Broken Phone Mast

[Disillusioned]

Hi 

I live rural. So limited to the provider we can use. Currently the o2 mast is being used by our phones and a dongle for the internet.

But the mast for the past 6 months has not been working properly.

We have been given constant duplicate messages about the fault

Awaiting parts ,need landowners permission etc.

Cannot contact 02 ,poor email, poor cell phone reception.

Cannot contact customer support 

I don't have an accent, maybe one from the south of England. But the worldwide call operatives don't seem to understand us or we them.

Been told a Manager will call us back after 24 to 48hrs but never do.

After getting so frustrated i emailed customer support to ask to cancel our contract, but got an email back saying that you no longer use direct emails to you anymore.

I appreciate the parts for the mast were being carried on the back of a Mule ,which got lost in a snow storm over the alps. And also it didn't help that while crossing Ukraine the donkey was harassed by Putin's invading army. But i would have thought that after a short bout of PTSD the Donkey would have finally arrived.

Needless to say, we are very disappointed with 02, and fed up with all aspects of their service.

[Enlli]

Problem is the mast may not even be owned by O2. Many networks sold off masts then lease them back. Undoubtedly the repair company won't be O2 either. Makes the whole thing more complicated.

Is O2 the only one that covers your location? The government is pushing for shared masts in rural locations, but building out is long term.

Where my sister in law lives the only have Vodafone, and they only got that in the last 2 years. Everyone wanted signal but then opposed every applivation for planning permission to build a mast!

[Disillusioned]

Its very hard to find out who owns the local masts. But it had o2 and Vodaphone as good providers.

I obviously chose the wrong company, as since looking there are scores of other complaints about O2 over the past 6 months. Its the companies attitude which grinds on me, they don't care. More so for rural communities.

As we have a smaller voice ,and little revenue stream. Hopefully this might get a response from O2 who MIGHT correspond with me, and not just fob me off.

[madasaf1sh]

@Disillusioned 

If it had both o2 and VodaFone, then it would be a mast owned by Cornerstone, so you can always reach out to them and see if they own the mast. 

It could be that a landowner is refusing access, or asking for more money, it could be your local council refusing permission for roadworks, no one will know and not even Customer Services. 

You as a village could raise the funds to put up some Microwave Links and link into an ISP and then use those for Mobile access via WiFi Calling and WiFi access, either that or pay for a mast, like some communities have done... 

[Disillusioned]

Thank you for your advice i will check with cornerstone.

And i will also look at the options you suggested.

I suppose I'm old fashioned, if you pay for a service, you expect a descent level of service.

But i guess in this day and age, i shouldn't expect that from O2

[Muddyeagle]

I have the same problem now in February 2024, in the Sunderland region in Roker, Sunderland (SR6 xxx) - Seems like the mast is somewhere near the Sunderland football Stadium of Light. 
Just constant text messages from O2  saying the network can get busy in this area or they can't fix the problem and are still working on it.
Yeah right, I work in IT and surely there is a SLA on this !!
If we don't fix an issue within a SLA we get penalties.
Now I understand these masts are 3rd party responsibilities. Dear me, this mast is near Sunderland football ground, is no one else complaining???

[japitts]

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@Muddyeagle wrote:

Yeah right, I work in IT and surely there is a SLA on this !!
If we don't fix an issue within a SLA we get penalties.

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There might be an internal SLA on a fault case from front-line CS or even a radio optimiser. That doesn't mean the underlying issue will be resolved in that arbitrary timescale. If network rollout or site-build activity is the resolution, then that will take as long as it takes, and a fault SLA won't change that.

If the serving site is in congestion, then timescales will depend on what the resolution is. Does it need carrier and/or tech adds? Does that require hardware changes at ground-level? Are the existing antennas suitable for the proposed solution? Is the serving site at maximum scope, and the fix is a new site?

Every site config is different, thus every solution is different. If there are legal or acquisition issues, those can cause further delays.