[2] It aims to attract customers primarily looking for cheaper deals than those available direct from Three, by offering a monthly rolling SIM-only service, limited to online-only support.

On some plans the operator offers to buy back unused data by means of a bill discount, a practice which is not widespread in the UK but is exhibited elsewhere such as by US carrier Ting.

In this respect, the data discount plans are functionally equivalent to standard pay-as-you-go (PAYG) tariffs offered by other providers, such as Three's own PAYG offering, since customers only pay for the exact amount of data that they use.

Upon launch, SMARTY offered hotspot and tethering functionality,[7][unreliable source?]

There were no limits to this, so if a customer refers one friend a month they would keep their mobile bill free.

'[12] SMARTY runs virtually on the 3UK mobile network, utilising operator code 23420[citation needed] and Three's IP address range.