http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21534048
Irfan Naseer, 31, Irfan Khalid, 27, and Ashik Ali, 27, from Birmingham, were found guilty at Woolwich Crown Court of being "central figures" in the plot.
Jurors were told they planned to set off up to eight bombs in rucksacks and possibly detonate bombs on timers.
Police described the men as "committed, passionate extremists".
The trio were arrested in 2011 amid fears their plans were accelerating.
"The evidence we put to the court showed the defendants discussing with awe and admiration the attacks of 9/11 and 7/7. These terrorists wanted to do something bigger, speaking of how 7/7 had 'gone a bit wrong'."
Editorial
During the months of evidence at Woolwich Crown Court, the three men came across as utter incompetents. They even laughed among themselves about the grim satirical film, Four Lions, in which useless bombers are seeking martyrdom by blowing themselves up.
But although they did not have a clear target, their own words clearly convinced the jury that the three men were extremely dangerous: they knew what they were doing.
What was never clear in the trial was what had really made them want to be bombers. They exhibited all the same characteristics as many who have gone before them - including a vague hatred of "Western" society and a general social inadequacy with their place in Britain.
One of them even conceded to police that if his two fellow plotters managed to find women who would have them, their anger with the world may have eventually gone away.
Irfan Naseer wanted to be the next big thing.
For most of his adult life, he had struggled to find his place in the world, but by 2010, he had stopped struggling.
He didn't seem to care that his mates called him Big Irfan, Chubbs or Chubby.
Because in his own world, he had become a different kind of big man.
He was going to be a bomber.
And he was going to show the world a thing or two, even if pressing the trigger on a homemade detonator would be the last thing he would ever do.
He and Irfan Khalid, described in court as his right-hand man, left their Birmingham homes twice to join training camps linked to al-Qaeda deep within the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan - the second trip ending in the summer of 2011.
Their plan was simple. The men joined the camps to receive broad training in bomb-making, weapons and poisons from al-Qaeda contacts.
On their return, they began seeking recruits for a bombing campaign. They already had Ashik Ali in the team. Naseer organised a Pakistan training camp trip for four other men from Birmingham - and identified others he wanted to be part of his plan.
None of the men realised they were already being monitored by MI5 and the police. In fact, they were being watched so closely that investigators knew that the four recruits had been sent overseas.
Another conversation revolved around whether they could fit blades to a car and cut people down in the street.
They sought donations for a local madrassah project and a legitimate international development British charity, Muslim Aid.
But the real plan was to con ordinary people. They collected some £13,000 from Muslims who regard it as a religious and moral duty to give to charity during Ramadan.
Rahin Ahmed, another member of the cell, said he could make more money by investing it in online currency trading - he lost £9,000. Ahmed has separately pleaded guilty to fund-raising for terrorism.
He said that if they allowed doubts to enter their mind, then "you're not gonna do it, bro, you're not going to press the button".
Anas Zein Al-Abdeen was at school with Irfan Naseer. He told the BBC's Inside Out West Midlands programme that his former friend became increasingly extreme as he entered adulthood, holding views a world away from the man he had known as "Chubby", the school joker.
"The guys [at school] stuck around with him because he was funny, lively, always had a lot to say, quite outspoken.
"[But] he couldn't adapt to working life. This, I think, is the start of his downfall. He started looking at achieving something else apart from his career or his profession."
Naseer was angry about international politics, expressing frustrations about injustices in the Muslim world.
He added: "The way he used to dress up, a lot of people found him intimidating. I know for a fact when he used to go to the mosques that a lot of people used to look at him with disdain.
"He does have extreme views. I mean there's no doubt about this. You'd be excused if you thought the film Four Lions was based on this guy Chubby because his friends never really took what he said seriously."
"I believe him when he said he wanted to be the big man," he told the BBC. "He just couldn't comprehend everybody moving on and he was struggling to move on from school days. He wanted to prove something."
Right down to the sinister quality of how apparent the wanted to kill people but how flippantly the approached the whys and wherefores of it.