I've been with O2 since they were BTCellnet and have been very happy up until a couple of years ago.
O2 insurance has gone right downhill. My latest experience was that they didn't have my model in stock and so offered me 3 replacement handsets, but the 3 they offered me were 2 years old and 5" devices whereas mine is a 6.4" phablet. Because I wasn't happy with the replacements offered, I was told I had to wait for mine to come in stock which took over 3 weeks. Not so long ago, I always had a replacement phone within 24 hours, and if mine wasn't in stock, they offered models that were currently being sold on the website.
Then I have the issues of calls not reaching my phone, people trying to contact me saying they're getting the message "this phone is not in service".
Data speeds, unless on 4g are way slower than other networks, even when I have an H+ connection, just loading google can take forever.
The data allowances are far too restrictive and too expensive, so streaming is pretty much out of the question. What use is 4g if you can't stream music and video.
Customer services, who used to be the best amongst any I'd used, are now mainly the usual script readers who don't have any idea on how to actually help you.
My latest android handset came with a locked bootloader so I wasn't able to load custom roms. This I see as criminal as I am buying the device and it's perfectly legal for me to run whatever software I like, I don't see why O2 should dictate to me what software to run. The O2 branded android ROM is buggy and crashes frequently, so I've had to settle with running an unbranded stock rom.
And finally, now that I'm moving network, O2 are refusing to offer me an unlock code for my device. The plan is paid off in full, but they keep claiming that it isn't an o2 device. I've tried the webform, customer services, and raising it to managers, but no-one can do anything about it. It's locked to the o2 network and was bought directly from them, so obviously they have the ability to unlock it, they're just being unhelpful or just aren't trained enough.
I'm fed up, and off. They used to be one of the best networks around, the last couple of years unfortunately, they've just given up on being humane. I only hope the buyout by Hutchinson will turn them around.
My condolences to all of you under their wing, and I hope you make it out alive.
Comiserations
