Swings and roundabouts my friend. While I agree that Three's Pay As You Go plans are expensive,I believe they have a few perks, like Three rewards (discounts on products), coverage on the London Underground and better access to support, but I've never used them and don't think they are worth the extra price IMO.
On the other hand Three do have good deals on bundles (ie new phone/hub + calls,sms and data plans). So if you want a new device, it can be much cheaper on Three directly.
Personally, I use Smarty (owned by Three) on my personal phone, on a group plan with family members, which is a better fit for my needs (SIM only). But I use Three contracts for Home Broadband, which come up on deals at very reasonable monthly fees now and again.
