As you know one of my bug bearers with O2 is currently there Roaming in the EU which we all know that they throttle.
On the 15th June 2017, EU made changes that all the EU networks had to offer cross roaming free of charge, so you can use your own allowance in one of the Roaming EU countries.
Now I wanted to give it a Month to settle in before I did any testing to ensure that every network was complaint and that all the issues were sorted out.
So, on the 13th July, I went on a day visit to Dublin with 2 of my friends and a few Devices / Sim cards from different UK networks to do some testing and obviously a bit of eating and drinking too.
Now the test was not totally about speed, but about what was on offer from each network and how they all compared.
I took the following with me
O2 Contract iPhone 7+ Cat 9 Device Capable of 450Mbps DL
O2 PAYG iPhone 6+ Cat 6 Device Capable of 300Mbps DL
Three Contract iPhone 6 Cat 4 Device Capable of 150Mbps DL
Vodafone Contract WileyFox Swift 2 Cat 4 Capable of 150Mpbs DL (Dual Sim Phone)
Tesco PAYG Wileyfox Swift 2 Cat 4 Capable of 150Mbps DL (Dual Sim Phone)
BT Mobile Contract Wileyfox Swift 1 Cat 4 Capable of 150Mbps DL (Dual Sim Phone)
Asda PAYG Wileyfox Swift 1 Cat 4 Capable of 150Mbps DL (Dual Sim Phone)
1st Test Manchester Airport Terminal 3 (7AM) (Main networks only tested)
O2 Contract 4G Signal 8.52Mbps Down, 7.19Mbps Up
Three Contact 3G Signal Data did not work for 2 Hours being in airport
Vodafone 4G Signal 15.96Mbps Down, 10.44Mbps up
BT Mobile 4G Signal 4.81Mbps Down, 8.54Mbps up
Winner at Airport: Vodafone, 2nd O2 Contract
2nd Test Dublin Airport Terminal 1 (9AM) (Only had time to run Main Network Tests)
O2 Contract 3G Only 0.25Mbps Down, 0.30Mbps Up
Three 3G Only 7.46Mbps Down, 1.07Mbps Up
Vodafone 3G 6.07Mbps Down, 3.93Mbps Up
BT Mobile 3G 3.16Mbps Down, 1.64 Up
Winner at Dublin Airport: Three, 2nd Vodafone
3rd Test Centre of Dublin O’Connell Street (10.30AM)
O2 Contract 3G Only 0.49Mbps Down, 0.58Mbps Up
O2 PAYG 3G Only 1.84Mbps Down, 0.44Mbps Up
Three 3G Only 7.46Mbps Down, 1.07Mbps Up
Vodafone 4G 26.30Mbps Down, 11.01Mbps Up
Tesco PAYG 3G Only 2.09Mbps Down, 1.12Mbps Up
BT Mobile 3G 4.59Mbps Down, 1.21Mbps Up
Asda Mobile 3G 3.89Mbps Down, 0.46Mbps Up
Winner on O’Connell Street: Vodafone, 2nd Three
4Th Test was done in the ILAC Shopping Centre in Dublin Centre (12 Noon)
O2 Contract 3G Only 0.50Mbps Down, 0.49Mbps Up
O2 PAYG 3G Only 4.44Mbps Down, 1.43Mbps Up
Three 3G Only 0.86Mbps Down, 0.41Mbps Up
Vodafone 4G 43.73Mbps Down, 26.74Mbps Up
Tesco PAYG 3G Only 2.25Mbps Down, 0.83Mbps Up
BT Mobile 4G 13.56Mbps Down, 23.91Mbps Up
Asda Mobile 4G 26.68Mbps Down, 21.70Mbps Up
Winner in ILAN Centre: Vodafone, 2nd Place Asda
5th Test was done in Burger King Centre of Dublin (2.40PM)
O2 Contract 3G Only 0.51Mbps Down, 1.04Mbps Up
O2 PAYG 3G Only 0.91Mbps Down, 0.18Mbps Up
Three 3G Only 7.41Mbps Down, 0.35Mbps Up
Vodafone 4G 16.66Mbps Down, 14.45Mbps Up
Tesco PAYG 3G Only 5.65Mbps Down, 0.64Mbps Up
BT Mobile 3G 19.05Mbps Down, 3.53Mbps Up
Asda Mobile 3G 9.16Mbps Down, 0.27Mbps Up
Winner in ILAN Centre: BT Mobile (3G), 2nd Place Vodafone (4G)
6th Test was done on the River Bank in Dublin Centre. Only 3 Tests ran (4.20PM)
O2 Contract 3G Only 0.57Mbps Down, 0.42Mbps Up
Three 3G Only 0.52Mbps Down, 0.29Mbps Up
Vodafone 4G 121.07 Down, 26.95 Up
Winner: Vodafone, I’m not even awarding a 2nd Place as no network deserved it.
7th Place Was done at International Banking Centre Dublin (5.40PM)
O2 Contract 3G Only 0.58Mbps Down, 1.01Mbps Up
O2 PAYG 3G Only 6.76Mbps Down, 1.10Mbps Up
Three 3G Only 0.30Mbps Down, 0.35Mbps Up
Vodafone 3G 2.70Mbps Down, 3.03Mbps Up
Tesco PAYG 3G Only 1.46Mbps Down, 0.96Mbps Up
BT Mobile 4G 1.16Mbps Down, 10.40Mbps Up
Asda Mobile 3G 1.82Mbps Down, 0.23Mbps Up
Winner Int Bank Centre: O2 PAYG, 2nd Place Vodafone
8th and Final Test Dublin Airport at Gate waiting to Board Aircraft (8PM)
O2 Contract 3G Only 0.57Mbps Down, 0.56Mbps Up
O2 PAYG 3G Only 3.90Mbps Down, 1.12Mbps Up
Three 3G Only 0.42Mbps Down, 0.35Mbps Up
Vodafone 4G 26.22Mbps Down, 2.95Mbps Up
Tesco PAYG 3G Only 0.08Mbps Down, 0.54Mbps Up
BT Mobile 3G 1.72Mbps Down, 0.34Mbps Up
Asda Mobile 3G 0.23Mbps Down, 00.07Mbps Up
Winner in ILAN Centre: Vodafone, 2nd Place O2 PAYG Just
Findings
O2 Contract is throttled beyond believe. You could see the phone trying its hardest and on many occasions starting the speed test I was getting 10+ Mbps, however throttling kicked in and it went straight to 0.50 mostly. I’m appalled that it’s still throttled badly and its shocking that 4G is still not available. What I can tell you though is that 4G is trying to Activate on O2, but it forces your phone back to 3G. before it would say Network Failure, now it says Network Registered, but would revert to 3G. so O2 need to just put a tick in a box, unlock 4G please and also remove the blasting throttling that your killing us with. Also, O2 Contract is throttled, but not PAYG, what is wrong with O2.
O2 PAYG was not throttled as I could see and speeds varied over Dublin. The main problem is that it would not clamp onto 4G no matter how hard I tried, I was able to connect to Metor and Three, however there wasn’t much difference in them both, the phone would always revert back to Three as its preferred network.
Three Contract, Wow this was all over the place, no data in Manchester and although it didn’t look throttled in Dublin itself, speeds were very hit and miss. The main problem is that Three latches onto its home Three IE network and just doesn’t really let go, Three IE seems somewhat hit and miss and I think that most of the masts are just congested.
BT Mobile, put in a good performance but couldn’t clamp onto 4G much, which was the same as Asda Mobile. The main reason is there network of choice which again is Three IE. Data rates were all over the place. Lots of places were just congested, but no data restrictions were in place for what I could see
Asda Mobile were the same as BT Mobile. No restrictions but struggled on the preferred network which again was Three IE. Shame really as was impressed that a Supermarket PAYG got 4G overseas.
Tesco’s was just hampered with the lack of no 4G. It was never no clear winner, but there wasn’t a restriction in place which is good for a Supermarket Network.
Clear Winner has to be Vodafone. No matter how you look at it, it just won from the word go. It was pretty solid all over on 4G, just reverted to 3G in shops etc, but the 121Mbps download on 4G just shows that they have truly meant what they said and no restrictions at all. The choice of network was Vodafone IE which clearly showed that they have spent money in the network in the city and I’ve no doubt that If the sim card was in my iPhone 7+, the data would have been much higher
Position UK Network 3G/4G in EU EU Network used
1st Place Vodafone (4G and 3G) (Vodafone IE)
2nd Place BT Mobile (4G and 3G) (Three IE and Metor)
3rd Place Asda (4G and 3G) (Three IE and Metor)
4th Place O2 PAYG (3G Only) (Three IE and Metor)
5th Place Three (3G Only) (Three IE) (No Data in MCR Airport Data all over place)
6th Place O2 Contract (3G Only) (Three IE and Metor) (Throttled)
I really do hope you enjoyed reading this. O2 Please please please, enable 4G roaming and stop Throttling, its making you look like cheap skates and bad as a network for over seas.
And what are you throttling only O2 Contract customers?
Hi @madasaf1sh. If you go first page to the bottom of my article it advises what each SIM card prefered, but other networks were tested with the same results. And networks names shown.
ive also been to 5 other Eu countries and tried all the networks there, there all the same speeds. It's not the networks I can assure you. Becuase o2 PAYG and Tesco were on same network at same time and they got much better speeds intact there isn't one throttling bit I can see on o2 PAYG and Tesco. BT mobile and Asda were also using same networks as o2 contract and again got much faster speeds.
the only phone sim I didn't bother trying another network on was Vodafone and this is becuase Vodafone was achieving speeds of 121Mbps.
All other sims sims however were asked to try other networks so I was fair on everything.
In France last year o2 contract connected to SFR, Orange Fr and Bouygues. All networks at 0.30Mbps until 50MB was used then 0.10Mbps after.
in Spain I connected to Orange ES and Movistar. Speeds were 0.30Mbps for first 50 and then 0.10Mbps.
i was in Ireland 2 other occasions last year and Feb this year. Speeds 0.30Mbps and then 0.10Mbps after 50MB useage.
other contract sims tested with same results, complaints on twitter and forum with same.
o2 have 4G roaming agreements in EU but not to consumer, only business selected partners.
Terms and Conditions have recently been updated showing that consumer and PAYG will also soon have 4G connection, but no one knows where and at what speeds.
i can tell you the networks in Belgium I tried, Netherlands and Germany are all same regarding speed. I've now connected to over 15 EU networks with all the same speed.
hope this helps.
Well if, as has been proposed elsewhere, TuGo becomes available on payandgo, no way will I ever be in another contract with O2. I'm no one's mug, especially when paying for it!
But no worries, soon they will no longer have any customer service to deal with the flak!
O2 has announced plans to introduce an AI capable of performing the same job as customer service staff.
The voice recognition system, which is called Aura, was unveiled by the mobile operator’s parent company Telefonica at MWC this week.
It’s expected to launch in the UK next year, and will enable the company to cut customer service costs.
A very detailed piece of analysis here @darrengf! I've passed this on to the reset of the team for review.
@Martin-O2 wrote:A very detailed piece of analysis here @darrengf! I've passed this on to the reset of the team for review.
Out of interest Martin, is this the same team that told you that no throttling would take place when you asked the other week for us?
Hopefully not our they need to refer to the newly revised handbook for 2017.
