"Sorry we are experiencing high service demand in this area" since October 2013

[Anonymous]

I recently took out a contract with O2 and despite a full strength signal HSDPA (i am very close to a mast) can only occaisionally manage to get my mobile data to work.

I chatted to a really helpful customer servie guy who said that this status has been on the mast since October 2013 (13 months).

He said a couple of visits were planned for maintenance. These have both taken place now but the data is still unusable from about 7 in the morning til very late at night.

They are now building another few hundred houses in my town which will clearly make matters worse.

How are upgrades to masts prioritised? Is there anything that can be done to get my area bumped up the schedule? I am currently paying a lot for data that i can't use, and MMS messages etc regularly get stuck in the system for hours and days.

Thanks.

[Toby]

Hi @Anonymous ,

I'm about to send you a PM about this so we can have a look for you.

[iar1980]

Hi Sesh

Hope Toby will be able to help you with your issues....

From my experience it is always best to speak directly to the networks team via customer services who will be able to get more in depth information in relation to your issues and investigate if their is a genuine problem. Always obtain a case reference number from them, and ask/request a callback from them. They are usually very good and tend to give you an update after 5 working days, if you don't receive an update you can always call them back via customer services quoting your case reference number and asking for an update.

Also use both o2 & vodafone's status checker pages (phone mast share agreement) regularly to keep up to date with issues or planned maintenance upgrades;

o2 ~ http://status.o2.co.uk/

vodafone ~ https://www.vodafone.co.uk/our-network-and-coverage/uk-coverage-map/index.htm?=network

Also try finding out from them when 4g is due in the area to help allieviate the problems you are experiencing, and if you know of other o2 users get them to log a call too as this will help/encourage the networks team to carry out a more in depth investigation.

[Anonymous]

Thanks again all, will look out for pm

[Anonymous]

Hi @Anonymous

Much of the guidance given here is broadly correct. In essence your phone will connect to your local mast which I presume is picking up a 3g signal. Are o2 able to advise you what mhz mast it is? For example at home I have a low capacity 900mhz mast but at work it is high capacity 900mhz.

Once your phone data signal connects to the mast the amount of data throughput will be dependant on capacity availability and the number of users.

So if your mast is connected to the fibre network that increases capacity but it should also be noted that the mobile cell on the mast only has a certain amount of capacity. So it really depends on whether it is the cell or the lack of fibre that is causing the issue.

Near where I work capacity has been an issue since Oct 13 and an upgrade was completed in July. However since the upgrade another local mast has now seen capacity levels breached.

Are there things you can do? Yes sort of.

1. Call customer services and ask to speak to the Network Services Guru team in Glasgow. This team have much more access to what is happening than CS.
2. Network Services Guru will give you a reference number and will refer the case to the engineers as long as the problem was not there when you joined o2. (If the problem was there when you joined they will not investigate - and once you have told them that it is they won't assist so whatever you do. ......).
3. You will receive semi regular updates from Network Services although the 5 day rule mentioned above is rarely kept to. Note they will call from a private number and if you don't answer they will leave a message.

This process is likely to take a few weeks. If at the end of it the response is that there is nothing else they can do then you are advised to:

Make a complaint be sending an email to complaintreviewservice@o2.com providing full details of what the issues are. They will take up to 4 weeks although in practice will typically take a couple of weeks. The CRS will further investigate the complaint and make their final determination. The likely answers are:

1. A timeline for a fix.
2. Confirmation of no timeline for a fix.
3. Offer of compensation (it won't be much).
4. Allow you to leave your contract without paying it off. Note if you are on refresh you have to pay the handset agreement yourself but you get to keep the phone (make sure you request an unlock code before you end your contract as it is free for contract but £15 for non contract customers). If you are not on refresh they may offer to release you from the contract but you will most likely need to return your handset.

Once you have the final determination you may then take your case to the Ombudsman Service. (You must go through o2 complaints first). If you choose this route o2 will send you a leaflet telling you how to do this.

However in reality o2 won't improve your signal / capacity as a result of your issues alone. It is helpful to get as many people as you can to complain. O2 have their own timescales and they are rarely budged.

Sorry it is such a long thread but hopefully if provides you with a full answer.

[Toby]

Its long @Anonymous , but informative

Thanks for taking the time to post it

[Anonymous]

Thanks a lot everyone for all your assistance, its been really useful.
The service was this way already when i took out my contract, although i didnt know it, so i guess I am a bit stuffed re getting it looked into from what you say.
I'll try ringing the network gurus and see how i get on.

Thanks again for all you effort people.

[MI5]

Let us know

[Anonymous]

Hi @Toby sorry if it was too long but there was a lot of info to share

[jonsie]

No apologies necessary @Anonymous 

[Anonymous]

Thank you @jonsie 😃😃