back to article O2 data fails, again

O2 UK customers are again being left disconnected, disenfranchised and disillusioned as they struggle to get a data connection for the third time in as many weeks. O2 tells us that network problems are affecting "some users", but reports from far and wide indicate that the nationwide network is rejecting connections over 3G …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    3 Times a charm

    Oh great its down again when i was reading my work emails.

    Way to go O2.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    Refund !

    I think an email to customer services asking for a refund is due !

  3. garthwd
    FAIL

    We should be grateful they supply us with any data service at all

    I phoned CS to ask if they were going to start crediting accounts as this was happening far too regularly. No they aren't. He also said that we didn't pay for the data network, it was a free with our iPhone account. I said they don't give anything away for free and it was part of the tariff we pay. No, it was a free service for iPhone users he replied. I did mention that one of the selling points of the iphone was the data connection, after all the iPhone without the data connection is just a poor spec phone!

    It seems we should just be thankful when it is up and have no complaints when it isn't working and certainly shouldn't rely on it.

  4. Barry Tabrah
    FAIL

    Comms error

    It's a shame that O2 aren't even telling their stores that they have a problem. Just spend 10 minutes having my phone fiddled with by staff before they tried a phone of their own.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Glad it's not just me then

    At least they've got rid of that annoying woman on the "O2 Treats" thing. Shame I can't go to the web-site they sent me a link to by text though :-(

    Yours, Disgruntled of Stevenage

  6. Mark C Casey
    FAIL

    Yep (Leeds)

    I can confirm it, just had a phone call from a sales guy complaining he couldn't connect in to works vpn to check his email.

    O2 needs to pull their finger out and sort out these problems, just because O2 sells the iphone doesn't mean we won't move over to another mobile provider.

  7. McFlurry
    Paris Hilton

    Bugger me...

    I went to check my stalkerbook and it wouldn't re-load, ok try twitterfon... no nothing. Oh good god O2 why do this to me?! I presume I'll no get a discount on my iPhone45 package this month?

    Paris because she doesn't have to rely on her electronic gadgets

  8. BeefStirFry
    FAIL

    I'm in Birmingham..

    ... and I'm affected...

    Are O2 struggling with the about of data iPhones are bringing to the network? Since 3GS was introduced (and seems to be practically sold out everywhere), there seems to be quite a few problems with the network.

    Isn't there any insiders in O2 who can get the real story on the problems?

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    And whose fault?

    Obviously all those cheapskate O2 customers buying data packages.

    Everyone knows, you get what you pay for,obviously O2 customers need to start shelling out, not start counting the pennies.

  10. Jim_aka_Jim
    FAIL

    It's not just data....

    I'm in Hungary and I have no service at all.

    Thanks O2.

    I was thinking about getting an iPhone too. I didn't think service provider would have been the deciding factor, but it is.

  11. Tim Spence
    Thumb Up

    What problem?

    All fine here, in Reading.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Coming back

    Seems like its coming back now - L2 - Liverpool getting data over GPRS and 3G

  13. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Says it all

    When I called O2 support to ask if there were problems this morning I heard the woman I was talking to shout across the office "Looks like the internet may be down again"

    Says it all really.

  14. Jaymeister
    Thumb Down

    Even got me this time

    I've managed to dodge the bullet on the last two outages, but this time even I was wrenched from my beloved internet connection.

    Seriously, with the way O2 has been going for reliability of their network, as soon as my (now looking unfortunately overly long) contract is up, I'm going elsewhere...

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Noooo

    Can't get my porn

  16. Law
    Pint

    yup

    "or consider moving to a network that takes reliability more seriously than O2 appears to."

    Agreed... any suggestions... I know who has the most coverage, but who is the most reliable?

  17. Yves Kurisaki

    On the plus side..

    On the plus side.. when it does work you have access to the internet in at least 10% of the country.. if you're close to a city.. and the weather is nice.. and there's no leaves on the masts.

  18. Germanjulian
    Thumb Down

    good wasnt just me then

    bad for o2

  19. SuperTim
    Happy

    Mine's working just dandy thanks.

    Dunno what all the fuss is about.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Somebody told me recently...

    ....how good O2's network was. I was pointing out that I'd have an iPhone, if it wasn't for their appalling network quality and atrocious data coverage.

    Since that conversation, O2's data network has gone tits-up 3 times.

  21. Bob H
    Paris Hilton

    Working here!

    Obviously I am not representative of the masses but here in Middlesex my Blackberry is working and browsing the internet.

    Luckily I am not out on the road today.

    Paris, because she knows how to stay in touch.

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Glasgow broked too!

    Been trying to get online with my iphone for a while with no joy.. Bummer

  23. Neur0mancer
    Flame

    Back now

    It was irritating. I was temporarily without my mobile por...newspapers

  24. Phil B 3
    Alert

    How is this news?

    o2's data network (or voice for that matter) doesn't work for 30%+ of the time in areas of central London. For iphone users in any case.

    Many, many of us have reported the same problems. o2 seem incapable of providing a quality service in London.

    Areas with known problems:

    Moorgate, Old Street, London Bridge, Waterloo, Victoria

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    A title is required.

    Had a problem with a 3G dongle in Sheffield, went into the shop and to be fair they did (after some pressure) actually plug the damn thing in to a laptop and try it. Then they got onto someone who came up with the 'they're upgrading the network' BS.

    What can you do? At least O2 have a shop where you can pester someone. T Mobile have a shop where they just tell you to take a hike if you start complaining and BT closed their shops years ago.

  26. Rob 86
    FAIL

    No service

    I spent several hours at a festival in Victoria Park, London, on Saturday with "No Service" on my O2 phone, watching people around me happily talking away on other networks. It meant I couldn't meet any of my friends for the whole festival and spent the day on my own! When I got half a mile away from the festival it all kicked in again as normal.

    O2 are absolutely atrocious and I fear are getting worse in London.

  27. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Hah!

    Another blow to the iPhone nuts who complain that T-Mobile wont be reliable enough to support the iPhone, compared to their beloved o2.

    I repeat, hah!

  28. Andy 97
    FAIL

    The bubble has burst again?

    Oh dear, I bet the network heads are in a bad place today.

    Poor the "more style than substance" network.

  29. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Blackberries

    The data seems fine, well apart from when they remove it from your account for no reason.

    Twice in the last month, they've done it to us. 400 handsets!

  30. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    No problems previously

    I've been with O2 since getting a free Genie SIM card and I've had no problems with their reliability before.

    I've only noticed one of the times when it's been playing, and that's when it was down for a good few hours.

    Wonder what they've managed to do?

  31. Rob 86
    FAIL

    I just called them

    Having perfectly reasonably explained my issues with the service, business retention put me on hold. When they picked up, it was some else entirely, to whom I had to explain the issues again. She hung up and put me back on hold where another guy picked up the phone, forcing me to explain a third time. At the end of all this, all I have is the complaints address. A postal address at that! I suggest everyone writes to:

    O2 Complaint Review Service

    PO Box 302

    Dunstable

    LU6 9GN

  32. AchimR

    @phil b 3

    so far I havn't noticed any problems with colleagues' iPhones or my N95 on O2 at/around Moorgate (where I'm sitting right now) or elsewhere City.

    The only thing I noticed is a delay in sms receiving from time to time, but that seems to be all over London / elsewhere :|

  33. Barracoder
    Happy

    Probably to stop tethering

    I have an iPhone and noticed last night that iTunes popped up a messagebox asking if I wanted to accept new carrier settings. As I've hacked my phone to give me free tethering, I said no. Today, my phone is right as rain so it seems fair to surmise the new carrier settings don't work.

    Personally, I think O2 trying to prevent parasitic tethering by people like me is the reason they've had these data problems over the last fortnight.

    So sorry: my bad.

    PS. Tethering rocks. I switch my router off at home because I rarely need it any more.

  34. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    Really...

    So. The internet was down for a maximum two hours.

    Did you know what I did?! "Oh, nevermind then, I'll try in a while"

    I tried in a while... and it worked! Woo.

    It didn't ruin my life.

    It didn't break up my marriage.

    It didn't kill my kids.

    It wasn't as bad as 911.

    GET A LIFE.

    You'r lifes must be so easy going. Instead of worrying about my internet being down through my iphone and not being able to access "FACEBOOK" or Myspace - Im worried about my job security, the economy and my increasing bill charges. I'm worrying if the Iraq war will ever finish and if soldiers will stop being killed over some vain Fat Cats.

    Ask yourself. Are you REALLY complaining about two hours of internet loss!??!!

    REALLY!?!

  35. Andy34
    FAIL

    IPhone only works with 3G switched off

    O2 have really got to sort out this problem. I've been told by customer services to not bother turning 3G back on until they call me back to officially clear the open fault I have logged with them.

    With 3G turned on, I cannot make or receive calls, and definitely no data. Phone works fine on 2G including data.

    Is anybody having this same problem?

  36. Vince
    FAIL

    O2 "dirty SIM" trick

    Last time they had an outage (they've had wayyyy more than 3 in a few weeks, it's just that most aren't big enough that enough people notice for it to reach the press) they spent considerable time blaming my handset (because it "isn't supported" - though working fine otherwise, my SIM card (perhaps the contacts are dirty causing my speed slow down, uh huh yeah...), and just about anything else.

    This time I'm not taking any more crap, they get £120/month off me, and I spend more time without data of late than I do with it, and when it is "working", I spent most of my time waiting for a page to lo<connection lost>, reload, downloa<connection lost>

    You get the idea.

    Still a result this time, they've started acknowledging it as an O2 problem (called 'em while it was screwed so they couldn't argue) and got a £46 + VAT refund. Still not good enough that it dies (I'd rather it just worked) but at least they're starting to cough up.

  37. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    @Pinja

    QUOTE: "It wasn't as bad as 911."

    Agreed. They were a terrible boy band.

  38. Professor Quatermass
    WTF?

    Updated carrier settings the culprit?

    This morning I declined to receive new carrier settings via iTunes. Should I have accepted them? Will it cause my brain to ache from the influx of new data? Of course, I don't think I've actually received a text all day, so perhaps I should? Oh, the confusion.

  39. Matthew Wright 1
    Jobs Horns

    Up Norf Too

    I was out in town at lunch, looking for a bank where I work, whipped out my phone for google maps... "Unable to connect to the internet" it says...

    Ok... I'll phone someone at work... 4 bar signal, yet I couldn't make a call

    Ok, plan C.. ask someone ! I had to actually go and physically talk to a real person to find out what I wanted... c'mon O2 this isn't on ;)

    Visual Voicemail didn't come back for the rest of the afternoon.. kept saying "Unable to connect, there are more voice messages on the server" When it finally did come back, there were no messages... hmmmm !

  40. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    @pinja

    >Ask yourself. Are you REALLY complaining about two hours of internet loss!??!!

    >REALLY!?!

    Yes - Really! a 2 hour downtime of data for me means that I could have spent all day photographing an event with 'competing' photographers, and not being able to send my pictures in when other people can... they make sales, I don't..

    I have a mortgage to pay that relies on me having data access when I need it.. not when it's convenient for the network operator...

    Thanks for your concern.

  41. Rob Daglish
    Unhappy

    Damn and blast British Telecom...

    said DIrk Gently, the words coming easily from force of habit...

    And in the real world, Damn and blast O2 - my BlackBerry seems like it only works where there is a wi-fi connection, and has done for quite a lot of time lately. I think I might buy a set of carrier pigeons.

  42. Kev Hepburn
    Stop

    o2 still having issues?

    We have been trying for days to send MMS msg's - to my knowledge, that's 4 people on o2's own network who haven't been able to send any

  43. This post has been deleted by its author

  44. Phil B 3
    FAIL

    No data in London today

    I think I may have had a connection at home in Streatham (or it may have been using wifi).

    I've certainly had nothing since getting on the train though.

  45. kmerc1
    FAIL

    Not working for me today... Grrrr

    The past few days i've been at home and using the WiFi through my iPhone, however come to work in a 3G area (Staffs) and I have the same message of the server has stopped responding! I'm not impressed! Grrrr http://www.theregister.co.uk/Design/graphics/icons/comment/fail_32.png

  46. Sp1derba1t
    FAIL

    bad o2

    gone again. cant do anyhitng today. was showing 12kb upload, no d/l........

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like