Why is O2 network coverage so poor compared to other providers ?

[Anonymous]

Hi

I have loyally stayed with O2 since they were BT Cellnet (they have been good with retention incentives).

However one very important aspect of their services which has demonstrated no significant improvement in my opinion is network coverage.

Signal strength is consistently less than rivals (e.g. EE), and not uncommonly absent altogether.

I live on the edge of a medium size city, and I frequently have to go out in the back garden to make or receive mobile calls. And as for 3G forget it.

I actually wrote a letter to the customer service dept, who replied with some rather bland non-specific statement about always trying to improve the coverage.

My current contract ends early next year and I will certainly be looking very closely at EE - my GFs phone is with EE and has a constant good signal strength.

It's pretty poor that in 10 years I've seen very little change from O2 in this vital service requirement.

swayzak

[Anonymous]

Thanks for both the tips!:manvery-happy:

[Fellwalker]

At home in Durham, O2 gives a signal some of the time, 3 never, EE (the Orange bit) about as good as O2, Vodafone poor.  On a journey of 20 miles to work, it had more consistent coverage for me.  But generally, mobile reception in the North East is pretty rubbish.

[Anonymous]

I have stayed with O2 for years because their customer service is the best.  But this thread about poor network coverge has been rumbling on for years, and echos in part my experience.  Living in London, I would expect full network coverage, and indeed the phone coverage is almost complete.  But data is only available patchily.  In most places the internet is simply not available, and the situation never seems to improve.  Surely, at least in the densely populated southeast of England, we should have better access to data services over 3G than this?  When is it going to improve?

[Samsung Galaxy I9000 with Android Gingerbread]

[Anonymous]

Having read this whoke thread and nany other things around. I do too find myself looking towards ee I can not remember how long I have been with o2 now and over the years I have always loved the service. With great 2G signal. Then originally good 3G signal but over the passed year or two I have noticed nothing but everything going backwards, with the leaps in phone technology o2 hsve been left in the dark ages, so to speak.

Where I live and have lived my whole life signal with o2 was great but I now struggle to get enough signal to send a mms let alone make a call. As for 3G there is no chance of getting that, despite wgat the o2 website says. According to that my signal should be great but its just decreased in quality over the years.

I have recently renewed my contract with one last hope they will improve the service. Sadly I have to say this will be the final straw of my loyalty to o2 if things dont improve over the next 12 months then my custom will be going else where. Is a shame after so many years of great service. I know there is TU but in my personal opinion this doesn't solve the problem its just a gemic to make people stay despite the poor network. It solves the problem with home issues but I have a mobile for a reason and I can't use it for its original purpose. I hold out little hope for change sadly..

[Fellwalker]

Good luck. At home, I can use the TuGo app on my android (other phones are available) when the signal drops. Recent weeks it has dropped to nothing, despite me having had 4/5 bars moments before. It did it mid call last week.  So I started using the TuGo app.  The previous time I tried, shortly after it was launched, the quality was not quite as good, but we shall see (BT Infinity 39Mbps).

I think the drop out is becasue we have had an influx of new students in Durham, which is expanding, and they are hogging all of the available bandwidth.  Maybe the attraction of the O2 priority moments?

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@Anonymous wrote:

Having read this whoke thread and nany other things around. I do too find myself looking towards ee I can not remember how long I have been with o2 now and over the years I have always loved the service. With great 2G signal. Then originally good 3G signal but over the passed year or two I have noticed nothing but everything going backwards, with the leaps in phone technology o2 hsve been left in the dark ages, so to speak.

Where I live and have lived my whole life signal with o2 was great but I now struggle to get enough signal to send a mms let alone make a call. As for 3G there is no chance of getting that, despite wgat the o2 website says. According to that my signal should be great but its just decreased in quality over the years.

I have recently renewed my contract with one last hope they will improve the service. Sadly I have to say this will be the final straw of my loyalty to o2 if things dont improve over the next 12 months then my custom will be going else where. Is a shame after so many years of great service. I know there is TU but in my personal opinion this doesn't solve the problem its just a gemic to make people stay despite the poor network. It solves the problem with home issues but I have a mobile for a reason and I can't use it for its original purpose. I hold out little hope for change sadly..

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EE and 3 give no coverage at all at home.  Vodafone is poor. All of their network maps show that I should get at least good phone calls, even if not data.

[PhoneChanger]

What most people don't consider is that more and more people are owning mobiles, and for most people their needs for data has increased with this. 3G is dynamic in signal, in that the more people on the cell the lower the coverage area becomes, this can also be the reason why some users have full signal but no data being transfered.

As the networks roll out 4G they will inevitably increase 3G and 2G signals (some of this will  be due to users moving to 4G).

Finally network coverage maps are a networks "best guess" and is not a science. Signals indoors are also dependent on the materials your house is made from. O2 have 800MHz spectrum which does a good job of penetrating most buildings, but its not perfect.

[Anonymous]

Following on from my earlier post here, I moved 2 or 3 months ago to Vodafone, and the difference is enormous.  Before, on o2 it was rare to find a full data signal, rare to find a location where I could get map data to access google maps, and so on.  Since changing to Voda, I have never failed to get map data or internet access anywhere in the Greater London region (except on deep underground lines).

[Anonymous]

90% of the time have no service at all and i live in cardiff south wales, capital city totaly unexceptable. and now 02 have messaged me that there tariffs are going up so now have to pay even more for nothing. glad my contracts up end of this month, goodby forever 02, cant wait to see you inevitably become a forgotten service.

[Cleoriff]

Hi @Anonymous

This is a 3 year old thread so if you have a problem you may wish to start another one. Most people who reply to posts on this forum are customers like yourself and DO NOT work for O2....

As for your contract increasing this month. This is due to the annual RPI index increase. Every network has this...  whichever one you move to....

[jonsie]

@Anonymous has obviously made their mind up and is off to pastures new.....unless they want to start up a new thread and discuss the issue?