a single bank transfer.3Three. Leave Without Your Number
This is where early cancellation gets expensive. You can end up paying the airtime termination fee plus the full remaining cost of the phone. On a heavily discounted 24- or 36-month handset deal, waiting a few more months often saves hundreds of pounds. Add both figures together before you cancel.
If the Service Has Been Substandard
Three’s contract requires it to provide the service with reasonable care and skill under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.7Legislation.gov.uk. Consumer Rights Act 2015 Persistent signal problems, regular outages, or a service that plainly doesn’t match what you were sold give you grounds to argue the contract should end without a termination fee.
The practical route: contact Three, explain the issue, and give them a reasonable chance to fix it. Document every call, chat, and outage. If the service still falls short after that, you can argue the terms haven’t been met. It doesn’t automatically waive the fee, but it gives you leverage in the conversation and in any later complaint.
What Happens After You Cancel
Once Three processes the cancellation, a 30-day notice period starts. Your account stays live and you can use your phone as normal. If you’re porting your number to a new network, the account closes on the day the number transfers rather than at the end of the 30 days.8Three. About Your Final Bill
After that, Three sends a final bill covering any outstanding charges from before you cancelled, line rental and usage during the notice period, and any early termination fee. The bill states the closure date and when the balance is due.8Three. About Your Final Bill
Keep your direct debit active until that final bill is settled. Three only collects what you owe, so leaving it running for an extra cycle costs nothing. Cancelling the direct debit early means a missed payment, which can end up with debt collectors and marks on your credit file.
Disputing an Unfair Charge
If you think Three has overcharged you or misapplied a termination fee, raise a formal complaint through customer services first. Three has eight weeks to resolve it. If they can’t, or they issue a deadlock letter saying they’ve done all they can, you can take the dispute to the Communications Ombudsman, the independent resolution service approved by Ofcom for Three customers.9Ofcom. Making a Complaint and Using ADR Schemes
The Ombudsman reviews evidence from both sides and issues a decision. If you accept it, Three has 28 days to put things right. The service is free, and the decision binds Three once you agree to it. Save every chat transcript, email, and bill from the cancellation process, because that’s your evidence if the dispute goes that far.