Slow data speeds.

[Ulverstonian]

I recently moved from Vodafone to O2 and soon noticed the data speeds were slower during the day but picked up late at night & in the early hours of the morning,  i test using the same speed test and to give you an example i have just run a test at 15:56 and i am getting 1.39 Mbps down and 0.58 Mbps up this morning i got 20 Mbps down  and a decent speed up usingf the sdame test, can someone expalin why this is happening?

Thanks in advance.

[MI5]

@Ulverstonian 

It's mast congestion.

Speeds slow down when more people are using the mast.

[Ulverstonian]

Thanks M15 could i ask what the solution is as its not just bad at my home address its bad wherever i try it during the day (my job means i travel a lot) sometimes its lower than 1 Mbps which on a 4G connection is a joke, i cannot be the only one seeing this and i have seen some threads discussing this issue, any advice would be most welcome.

[MI5 · Accepted solution]

@Ulverstonian 

Ironically, switching to 3g usually helps.

There's nothing you can do as it's limited by the smaller bandwith that O2 were allocated in the 4g auctions.

5g should fix the issue, when it's fully rolled out.

[Ulverstonian]

I have tried 4G and 3G (showing H+) 

4G - 2.8 down - 1.18 up.

3G (H+) 1.4 down - 0.88 up.

It was worth a try but it hasn't helped looks like its back to vodafone for me, i notice they don't say anything about likely poor speeds when they advertise. 

[MI5]

Not uncommon unfortunately, but does vary by area so doesn't suit everyone.

[Ulverstonian]

I think i will try 3G when i am out and about and see if it helps i cannot knock o2 for the package i am on compared to what i got from Vodafone so i may just stick it out and see what 5G brings in the future, my phone will need changing but it would have it i were still with Voda so no big issues there.

I have been doing a bit of digging (having read what you said earlier) and having read this its not a wonder the network is as slow as it is at peak times.

O2 has the 2nd lowest amount of frequency spectrum in the U.K. after Three. Lack of frequency = lack of capacity.

Having the customers of 4 MVNOs (giffgaff, Sky Mobile, Tesco Mobile and Lycamobile) all using O2’s network resources means that O2 has a very congested network.

The owners of O2 have consistently under-invested in the network.

[MI5]

Yes, exactly the problem......

[Ulverstonian]

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@MI5 wrote:
Yes, exactly the problem......

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Is this likely to change in the future, is there a way of making O2 aware there is a problem?

I am fairly sure we will not be getting 5G anytime soon being a small market town in south Cumbria so we are stuck with very slow speeds unless using it in the early hours of the morning or late at night.

[MI5]

@Ulverstonian 

O2 continue to quote "network upgrades" but what these are and where they will be, is anyone's guess.

Unless you are in one of these areas it won't improve and O2 will be fully aware of where their network is congested, but will balance risk/reward to give improvements to more populated atreas.