O2 poor coverage - why?

[Anonymous]

I have been with O2 for about 6 months after 16 years with Orange. On my last upgrade, O2 had better deals.

But I am amazed at how poor O2's coverage is, especially when compared with Orange/T-Mobile. I live within a mile of Canterbury city centre and within a mile of the dual carriageway A2 but the signal is not good enough to keep a voice conversation going. My phone always shows that Orange or T-Mobile are in range but the O2 signal just keeps dropping out.

We have just been to the Chichester area. Same again - although very near the A27, O2 coverage is terrible. Again, Orange coverage is fine.

It looks as if I made a big mistake changing to O2. Are they not investing in their network? I wonder if as one of the older providers they are not upgrading their antiquated transmission equipment?

I had expected much better.

[adamtemp64]

o2 invest a lot in the network and signed 3 year deals to modonise the whole network splitting the country in 2 north / south. various press releases confirmed this

They have just joined up with vodafone to share mast and equipment like ee. This will allow them to roll out 4g faster meeting the 98% coverage by population in 2015 not 2017 as expected.

O2 has the best 2g coverage. What phone are you using and have you got it set in 3g only mode? I travel from somerset to kent every week And have no signal issues with my iphone a303 m3 m25 etc to gillingham hospital we also travel the south coast from eastbourne all along the a/m27 back to somerset again good coverage but mainly 2g.

o2 have commented in other threads that the existing 2g footprint will be 3g900 enabled in the next few years this ties up with the 3year timetable started last year.

Just my take on the issue.

[adamtemp64]

also see this recent o2 blog entry http://blog.o2.co.uk/home/2012/08/post-olympics-4g-is-lining-up-in-the-network-fast-lane.html

[Anonymous]

I have an HTC Sensation XE. Another member of my family has an HTC Sensation on Vodafone and has better reception in Canterbury than I have on O2.

There seem to be a lot of grumbles about O2 coverage generally and it looks as though they are being left behind. On the basis of coverage I certainly regret having moved away from Orange.

I note that O2 have plans for the future but the signs are that they have underinvested in the past. People will vote with their feet if coverage continues to lag behind that of competitors.

[adamtemp64]

Well if on vodafone that will be the same on o2 soon due to the agreement with voda,

Again are you only using 3g or is the handset set to use all available 2g and 3g eg gsm & utms etc.

My iphone is set to use both and I rarley suffer issues due to o2's vast 2g gsm coverage.

If on a fring 3g area tuirn 3g off so it defaults to 2g and calls should be fine.

[Anonymous]

So you are saying that we have to wait up to 3 years to get better 3g coverage.
What is the url of the coverage checker?

[perksie]

http://www.o2.co.uk/coveragechecker

[Anonymous]

My phone is set to switch automatically between GSM and 'WCDMA'.

The O2 coverage checker says that at my home postcode in Canterbury the 2G coverage is good inside and out.

It isn't.

I spend a lot of time in Ashford (Kent) and the O2 coverage is noticeably better there than in Canterbury.  Canterbury has two universities and attracts a lot of tourists, so why is the O2 coverage substandard in this area?  Is anyone from O2 prepared to comment?

[MI5]

This is a community forum so not much input from O2 directly.... If you switch your phone to 2g only rather than auto it will help with your 2g reception as it will stop the phone from constantly searching for 3g....

[Anonymous]

The O2 coverage checker is useless, it says the same thing all the time.

I've had convo's with the O2 twitter team about this telling them about various places where it isn't good inside & out, such as Barking ,West Ham and certain parts of The City (London). My comments always get brushed aside and they say it's probably a glitch, no it's the same every day yet they cant get that into their thick skulls.

Regarding Kent MikeyMikey  i too have problems when i go down to my Sisters in Sandgate. 1 bar max is what i get when i'm down there yet what does the coverage checker say, yep you guessed it....good inside and out...what a load of nonsense.