Network/data outage again, London W1

[Anonymous]

A problem that seems to be happening with increasing frequency here in London W1, again I am without data on the Edge connection, and the 3G network appears to be completely borked. Further, voicemail has taken 30 mins or more to get to me.

In the last month or so I've given up expecting any form of data connection while sat on the train anywhere between Greenwich and London Bridge.

Two things:

1) Is there a specific problem known NOW?
2) What's the point of having a great phone handset if it's hobbled by a network with patchy (at best) coverage?

What is being done by O2 about these issues?

EDIT Visual voicemail has died at the same time, too...

[Anonymous]

Its network congestion. If you check the many threads on this and press releases and news items you will see that O2 are increasing network capacity in central London by the end of the year. And further improvements countrywide by end of next year. In total 1,500 new sites.

[Anonymous]

And having just sat on the phone to the helpdesk people (apparently voice traffic is unaffected), it looks like random outages will continue without any warning.

Press releases and hearsay are all well and good - but what's wrong with sending an email or a letter with a monthly bill telling us when to expect problems and why?

[Anonymous]

I just spoke to customer care and he says there is a planned outage till 12 in the noon TOMORROW ! I simply cannot believe it !

[adamtemp64]

http://www.o2.com/latest_pr_14522.asp is about the 1500 masts in 2010

[Anonymous]

I've also found that my data is unreliable or non existent nearly every time I travel from Blackheath into London Bridge. I've also noticed a significant decline in quality of reception for voice calls in South East London. Whereas my phone used to almost always show the full 7 bars it is currently showing 3 bars and frequently goes down to zero bars. It's been like this for at least the past 9 months. Shoddy.

[Anonymous]

It's been dismal in central London for maybe the past 12 months or so. I find forcing the handset to use GSM networks instead of 3G can improve your connectivity...