O2 EU Roaming versus, Vodafone, Three, Asda, BT and Tesco. Dublin 13th July 2017

[darrengf]

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?

[MI5]

Sorry Chris but that is complete rubbish.
I'm in France now getting 0.3mbps download speeds and you cannot stream at that at all.
I also have an EE sim with me giving 24 Mbps download so I guess EE's expectations weren't surpassed or were more accurate to begin with?

[iphone4sir]

@Chris_K sorry Chris but even before EU regs your roaming was throttled. If you didn't anticipate a huge demand you should sack your team responsible for predicting usage as it should be no shock to no network that - shock - we'd like to use our phones abroad. Your limitations should be removed immediately.

[pgn]

Ditto in Spain on Movistar 3G.

[iphone4sir]

@pgn according to @Chris_K you should be downloading etc. I suspect you can't with that speed

[MI5]

You're all wrong guys. We're all completely stupid and there's nothing wrong with the speeds we are getting.
Just use your phone exactly as you do at home and you'll be fine !
Stupid or mugs?
Either way, I'm off to EE as soon as I get home and will move my other 2 contacts as soon as they are complete too.
No one talks to me like an idiot.

[iphone4sir]

If I'd kids I'd be reading this fairytale from o2 tonight.

[Anonymous]

A 2nd time on this thread may I just say a big thank you to all contributors to the thread

Again I'm all kudo'd out for the day or other posts above  ^  ^  ^ would have been kudo'd by me

A very, very interesting read ... & ... O2 comes out of it all like a gigantic heap of FYM !!!

[darrengf]

@Chris_K Sorry Chris but this is utter rubbish. 

O2 have not put restrictions In place to protect customers. They have put restrictions In place to protect o2 from getting a massive bill from EU networks. 

you have had many years knowing this would happen. Vodafone have managed it and so as EE. Why doesn't o2 PAYG have it or Tescos mobile. 

Your statement is is utter garbage and we all know that. 

O2 applied restrictions knowing what they were doing. You have constantly lied to the public saying it's the networks over seas that's the issue. You have blamed ever EU network apart from you. 

The EU networks Could sue o2 for defamatory the networks over seas. 

Twitter " o2. Sorry we are not responsible for the networks over seas. 

You constantly hidden behind that and would have continued. You hid behind in last year. 

You said o2 contract customer can have unlimited data. That's utter garbage as I couldn't get to using 80mb data in one day. 

Thats statement has just made the whole situation worse and just shown the contemp that o2 has for customers. 

We we wanted the truth. O2 lied. I have a complaint letter from o2 that said is was completely wrong and o2 have never imposed restrictions. 

Media gets it and o2 says yes we do to protect our customers. 

Angry yes. The utter rubbish in that statement is appalling. 

Oh and using maps fails. What's app fails. iMessage fails. Twitter doesn't load. Facebook can't load. 

Utter garbage. 2017 and you totally punish your contract customers. 

Lack of care, empathy and consideration in us the customer. 

You think customer wouldnt notice. 0.50Mbps is fine. It isn't. I pay for 30Gb data and can't use it in EU.

But I get a letter from o2 saying you have got unlimited calls SMS and 30Gb data to use In EU. 

Well I'll thats a contradiction in its self 

I'm fuming now and I never wanted this. But what you have just said has angered me even more. 

[viridis]

---

@Chris_K wrote:

Data roaming has surpassed all expectations

My expectation would have been one based on all customers that went abroad last year +% new customers in Q3/4

and we therefore have put temporary measures in place to protect the service experience for customers roaming in our Europe Zone.

If this were the case, why is no such throttle in place for "paying" payg customers? It seems only those with "inclusive allowance" are hit with this firewall.

These firewalls are temporary and we are working to have these controls removed within the coming weeks.

6 weeks perchance? 

Each time I've been away since "inclusive services" abroad were introduced, speeds went from 10mb+ to 0.02

The measures we’ve put in place do not stop customers from being able to use data though,

They really do though, honestly, they do.

for example customers can still use their data to browse the internet, check emails, use maps, stream music and download pictures.

Yes, true.... If a 45 minute buffer window is acceptable.

We'll keep you updated on our progress as and when these measures are removed.

When removed, will they stay removed?

---

[Anonymous]

I'm really torn at the moment as to whether I should stick this out with o2 and see if it gets better.

or just pay off my device and cancel as I am on refresh.

i first tweeted about this at the end of June to o2. This thread has been going on 2 weeks. We've all shown what has been happening.

i will be phoning o2 tomorrow and insisting on an apology and I will be recording it myself for evidence.

the reason for this is not only did they not admit to it, but they actually lied and I don't like using that word, but they have done.