4G compression - is it just me? AWFUL browsing experience

[Anonymous]

Dear O2

I upgraded to a 5S on 4G (8 gb p/m) and, although recieving it loud and clear in my corner of SW London, the quality of the mobile web browsing service has been just terrible.

Audio and page throughput is quick as are app downloads etc, BUT the evident heavy compression artefacts on all youtube/ video content, and unusual image pixellation render the mobile browsing experience utterly awful. Worse than 3G, for sure. I've lived with it for 3 days, so I'm thinking this is not just a glitch due to heavy network load. I am, to say the least, not impressed.  It's the same with tethering to my laptop. It used to be this way, but I didn't expect it on 4G. 

I try HD videos on Youtube - they are unwatchable. Literally.

I browse my Flickr Pro account - hi-res images rendered with the life compressed out of them. Try zooming in any high quality image and then compare it to wifi - you'll be amazed.

General Google images/ Daily Motion/ Vimeo video - as above. Just nasty. 

In effect, all image and video content is as if I am browsing the web on a 56k modem. I wonder if TechRadar, The Registry and GSM Arena have picked up on this?

o2, this is my experience and opinion only, I am sure and hope others disagree. But if you are compressing images and video to make 4G faster, that's just not on and, despite havcing spend thousnads with you over many years, I will be requesting to cancel my contract and move elsewhere. I can understand throttling at peak times, and I can understand doing this for those who are perhaps inadventently near their data limit, but not as a default setting. 

As it stands, I enjoyed the mobile web far better on 3G. Please, please, tell me I am wrong...

Yours,

Mark

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

After a lot of testing, change you cellular data setting to the following:

APN: mobile.o2.co.uk
Username: bypass
Password: password

clear internet cache and try again. images appear MUCH better.

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Nice one, so O2 is actively compressing data then?

Must admit since signing up I have never used it much as waiting for 4G to become active, so in the meantime just using 4G on my EE account (no noticeable compression on this).

[Anonymous]

Makes no difference I am afraid

Incidentally, the speeds are fine - 22 Mb here - it's the compression that's the question. 

[Anonymous]

Have you tried through a VPN?

Or on a different device?

I'd be interested to see if it happens only on the idata* APN or if its the same on mobile* ?

[Anonymous]

I don't have VPN and can only vouch for my own iPHone 5S.

I note that my posts, the same as my inintial one here, on another board in the O2 community were removed. I wasn't sure which board to post to. Still, surprising they were removed as the threads were hardly irrelevent. 

[perksie]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I note that my posts, the same as my inintial one here, on another board in the O2 community were removed. I wasn't sure which board to post to. Still, surprising they were removed as the threads were hardly irrelevent. 

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Possibly seen as duplication, it's better to keep to the same thread, as any posts can then be followed.

[jonsie]

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@jonsie wrote:

Asked to be merged. another thread isn't needed.

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Done by admin or mods

[Anonymous]

Fair enough

I think the question is, assuming it's not my phone (doubtful, but I'd be delighted to be corrected) or a one off issue, that the over optimization is quite possibly a business decision to compress image and video data. Let's face it, most casual users might not especially care if streaming video is poor, or images aren't properly rendered. Audio, after all, is unaffected by compression. 

But it's clear, notwitthstanding, that something is awry to the more savvy users

[Anonymous]

The official response I have had is 

"To give our customers the best network experience possible, we make every effort to optimise the content they access on their phone. This includes the optimisation of images and videos when a customer is connected over 2G, 3G, 4G. The optimisation enhance our customers mobile experience as it allows faster browsing on the internet and also helps them to efficiently utilise their data allowances."

My claims have not been denied. 

[jonsie]

So that's a yes then.

[Anonymous]

Hmm, ok that is not good.

I think I am in London and/or Birmingham next week, so will try 4G on O2 on a 5S and some Android devices.

If this is how it is going to pan out, I do not want to be part of it so I really hope it isn't the case!!