Unlimited data / Three & 02 / 4G

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

I know that this has been done to death but I still cant quite beleave that 02 are restricting data.

I have been with 02 from from the days of BT Celnet and love the phone service and do not want to move to someone else.

I used to have unlimited data with them as a bolt on and it worked very well but now I am restricted to 1GB a month.

My way around it was to take the phone upgrade offered a few months ago (a very nice Samsung Galaxy Note) and then go and buy a PAYG sim from Three, I top up £15 per month and get unlimited data and am going through just under 8GB a month as I watch iPlayer during lunch, use Google Maps as my Sat Nav, Google currents as my news reader and have all my email, facebook & twitter stuff on the phone.

I still have my HTC HD2 phone running on 02 and only use it for phone and text only.

To my mind this is just silly, I need to carry two phones with me, I would happly pay the £15 per month to 02 for unlimited data so I could carry just one phone (it would be the note ).

I will not have a contract with three or transfer my number due to some of the horror stories I have read but I cant quite beleave that 02 are still restricting my new use like this while offering smart phones that eat up data like there is no tomorw.

I wonder if 02 will still limit everyone to 1GB when they get 4G up and running?

Ian

[perksie]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I wonder if 02 will still limit everyone to 1GB when they get 4G up and running?

Ian

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Anybody's guess, they seem to think their network will collapse if you use more than 1Gb per month, hopefully with the upgrades coming and market forces this will change.

[jonsie]

I think O2 have been hoping that the other networks would see things their way and start restricting data packages.

As this doesn't seem to be happening maybe O2 are going to have go along with the others and making it an option for their customers (with a FUP obviously)

[Anonymous]

3 have about 20 customers*.  Letting them all use as much data as they want is no problem. 

O2 have about 20-22 million customers.  Letting them all use as much data as they wanted would be madness/suicidal.  

*I may be exaggerating slightly, but you get my point.

[Anonymous]

I have just looked up the numbers:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mobile_network_operators_of_Europe#United_Kingdom

O2 have 22.3 million and on the way down and 3 have 8.2 million and on the way up so about 1/3 of thesubscribers to 02.

I would like to know how many people like me have two phones to get around the data issue.

What may help is if there was a phone that would take two sim's one for calls & text and 1 for data that would be online at the same time, not too sure what that would do the battery life but at a guess it would not be good.

As most people according to 02 do not go over the 1GB would it be too difficult for 02 to give people a bolt on that would give them unlimited data, I for one would be happy to pay £15 a month for the privilege after all I am already doing this. That way not all 22.3 million users would have unlimited data just those who wanted to have a premium service and where willing to pay for it.

At the moment I can only up my data limit via a bolt on to 2GB costing £10.00 extra, there is no option for the extra 7GB that I am using but at a guess it would be £70.00 a month if there was one I stick with 02 as I need a reliable phone service and data is just a personal think to keep me amused on the train & during lunch time but the more I use my data phone the less I am using my voice phone so I guess the question is how long will I need an O2 contract for? I can keep my number on PAYG and top it up as and when I want to, after all my £15.00 PAYG with 3 gives me a shed load of calls and do not need to display my 3 number when calling so how would anyone know. I still cant believe that O2 can see how they are annoying people with this I am not saying give it away but give people the option to buy the bolt on there has to be a business case for keeping have users of data on the O2 network or are O2 not interested in the data sector of the market?

[Anonymous]

There is a market for this, and I can not be the only one that would take advantage of it and dump the second phone with 3.

[ewanrw]

Remember that 3 stated in September 2011 that unless 4G happened this year, they would begin to experience congestion issues in Q4 2012 as they do not have enough spectrum.

Yes, they bought a chunk of 1800MHz from EE, but they don't get access to it until September 2013, so having all the data you can eat won't be so good if you can't use it when they run out of capacity.

ewan

[Anonymous]

3 are basically us but 10 years ago.

Their business model is "bums on seats", ie doing whatever they can to build a market share.  The one thing they can differentiate on is their network.  They are under-capacity which means they can get away with letting thier 8 million customers use as much data as they want.  

The 4 major networks have very similar deals to each other and as a result none of them are growing, however O2 are losing the least customers of the 4.  All 4 networks are operating at a high percentage of their current capacities.

3 will be aiming to be as big as the other 4 networks, which will result in market saturation.  No room for 3 to grow.   They'll then be a victim of thier own success.  Expect them to look at maximising revenue from their existing customers (prices going up, unlimited data stopping and monetising data packages).  Oddly enough, what the 4 major networks are doing at the moment.

[Anonymous]

Good evening Pablo,

I actually believe that O2 have let themselves down over the past years through lack of intelligent infrastructure investment.  

It was known that email & internet access on the move would be a business desire, as well as a social desire as long ago as 1997/ 1998.  All the network providers and mobile phone manufacturers appeared to take a great deal of delight in slowing down technological releases for as long as possible in order to maximise their profits.  This is admirable in a business attempting to maximise profits, but the extent it was carried out to was pure greed.

Apple, with their entrance to the market in 1997 have forced the situation.  That is six years (allowing for one year that Apple negotiated with network providers in the UK) network providers have had to develop infrastructure.  O2, and the others have spectacularly failed in developing or expanding networks at a satisfactory rate.

I also can not believe the farce that LTE, 4G or what ever it might be called has turned out to be on a global basis.  If Apple is able to speak to teleco providers globally, why can't teleco providers talk amongst themselves and come to some agreement?  You can't blame governments, it was down to the teleco providers to come to an agreement on frequencies (goes back pre UMTS, EDGE, CDMA etc).

I, and I suspect many other people, would be happy with unlimited data at 3G. O2 have to realise that data is actually probably more important than voice and about as important as text messaging/ multi media text messaging.  Real 4 G would be nice, but I am willing to wait for that; for a short while.

What I am not willing to wait for is to pay an arm and a leg for a multifunction device that doesn't meet my needs due to inadequate data allowance.  In the medium to long term this data limitation will cause a reduction in customers for mobile phone manufacturers and for network providers.  A fall in customers means a fall in revenue.

Regards,

Hval

[darrengf]

I have a three contract with my ipad so get 15gb a month and a I get 2gb a month with o2.

Over the last couple of months I've noticed my speeds with three in certain areas to become slower than slow And the opposite with O2, its become faster.

Im not saying three Is bad, far from it, but since having the contract 18 Months ago, I've noticed that the speeds I get are not what i I used to.

As its been said, it's not a sustainable practice unlimited data and they will come to a end when they run out off capacity.

i would be happy if O2 would allow us to buy more Data at a reasonable price, but for unlimited Data, o2 have been there and done that.  However you never know and hangman have change of heart.