Full bars. Yet no internet and can’t make calls.

[J1240]

Hoping someone can help. 

I am on o2 pay monthly customer. I have two sims, one I use and one my Aunty uses. 

I have an iPhone 15 pro max. She has an iPhone SE. I’ve also tried my sim in a google Pixel 7a in case it was an iOS issue. 

If we’re at home there’s zero signal issues. I live in a large city but on the outskirts. The second we travel anywhere. Into the centre of our city, any other city (we’re currently on holiday and have traveled through several large UK city’s), we get absolutely no service. There’s full bars of 3/4/5g (depending on area) and yet internet doesn’t work and we can’t make calls. 

Is this simply down to network congestion? 

Is there any way we can leave penalty free because of this? As what’s the point in paying for a service that is unusable.

We’ve been travelling with my cousin who is on EE and she’s had absolutely no issues at all. We’ve had to use her phone for maps etc as mine wouldn’t work. 

Is there an issue I’m not aware of? Or is it simply network congestion?

[Oxonian]

The first step @J1240 is to review these guides :-

Guide: How can I sort out my network issues? 

Guide: Is the network down for me or everyone? 

Unfortunately, this is a customer to customer community so we cannot access your account. If you need further help, you can message O2 on social media :-

Facebook : https://o2uk.co/O2CFB

X (previously known as Twitter) : https://o2uk.co/O2CTW

Instagram : https://o2uk.co/O2CIG

You can also 'phone on 202 or 0344 809 0202. 

A complete schedule of how to contact O2 is in :-

Guide: How to find help & contact O2 

If you are travelling in cities, calling into an O2 retail store might be a potential source of help. It does sound like network congestion, but it is not possible to be sure. 

O2 are unlikely to let you leave penalty-free as they do not guarantee a service ; you signed-up to this in the T&Cs. 👍

[J1240]

Thanks. I had done the network checker etc before posting. Have tried a different device. No known issues in the area. Issue persists in a different device. Restarted devices. Reset network settings. Etc etc. 

I didn’t think I’d be able to leave penalty free so looks like I’ll have to bite the bullet and pay the fees because it’s pointless being with a network that doesn’t work. 

I posted as any encounter I’ve had with O2 customer service has been less than great.

Had to contact them twice as my number didn’t port over. They point blank lied and said they’d supplied me a different port date. Only to change their tune when I sent a screen shot of the message confirming the date they’d given me. My confidence in CS is basically zero. 

So, I thought I’d ask users as if they’d had the same issues they may have advise. 

[Enlli]

At home, if you have wired broadband, make sure you take the advice and use WiFi Calling 

https://www.o2.co.uk/connectivity/wifi-and-4g-calling

Guide: Do you have poor coverage / signal Indoors? This may help Explain / resolve it 

[Oxonian]

---

@J1240 wrote:

I didn’t think I’d be able to leave penalty free so looks like I’ll have to bite the bullet and pay the fees because it’s pointless being with a network that doesn’t work. 

---

There is no harm @J1240 in asking O2 to exercise discretion and waive some of the charge on a voluntary, ex-gratia basis as a gesture of goodwill. You need to contact O2 to make this request. Unfortunately, this is a customer to customer community so we cannot access your account.

I would recommend that you message O2 on social media :-

Facebook : https://o2uk.co/O2CFB

X (previously known as Twitter) : https://o2uk.co/O2CTW

Instagram : https://o2uk.co/O2CIG

The social media team are UK-based and have a reputation for solving problems. You might have a wait of 48 hours or so before they engage with you ; please keep reminding them during this period.   

A complete schedule of how to contact O2 is in :-

Guide: How to find help & contact O2 

You might also find this useful :-

Guide: Cancelling Your Contract 

Finally, please procure some PAYG SIMs to test the other networks in the locations that you frequent. You do not want this to happen again. 👍

[japitts]

---

@J1240 wrote:

we get absolutely no service. There’s full bars of 3/4/5g (depending on area) and yet internet doesn’t work and we can’t make calls.

---

Ordinarily "no service" would mean a coverage issue. Having full coverage but being unable to use mobile data, and/or having slow speeds, is a reliable sign of congestion. The inability to make calls is unusual, though - VoLTE calls should still work even when data is slow.. depending on the degree of congestion.

---

@J1240 wrote:

We’ve been travelling with my cousin who is on EE and she’s had absolutely no issues at all. We’ve had to use her phone for maps etc as mine wouldn’t work.

---

EE generally perform consistently well in national benchmarking & comparison surveys.