topic O2 Travel - USA Roaming speeds in Other Products and Services

O2 Travel - USA Roaming speeds

BradTRC — Sat, 11 Jun 2022 20:19:11 GMT

Hi all,

Looking to go to the States, but discovered about a 0.5mbps data cap. Contacted O2 to ask if this was true and they said that yes, however the data cap no longer applies to customers and that occasionally would have to slow it down temporarily but not cap it. Has anyone been to the USA in the last couple of months and used the data? If so, how was it?

Cheers,

Re: O2 Travel - USA Roaming speeds

MI5 — Sat, 11 Jun 2022 20:30:12 GMT

@BradTRC

We've had it confirmed on here just last week that speeds are capped at 0.5mbps always.

Re: O2 Travel - USA Roaming speeds

BradTRC — Sat, 11 Jun 2022 20:41:00 GMT

That is disgusting - surely they are not allowed to do that?

Re: O2 Travel - USA Roaming speeds

MI5 — Sat, 11 Jun 2022 20:49:06 GMT

Unfortunately, they can do anything they want.

Usually to their benefit and not the customers @BradTRC

Re: O2 Travel - USA Roaming speeds

MI5 — Sat, 11 Jun 2022 20:55:34 GMT

@BradTRC

Here's the discussion I referred to earlier https://community.o2.co.uk/t5/Pay-Monthly/No-data-whilst-roaming-in-the-USA/m-p/1555069#M246152

Re: O2 Travel - USA Roaming speeds

madasaf1sh — Sat, 11 Jun 2022 21:17:41 GMT

The only customers this doesnt apply to is Enterprise Customers.... hence my work sim got way over 0.5mbps...

And to be honest AT&T's network is that bad sometimes....

Re: O2 Travel - USA Roaming speeds

BradTRC — Sun, 12 Jun 2022 10:58:17 GMT

Thank you for your replies all. The O2 Travel Inclusive page is giving different details to O2 Travel Ts & Cs (it looks as it hasn’t been updated for quite some time), so I’m confused as what to go for. They say there was a speed cap about a year ago, but say they have since removed. Are O2 telling the truth here - or lying? Still in my cooling off period - just want some answers.

I agree @madasaf1sh AT&T is terrible, when I went out there with EE in 2018, I was constantly on T-Mobile’s 4G and I wasn’t disappointed once.

Re: O2 Travel - USA Roaming speeds

MI5 — Sun, 12 Jun 2022 12:01:41 GMT

@BradTRC

The answer is on the link I posted above which was posted last week by O2.

Data speeds are capped at 0.5mbps.

Re: O2 Travel - USA Roaming speeds

BradTRC — Sun, 12 Jun 2022 13:56:47 GMT

Cheers. (Love the username by the way). The only way I can determine if O2 are lying or not is by going to States - and that isn’t for another year 🤣

Re: O2 Travel - USA Roaming speeds

MI5 — Sun, 12 Jun 2022 15:57:10 GMT

Let us know 🤓

Re: O2 Travel - USA Roaming speeds

BradTRC — Mon, 13 Jun 2022 23:33:25 GMT

Will do 👍 - cheers all 🍻

Re: O2 Travel - USA Roaming speeds

Travel_Fish — Thu, 08 Sep 2022 00:41:42 GMT

I'm in the states at the moment and I can confirm that the data speeds are unusable. I'm stuck on edge ALL the time. It seems that O2's roaming partner, T-mobile, will not allow any more bandwidth to o2 customers. I was in a different state last week, and had the same issue. I travel to the US on a regular basis, and I can't rely on a connection that won't even allow me to open basic text websites. The moment my contract ends, I'm out.

Re: O2 Travel - USA Roaming speeds

Pip_S — Fri, 09 Sep 2022 13:42:52 GMT

Just back from USA...speed stuck on E constantly, friend with EE had fast 4G or 5G. Had no idea about throttling. Very annoyed. Complained to O2....customer service advisor claimed she could not tell me if throttling was in force... I pay for a USA option but they refuse to tell me what I'm paying for? Requested escalation of this. Joke.

Re: O2 Travel - USA Roaming speeds

madasaf1sh — Fri, 09 Sep 2022 13:59:15 GMT

@Pip_S

You don't pay for a US Option, you pay for a connection to a roaming partner in any country o2 have a roaming agreement they have..

o2 can only have a chat with T-Mobile or AT&T and discuss the issue, but it is upto those networks how they deal with roaming connections, and there will be a reason why the o2 and the US Networks throttle bandwidth.

The best network for US roaming is Vodafone due to their connections to the US Networks..

Re: O2 Travel - USA Roaming speeds

Pip_S — Fri, 09 Sep 2022 23:21:08 GMT

To say I don't pay for a US option is silly, O2 advertised an option of data in the USA with my tariff...so I went with it. Do you really think they reach an agreement with US networks without agreeing a service level?
If O2 said...oh here's a data option but the speed will be as good as useless, I would have went elsewhere. If they know the data is so inadequate as to be useless, then they should not advertise it as such. EE manage to provide decent speeds. I'll be cancelling O2 at the earliest opportunity, even if my monthly rate increases elsewhere.

Re: O2 Travel - USA Roaming speeds

dde0apb — Sat, 10 Sep 2022 01:23:12 GMT

I’m in the US at the moment (Sep 9 2022) and the phone has attached to T-Mobile and the service is next to non-existent. It’s the reason I moved to O2 (the international bolt on) and its’s abysmal.

Re: O2 Travel - USA Roaming speeds

dde0apb — Sat, 10 Sep 2022 01:26:11 GMT

Me too. This is dire. And I’ve used EE in both the US and Australia and has better speeds than at home. So the “it’s up to the roaming partner” is surely nonsense. Who’d advertise a service provided by a third party without an SLA with the third party.

Re: O2 Travel - USA Roaming speeds

dde0apb — Sat, 10 Sep 2022 01:26:54 GMT

Likewise

Re: O2 Travel - USA Roaming speeds

TheBigTea — Tue, 13 Sep 2022 13:02:37 GMT

I’m in the USA just now and it’s pathetic

no data working at all (even though o2 says I’m using) and issues getting text and calls to work

all in all a waste of money getting a contract with roaming with O2

Ive bought a T-Mobile sim

Re: O2 Travel - USA Roaming speeds

Truenorf — Sun, 09 Apr 2023 22:47:08 GMT

Same here. Only moved to O2 because they advertised USA and Canada included in their worldwide roaming add-on. Yet speeds are throttled so badly on all North American networks as to be unusable (I've tried 10 different cities across the USA and Canada). Genuinely unusable for normal web pages in 2023. This is false advertising by O2 and they've known that it's going on since at least 2018 (see other threads here). I will be ending my contract early and moving to Vodafone.