O2's AWFUL 3G network

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Mobster
Soldato
Joined
9 Apr 2012
Posts
13,166
Does anybody else think O2's network is just, AWFUL?

Here's a speed test, in the middle of a large town in the south of the UK, today, with full signal:

0gFzUP8.png


This is 'good' by O2's standards, as far as I know.

Why is O2's network so bad?!?

Is it just in the south east (where I live)?
 
I get 4/5mb on both ways around Romford. It's area dependant.

O2's network was never designed for 3G, they just used the exisiting 2G network and made it 3G compatible. Because of this, it struggles with good speed.

Their 4G network worries me as well, having only the 800mhz band which is also the slowest compared to the other 4G bands...
 
Yeah o2 blows big time, giffgaff has also crap 3g due to them using o2s network, mind you I'm with Three and they aint been to clever lately either..
 
I've been told they will be investing a lot of money this year on the network which is why they are increasing the prices up by 2.7‰, not to mention the apps and in store guru service which maybe no use to us but a lot of others out there aren't so tech savey.
 
MLAM said:
I've been told they will be investing a lot of money this year on the network which is why they are increasing the prices up by 2.7‰, not to mention the apps and in store guru service which maybe no use to us but a lot of others out there aren't so tech savey.
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That's the least they should do for exploiting that loophole!
 
Tesco mobile 3g speeds on the o2 network are similarly poor for me. Speeds used to be better for me on my previous orange contract
 
deltalinx said:
That's the least they should do for exploiting that loophole!
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Hardly exploiting the loophole seeing as they raised there prices before the ofcom ruling and to be fair they have only gone up by the rate of inflation.

Not sure of my speeds at the moment but then I very rarely use my 3G anyway
 
deltalinx said:
Yeah o2 blows big time, giffgaff has also crap 3g due to them using o2s network, mind you I'm with Three and they aint been to clever lately either..
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None of them have been too great recently, I have O2, giffgagg (obviously O2 network) and Vodafone sims in every day use and O2 speeds spike all over the place - I do get bursts into the 10-14mbit region but its very bursty, giffgaff always hard limits at 3.6mbit max for some reason but lately struggles to get into the mbit/s and voda is a bit more consistant but always ~600kbit/s - all with H+ full bars and only a few hundred meters from the masts.

First month on giffgaff I had 3.6mbit/s up and down flatline and 80ms ping and very consistant, after the first month it completely changed I almost wonder if its something they do with new customers :|

EDIT: Just did a speedtest on GG - 176ms ping, 253kbit down, 740kbit up - guess I might as well get shot of them thats pretty useless (its spluttering and stalling all over the place).
 
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Broken Hope said:
I'll gladly swap.

http://i.imgur.com/u1ivVuM.png

That's also with full bars and a HSPA signal.
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This is pretty much me everyday now in London. Rang up 3 last week to cancel and they lowered the price of my plan and told me to hang on for 4G which is around the corner and will be faster. I used to use o2 previously and used to get the speeds around the same as the OP's - I considered it poor and switched to 3 in Jan 2013...
 
The thing is I initially moved to 3 because I was getting horrible speeds on O2's network, my sister on 3 was constantly getting over 7Mb/s on 3 so I switched and now I get crappy speeds, yet if I'm a mile up the road I've regularly gotten 13-14 Mb/s speeds on 3, so it must be something with my local mast.
 
Yeah same here...

Oh wait..:D


f9Xz0Ng.png


EE

Fast Mobile data speeds have made me enjoy using my phone away from a WiFi AP, I feels it's more of an upgrade than than a shiny new phone.

Slow data speeds is like driving a supercar with flat tyres :p

I feel your pain...well, I used to!



.
 
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4G on O2 is perfect - works most places for me - all over central London including in doors and all the way out to Zone 6 - 40/20 usually, sometimes dropping to 20/15 :) Record is about 64/25 :)
 
Teledude said:
4G on O2 is perfect - works most places for me - all over central London including in doors and all the way out to Zone 6 - 40/20 usually, sometimes dropping to 20/15 :) Record is about 64/25 :)
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It is. :) I'm getting 48/19 this morning.
 
Orcvader said:
O2's network was never designed for 3G, they just used the exisiting 2G network and made it 3G compatible. Because of this, it struggles with good speed.
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The air interface for a start is completely different so it's never been true. All networks upgraded their back-haul, O2 got swamped early due to iPhone early years and didn't catch up for a while due to under investment by telefonica.

No network is individually awful, they are all as bad as each other.
 
Happy with my 3G/HSDPA+ 3 package!!

ATgkevK.png
- Just now in Uxbridge (work)

At home in Swindon I usually get 5meg(ish) but use my home WiFi/Infinity (65meg) so that doesn't matter too me!

Not bad for £12.90/month

Plus I hit 24meg in Oxford at one point!!

I did used to only top out at maybe 1.5meg when I was on Voda, so the jump to 3 has been a bonus!! :)
 
I get between 6-8mb on O2 3g/hsdpa
More than enough for anything I do on a phone - videos, music etc. Even as a wifi hotspot, which O2 have never charged me for. This + unlimited data for 12 quid a month
 
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