Community next?

[jonsie]

So we have seen over the last month that Telefonica are cutting costs quite severely, in my opinion they are now out to make up the drastic shortfall in profits reduced very substantially by the new EU roaming legislation.

Three apps designed to save their customers' costs have now been withdrawn. It's surely no coincidence that this has happened barely three months after having to remove the throttling they have applied for years which they attempted to convince us was a temporary measure designed to alleviate the congestion caused by so many people now taking advantage of the roam like home features.

So what next? Priority? Or even the future of this very community? I'm sure the savings would be immense in salaries and rewards. 

Comment and discuss please and input from admin would be very welcome @Martin-O2 @MercedesS @Marjo

[ewanrw]

Is it a poor business decision?

• No network has a similar app, just VoWi-Fi or VoLTE at different stages of rollout on a limited number of handsets
• There isn't really any need to support TUGo when the likes of FaceTime, Whatsapp or the myriad of other free apps that can achive similar outcomes

For those that are able to leave, and sure there will be plenty, the choices are equally limited on other networks, so will they lose a painful number of customers? Unlikely.

Alternatively, some users may spend so little with O2 that they're effectively a cost, and O2 might prefer them to be on other networks, however you have to feel a little for customers who have recently taken an O2 contract to use TUGo, but that's the pitfalls of value add products that can be withdrawn at anytime with 30 days notice.

Might not be a popular opinion, but also not the end of the world.

ewan

[MI5]

It may not be a big deal to you and there aren't a myriad of other free apps that do the same thing at all.
If there are, tell me and I'll try them.

[Anonymous]

There was obviously no research done & I agree @MI5 it is a big deal to many people just because @ewanrw doesn’t think it is. It is a lifeline to people in some situations 

[jtuk]

"we’re streamlining our International products and will be launching a new international calling product next year which will offer Pay Monthly customers reduced overseas calls. In the interim, before this new product launches, we’re offering Pay Monthly customers that have used our International Products reduced overseas calls from 1p per minute with no monthly subscription to get these reduced prices during the interim period."
That is never going to be as good a deal as what we have now. It is my only reason for being with o2 - to be able to stay in contact with an elderly relative every day. I wouldn't mind even if you halved the minutes but it looks like the new service will cost us to dearly. Vodafone are still offering a good deal for international calls so that is something one has to beat on mind when the times comes to end contact with o2. This change is a slap in the face of many long time customers. And it is clear it is to counterbalance the losses you make with EU roaming being now free.

[jtuk]

Again sorry for the typos. Autocorrect is doing a very bad job and this forum doesn't allow edit...

[gmarkj]

If you need to edit, once your post is live there is an options drop down. Edit should be the top option.

The only limitation is that you have about 90mins to do so.

[ewanrw]

I actually think its called moving with the times - no need for a clunky 3rd party app (maybe slicker since I last used it) when the phones can do it now anyway. O2 just need to turn the functionality on which they are by way of roll out - exactly the same as their competitors.

I also believe that they will have done lots of research which probably indicates declining TU Go usage and an increasing desire to use native VoLTE and VoWi-Fi as evidenced by their competitor networks. I would even suspect they have looked at areas where TU Go is popular, tested rival network coverage and predicted the number of customers who will leave because of the switch-off which it's likely to be far less than the number of customers they expect to gain from supporting native VoLTE and VoWi-Fi  

And if you like it as it allows you to circumvent international charges then you would be foolish to not think they would close the loophole eventually - its valuable revenue to company like O2, who lets face it, need the cash - however there are still plenty ways to achieve this. 

ewan

[MI5]

But you need to be in FULL mode not mobile.

[Anonymous]

And what about texts? WiFi calling is just that. Calling, no functionality for text messages so I’d hardly call that moving with the times 

[adamtemp64]

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@Chris_K wrote:

As for the Community... There's more chance of world peace than the O2 Community closing anytime soon. There are zero/no/nada/zilch discussions around closing this place. We see the O2 Community as a platform in the same way as Twitter/Facebook - it's a great place for folk to chit chat or look for help and support, and that's not something we'd want to throw away.

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Or shall we say free customer services (for a few peanuts)