Terrible data speeds and connection on O2 - Anyone else?
Discussion
For years now, the speed of data on the O2 network seems to have been absolutely appalling for me and I am at the end of my tether with it.
Both myself and my wife have iPhone 13's, yet she is on EE whilst I am on O2, so I have something compare against.
Whenever I go anywhere busy, such as a city centre, my data speeds slow to an absolute crawl, and often it just fails, rendering Google maps and suchlike unusable. If I'm in a packed train station or a really busy location, forget it. The phone is almost useless. In these situations my wife's EE phone is still absolutely blazing fast for data.
In less busy or rural areas, the data works better, and is reasonable, but EE is still faster. This issue happens to me all over the country.
I have been through the O2 help desk twice now, raising complaints, without any resolution.
They have blamed my phone, despite this problem going on for nearly 10 years or more, and me changing iPhones about 5 times during that period, they have blamed my SIM card as being faulty, and have sent me a new one, which made absolutely zero difference, and they have blamed 'minor faults with the network' which they assured me were being fixed, and so on.
They convinced me it really was just me that had this issue.
My gut feeling is that they have totally failed to upgrade their network and cell towers over the years, to accommodate the required bandwidth from users. I suspect that their network and towers are just overwhelmed by the demand for data from O2 phones, and I also suspect that EE have conversely, invested heavily in their data network, and therefore it isn't an issue.
The only reason I have remained with them is that I get unlimited data (Ha ha! When it works...) and my bill is paid by a company.
Is it really just me that is suffering this issue, or has anyone else had issues with data speeds on O2?
Thanks
Both myself and my wife have iPhone 13's, yet she is on EE whilst I am on O2, so I have something compare against.
Whenever I go anywhere busy, such as a city centre, my data speeds slow to an absolute crawl, and often it just fails, rendering Google maps and suchlike unusable. If I'm in a packed train station or a really busy location, forget it. The phone is almost useless. In these situations my wife's EE phone is still absolutely blazing fast for data.
In less busy or rural areas, the data works better, and is reasonable, but EE is still faster. This issue happens to me all over the country.
I have been through the O2 help desk twice now, raising complaints, without any resolution.
They have blamed my phone, despite this problem going on for nearly 10 years or more, and me changing iPhones about 5 times during that period, they have blamed my SIM card as being faulty, and have sent me a new one, which made absolutely zero difference, and they have blamed 'minor faults with the network' which they assured me were being fixed, and so on.
They convinced me it really was just me that had this issue.
My gut feeling is that they have totally failed to upgrade their network and cell towers over the years, to accommodate the required bandwidth from users. I suspect that their network and towers are just overwhelmed by the demand for data from O2 phones, and I also suspect that EE have conversely, invested heavily in their data network, and therefore it isn't an issue.
The only reason I have remained with them is that I get unlimited data (Ha ha! When it works...) and my bill is paid by a company.
Is it really just me that is suffering this issue, or has anyone else had issues with data speeds on O2?
Thanks
yes, suffer the exact same thing, been some threads about this in recent times. I suffer the exact same thing, when at busy places (think gigs/ football) my phone just doesn’t work, no messages/ data, where people around me can be streaming highlights/ replays of the match, video calls to pals etc…..
the consensus seemed to be that o2 have more customers than can supply. so in busy areas (city centres/ gigs/ football) the network is too busy and you can’t get service. this was exasperated when they also took on customers from virgin (i think)
the consensus seemed to be that o2 have more customers than can supply. so in busy areas (city centres/ gigs/ football) the network is too busy and you can’t get service. this was exasperated when they also took on customers from virgin (i think)
malks222 said:
yes, suffer the exact same thing, been some threads about this in recent times. I suffer the exact same thing, when at busy places (think gigs/ football) my phone just doesn’t work, no messages/ data, where people around me can be streaming highlights/ replays of the match, video calls to pals etc…..
the consensus seemed to be that o2 have more customers than can supply. so in busy areas (city centres/ gigs/ football) the network is too busy and you can’t get service. this was exasperated when they also took on customers from virgin (i think)
Yep, thats how it is for me. the consensus seemed to be that o2 have more customers than can supply. so in busy areas (city centres/ gigs/ football) the network is too busy and you can’t get service. this was exasperated when they also took on customers from virgin (i think)
I can be somewhere busy, or an event, and my phone is just dead the whole time until we leave and get a distance away. My wife's phone on EE can easily stream anything at good speed even when surrounded by thousands of people.
Really annoying.
In my local area a mast was taken down several years ago. After putting up with it for a while I called in to ask the question and it was confirmed that a mast was decommissioned (but a new one was pending planning etc). I got two months free line rental.
A year went by and no improvement so I decided to raise it as a complaint. Michelle Steffens replied via an attached MS Word letter stating that the poor reception was simply down to congestion, not the absence of a mast. She's since either blanked my reply or has left/moved.
I have three business mobiles on O2 and both my kids are on PAYG mobiles. We simply do not get any reception within about 500 to 1,000 yard radius of our house. It's proper s
te.
A year went by and no improvement so I decided to raise it as a complaint. Michelle Steffens replied via an attached MS Word letter stating that the poor reception was simply down to congestion, not the absence of a mast. She's since either blanked my reply or has left/moved.
I have three business mobiles on O2 and both my kids are on PAYG mobiles. We simply do not get any reception within about 500 to 1,000 yard radius of our house. It's proper s
te. There are several reasons for poor rates, it could be the base station has too many users on it, there is only so much resource available and you are booted off to another cell further away, what is your signal strength looking like when this happens?
If that isn't the issue it is probably the core network capacity which is basically trying to support too many users for the size.
Other thing is, are you on 5G? All the money is going into 5G networks which will have much higher capacity, iphone 13 should support 5G.
If that isn't the issue it is probably the core network capacity which is basically trying to support too many users for the size.
Other thing is, are you on 5G? All the money is going into 5G networks which will have much higher capacity, iphone 13 should support 5G.
FMOB, it isn't 5G or not 5G. Once O2 was taken over by Liberty Global the writing was on the wall. They have a pile it high, sell it cheap business model. They were boasting recently that they were the fastest growing network in terms of new subscribers, but the obviously haven't made a corresponding investment in the infrastructure.
My work phone on EE is 4g only. That gets superb reception everywhere.
I often carry my personal phone at the same time, which is also on EE. That is more or less constantly on 5g around London. Same superb reception.
My Mrs is on Sky which piggybacks off O2. Dreadful service in the same places, patchy 5G (London is not the arse end of nowhere) and a constant reminder of why I left O2 in the first place. She is going to EE when her Sky contract ends in December this year.
It isn't the technology, it's the network. O2 sucks.
My work phone on EE is 4g only. That gets superb reception everywhere.
I often carry my personal phone at the same time, which is also on EE. That is more or less constantly on 5g around London. Same superb reception.
My Mrs is on Sky which piggybacks off O2. Dreadful service in the same places, patchy 5G (London is not the arse end of nowhere) and a constant reminder of why I left O2 in the first place. She is going to EE when her Sky contract ends in December this year.
It isn't the technology, it's the network. O2 sucks.
Edited by wyson on Friday 7th June 06:53
Yes! O2 has gradually got worse over the years but now it's especially bad.
I listen to podcasts when walking the dog and it often stops playing as the signal has dropped. I know where my local mast is and even when I'm fairly close to it I can sometimes struggle to get a signal.
I emailed O2 but they didn't even respond to the issues I raised.
I've been with O2 for 15+ years but when my contract is up I'm moving to another network.
I listen to podcasts when walking the dog and it often stops playing as the signal has dropped. I know where my local mast is and even when I'm fairly close to it I can sometimes struggle to get a signal.
I emailed O2 but they didn't even respond to the issues I raised.
I've been with O2 for 15+ years but when my contract is up I'm moving to another network.
I made the mistake of moving from EE to O2
EE is a far better service but you do pay.
My sim only with them was £24 per month, the same on O2 was £8.
Trouble is that EE know they are a superior service and charge accordingly. The fact they are owned by BT also gives them the advantage of getting infrastructure work done quickly.
I also have a work supplied mobile on Vodafone. Reception is almost similar to O2 but on a poor signal it will still transfer data.
EE is a far better service but you do pay.
My sim only with them was £24 per month, the same on O2 was £8.
Trouble is that EE know they are a superior service and charge accordingly. The fact they are owned by BT also gives them the advantage of getting infrastructure work done quickly.
I also have a work supplied mobile on Vodafone. Reception is almost similar to O2 but on a poor signal it will still transfer data.
Well that settles it. It would appear this is widespread, and clearly a case of them not having the bandwidth available on their towers to support the data required by users.
Just to clarify one point that was asked: When this happens I mostly have 4 or 5 bars of reception on 4G. It isn't signal issue, it's clearly a data availability/bandwith issue that O2 have zero interest in fixing.
I'm moving to EE.
Thanks for everyone contributing
Just to clarify one point that was asked: When this happens I mostly have 4 or 5 bars of reception on 4G. It isn't signal issue, it's clearly a data availability/bandwith issue that O2 have zero interest in fixing.
I'm moving to EE.
Thanks for everyone contributing
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