So I've been thinking about the lack of 3G/4G in the area where I live - Ely, Cambridgeshire, and trying to figure out what would happen if this were another industry e.g. the fast food business.
Let's imagine we walk into a burger joint and order a Cheese Burger with Fries, hand over our money wait a few minutes, grab our meal nicely packed into a brown paper bag and off we go to enjoy it under a tree.
Now imagine for a minute that on opening the burger packaging, we noticed that the burger had all the ingredients - the beef patty, cheese, relish, onion rings all beautifully laid out, but no bun. We could think it an oversight and return to the store and ask for the bun or for a new Cheeseburger with a bun or we could just ignore it and being hungry, just eat away and never return to the burger joint. Might even tell a few friends of the "bunless" burger we had and warn them to look before they walk out the store.
In a sense, I think most of us would find this unacceptable. The burger joint might have run out of buns for all we know and that's totally ok IF they had let us know that this was the situation and told us before we handed over our cash. They might even have offered us a discount in lieu of the fact there was no bun.
So how does this analogy compare to the lack of 3G/4G in Ely? Glad you asked.
Imagine you are told that Ely has full 3G coverage - indoors and outdoors (or at least in the area where you live) and you make a decision to move to O2 because of that. You sign up a 24 month contract and although you'd really like 4G, the coverage map is very clear that there is no 4G coverage - heartbreaking, but you can live with that. Imagine then that you get home, switch on your phone, plug in your little SIM only to discover that huge swathes of Ely are not in fact covered in 3G and the only "g" you're going to get is the "g" in "gprs" which might as well have been called "u" for "useless"
You pay the same per month as the person who lives in good 3G/4G areas but you don't get a bun. Now, I, the little man, the consumer, is only a tiny tiny dot on the radar of Telefonica / O2 and my £60-odd Quid a month is totally irrelevant to them and means absolutely nothing in the big scheme of things BUT I have a voice and if I refuse to use it and talk about it then I am like the person who will eat a bunless burger and say nothing even though they paid the full price.
I know Ely is not a big city (pop approx 17000), I accept that, but it's a lot bigger than places like Sunningdale, or Sunninghill in Berkshire which in 2011 had a population of about 4800 - three times smaller but with excellent 4G coverage. It also occurs to me that Ely has a huge tourist influx because of the cathedral and the fact that THE famous Mr Cromwell lived down the road and there is a large interest in visiting this historical location of which Sunningdale and Sunninghill have nothing.
I would like to request that the Big People at O2 / Telefonica consider us - the small people - and stop selling us bunless burgers. Stop saying we're rolling out "4G across the country" and using that as an excuse to not deliver 3G into areas where you clearly say you have 3G coverage and clearly you don't.
I, as an O2 customer, have the right to expect 3G coverage in the area in which I live - even more so when you say you have full coverage - I have the right to have a bun with my burger. If you cannot provide me with 3G then I would suggest the following:
- Acknowledge the current situation with 3G coverage in Ely
- Discount my / our monthly tarrif to one where there is no data on it
- Adjust your coverage map to reflect the poor coverage you have in Ely (Map attached - apparently updated on 25-9-2014)
Sincerely
Malaguetas
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@MI5 wrote:
How about Gherkins....?
Oh no....keep the gherkins!!...yuck...
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You get the gherkins even when you ask not to...a bit like your monthly added charges.
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Ah, so gherkins are the MMS of the burger world then 
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Without a doubt, they always leave a nasty taste!:smileysad:
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Well you can stick your gherkins....Nasty disgusting things...
@Anonymous wrote:
I, as an O2 customer, have the right to expect 3G coverage in the area in which I live - even more so when you say you have full coverage - I have the right to have a bun with my burger. If you cannot provide me with 3G then I would suggest the following:
- Acknowledge the current situation with 3G coverage in Ely
- Discount my / our monthly tarrif to one where there is no data on it
- Adjust your coverage map to reflect the poor coverage you have in Ely (Map attached - apparently updated on 25-9-2014)
Sincerely
Malaguetas
All of this is negated by this line on the same page that you took that coverage map:
"This map is just a guide and does not guarantee signal coverage."
The Pay Monthly Mobile Agreement also states:
"The Services we supply and what you can expect of us:
- 2.1 The Service isn't available everywhere in the United Kingdom...
- 2.2 The Service isn't fault-free; a range of different geographic, atmospheric or other conditions or circumstances beyond our control can impair it. For instance, coverage is affected by things like the thickness or material of the walls of the building you're in. It might also depend on how many people near you are trying to use the Service at the same time. For more information about the things that affect coverage and data speeds, please look at the dedicated Network pages of our Website at o2.co.uk/network. You're entitled to the quality of service generally given by a competent mobile telecommunications service provider, using its reasonable skill and care."
Blackspots occur, and as you have said yourself, you can get 3G just 300m away. I can think of at least 3 areas of my own town where the O2 signal completely disappears.
Have you even called Customer Services and voiced your concern to O2 or followed the complaints procedure rather than just post on the Community?
You can check where the nearest 3G or 4G masts are by using this link and inputting your postcode.
http://www.sitefinder.ofcom.org.uk/search
If you're not happy with the service or coverage, why not go back to O2??? 
@Anonymous wrote:You can check where the nearest 3G or 4G masts are by using this link and inputting your postcode.
http://www.sitefinder.ofcom.org.uk/search
If you're not happy with the service or coverage, why not go back to O2???
Okay, so looking at that site, all 4 cellular operators have their masts in pretty much the same place:
3 have their mast at 55 metres and O2 have theirs about 25 metres (which is still higher than the Vodafone and Orange masts.
So here's a question, have you asked your neighbours what their mobile signal is like and what network they are on? This might not be just an O2 problem...
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I, as an O2 customer, have the right to expect 3G coverage in the area in which I live - even more so when you say you have full coverage - I have the right to have a bun with my burger. If you cannot provide me with 3G then I would suggest the following:
- Acknowledge the current situation with 3G coverage in Ely
- Discount my / our monthly tarrif to one where there is no data on it
- Adjust your coverage map to reflect the poor coverage you have in Ely (Map attached - apparently updated on 25-9-2014)
Sincerely
Malaguetas
All of this is negated by this line on the same page that you took that coverage map:
"This map is just a guide and does not guarantee signal coverage."
The Pay Monthly Mobile Agreement also states:
"The Services we supply and what you can expect of us:
- 2.1 The Service isn't available everywhere in the United Kingdom...
- 2.2 The Service isn't fault-free; a range of different geographic, atmospheric or other conditions or circumstances beyond our control can impair it. For instance, coverage is affected by things like the thickness or material of the walls of the building you're in. It might also depend on how many people near you are trying to use the Service at the same time. For more information about the things that affect coverage and data speeds, please look at the dedicated Network pages of our Website at o2.co.uk/network. You're entitled to the quality of service generally given by a competent mobile telecommunications service provider, using its reasonable skill and care."
Blackspots occur, and as you have said yourself, you can get 3G just 300m away. I can think of at least 3 areas of my own town where the O2 signal completely disappears.
Have you even called Customer Services and voiced your concern to O2 or followed the complaints procedure rather than just post on the Community?
Hi PapaDug and thanks for your comment.
I am quite aware of the line that negates everything I have written above. It is the legalese companies use to protect themselves from legal action. It's the fine print in your insurance contract and the reason you can't get your money back when your holidays are cancelled because of a volcano eruption in Northern Europe. I worked with lawyers - I know the language.
It is however no reason for me to keep silent and take the attitude that because that line happens to negate my argument that I should simply go away and be happy with what I get. As consumers, we have rights and a company cannot simply shrug their shoulders and say "we have this line that says we don't guarantee anything and therefore don't need to do anything about it"
Having said that, at no stage have O2 said that to me - unless you work for O2 that is - I have heard nothing from them nor have any idea if they even read these forums. If you read my previous posts I really have no complaints with O2. I've been with them for years, travelled extensively on their network etc. They have been really good to me as a subscriber.
On the 1st of September 2000 the licensees for 3G spectrum were given the licenses to start their rollout of 3G around the UK. That's just over 14 years ago. I do NOT find it acceptable that it's taken 14 years to cover Ely in gprs. The fact they have four towers in Ely does not impress me. What's the point of putting four towers if they are virtually useless in the way they distribute signal? Theoretical signal distribution coverage is one thing, reality is quite another. You are completely correct regarding black spots, I too have experienced them everywhere in the world, even in Regents Street, London! The thing is, Ely is one big black spot with occasional white spots yet the map says the complete opposite as you can see for yourself.
I think I might even go into an O2 store and ask one of the O2 salespeople to tell me if there is 3G coverage in my area and ask them to explain how they determine it. If they use the same coverage map that they make available on the Internet then legally they binding themselves to it. Hell, I might even record the conversation (with their permission of course) and then post it on this forum just to make a point.
Finally, and just to be clear, my principle objection in all of this is not even to the fact that 3G coverage in Ely is miserable (it really is), it's that their map indicates they have good coverage indoors and outdoors and based on this tool (which is the only tool they make available to the public to check coverage), I made a decision to go with O2. I was duped. I want them to change the map or fix the coverage.
