No 3g... Support seem as confused as me.

[Anonymous]

Hi guys. I'm a bit lost. Sorry if I ramble, but I just want to make sure I cover everything. Thanks for reading.

I took out a new contract with O2 for 24 months, unlimited calls/texts and 5GB data. It's a Nokia Lumia 925. The 5GB of data was the main attraction for me in buying the phone, and is what takes up the majority of my tariff cost, but it's currently unusable.

The phone arrived on Monday and I've only been able to get a 2G connection, whereas for the previous four years I've been with O2 I was always able to get a 3G connection in this area with zero issues.

O2 emailed me the settings required to activate WAP/MMS on my phone. I entered them and have double-checked and triple-checked. Still only 2G. I asked Support if there were any issues they knew of and there aren't. They checked my street and I should be getting perfect 3G. They emailed the settings again. I entered them again and reset the phone. Still no luck. A factory reset was suggested, and then to enter the settings a third time. Still no luck.

This is where it gets slightly complicated...  ...I phoned Support last night and after going through everything again, and ruling everything out, we spoke about my old handset (iPhone 3) and old sim card, and recent problems that I was also having with only getting a 2G connection on those over the last few weeks. Now, I thought that this was because the old phone was just deteriorating in general (very short battery, random crashing etc.). But the guy on Support suspected that this may have been a 'very rare' case of me having an overall account issue. We also established I was having these issues throughout Edinburgh and not just in one area.

So he suggested I be disconnected from the network overnight. Then, in the morning, after I had been reconnected, hopefully everything would be fine and I'd get a 3G signal no problem. So I went the night with no coverage. In the morning, the O2 network/coverage returned... but still only 2G.

As a side note, I then got a bill emailed through from O2 for £144, which I phoned to ask about. Basically, because I got disconnected and reconnected to the network, this was sent to me in error and I shouldn't worry as they're currently sorting it. It seems my airtime plan also got cancelled as a result and that needed to be fixed.

So, then I raised the original issue again of having only 2G and not 3G. This time, the settings were sent directly to my phone so I didn't need to do anything other than activate them. I activated these settings in Access Point and... still only 2G.

I'm not really sure what to do next. If the problems persist, I'd really like to just get out of the contract and give the phone back but I'm worried this may not be possible and I'll be stuck paying for 5GB of data each month that I can't use. It would also be a shame as I've been with O2 for years with zero problems and I'd like to solve this rather than just cancel. I'm not really sure what to ask Support next... Disconnecting/reconnecting me to the network seemed to be the last resort. 

Hopefully it doesn't sound like I'm complaining. I'm not. Support have been very helpful etc. I just don't know what to do now, other than trying to return the phone, cancel the contract etc. Would I be able to just go in-store with the phone, parts and packaging and get this sorted, do you think? It's just quite difficult to reach an O2 store due to working commitments. 

Basically if anyone has any insight/ideas what to do next, I'd really appreciate it. Sorry for the long post. Thanks. 

[Anonymous]

Have they taken you off the idata settings and moved you into a standard data settings.

Text ACTIVE to 2020, save and re boot your phone

[Anonymous]

http://community.o2.co.uk/t5/Pay-Monthly-and-Pay-Go/Self-help-guide-Is-the-network-down-for-me-or-ev...

[adamtemp64]

I would go to nearest o2 store for a guru visithttp://www.o2.co.uk/help/guru  and see if they can resolve the issue you have checked the status page http://status.o2.co.uk for any local issues planned or otherwise?

[MI5]

Everything appears to have been done to check/rectify and you seem to have done all that we would normally suggest already.
You do need to confirm if the issue is restricted to one area, one phone and one sim card, so you may need to do some driving around swapping the sim between phones if at all possible, as this will help to narrow it down to which part of the system is faulty.

[Anonymous]

Hi guys, thanks for the very speedy response. Appreciated. To cover some of the points/suggestions brought up:

1. Nothing was ever mentioned about taking me off idata and moving me to standard data settings.

2. I text ACTIVE to 2020 but received a message saying just to call support. Having called Support previously, that is when they sent me my access point settings (which didn't work). Those are the same settings shown in the self-help link bandofbrothers provided.

3. If it makes a difference, I'm on Windows Phone 8 on a Nokia 925 handset (sorry for not clarifying properly beforehand).

4. Support checked my coverage via both online chat and over the phone. They say there are no issues I need to be aware of. I have also checked via the coverage checker and everything is great.

4. I have had the problem in various locations throughout the city (Edinburgh). My previous sim card/phone had these issues recently as well, but I thought this was just because my old phone had a variety of other issues and was old. Turns out this may not have been the case. This is the reason why Support suspected an issue with my account, as opposed to a handset/sim, and disconnected/reconnected me to the network.

5. I'm looking into trying to get an appointment booked with an O2 Guru. Thanks for the tip.

[adamtemp64]

I think the guru is the best and log in to my-o2 and it will tell you which data bolton you have but that would still show 3g or 4g on the handset just come up with an error when connecting to data.

You have got the phone set to connect to all network types (not sure where it is on a windows phone)

[MI5]

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@adamtemp64 wrote:

You have got the phone set to connect to all network types (not sure where it is on a windows phone)

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Swipe left, scroll to settings >mobile network >Highest connection speed (choose 4G)

[Anonymous]

Hi guys. Thanks again for the resposnes. 

I do indeed have the highest possible connection speed chosen.

I've booked an appointment with an O2 Guru for tomorrow 3pm. Do they purely handle the tech side of things or are they able to help with contracts/returns as well? Again, returning would only be a last resort if the issue can't be fixed.

If anyone is curious, or having similar issues, I'll update you with my progress via this thread tomorrow. 

[Anonymous]

Looking forward to a positive update

Hopefully the guru will resolve things for you.