I felt the same way. I've had an O2 account for a long long time and it's difficult to get one with firstname.lastname@something.com.
O2 were the best for contract phones - good prices and they customised and locked the phones less than other networks. Their purchase of Be for broadband was really nice and customers with more than one service got a nice discount. It was nice to get a firstname.lastname@o2.co.uk also.
However, things have changed. The reality is that O2 is no good for fibre broadband so you'd probably end up moving anyway. The email is great, but it's difficult to access if you're with another provider - at times it won't work. The email limit is annoying and when people from other email providers send a slightly large file, it doesn't go through.
Mobile broadband in reality is better and more cost effective on 3.
O2's combination is no longer so good.
Yes, it's gutting that they gave short notice. But now that I've managed to change all my email addresses that were linked to .o2.co.uk to @outlook.com which was released fairly recently so easy to get a reasonable email address, I'm happy. Much easier to access email when I've not got a thick client or even if I have got one and I'm on any broadband provider.
No I only stay with O2 for phones and I like it like that. I've moved broadband to fibre on BT - very pleased with that. Got my mobile broadband on 3 - very pleased with that also.
It's a bit of a pain to move, but when you do, it's actually pretty good and you no longer feel tied to O2 other than the service they were quite good at which is phones and airtime contracts.
