Poor reception at home - missing potential customers

potatan

Hi,

I think that these days most mobile contracts offer some sort of get out clause if you get poor or unreasonable reception during your first 14 days of ownership. However I'm about 9 months into a 24 month contract (I know I shouldn't have gone for 24 months, but hey).

My reception is pretty poor in my home, mostly because I live in a basement flat, but there are pockets of no reception near to me too (particularly my local pub). Whilst this has not bothered me a great deal in the past - the benefits of a lovely cool basement flat in summer far outweigh the possibility that I might miss the odd call - it is starting to become an issue lately.

I recently became self-employed, part-time, in order to supplement my income and to build up a new business for myself. This is all going pretty well at the moment, but I keep dropping calls. This is generally not a problem with friends and family, but if it's a customer or a potential customer then it becomes rather annoying.

Is there any possibility that O2 will listen to my woes, considering my new found business status? Do I have any fresh comeback for their lack of signal strength now that I am trying to run a small business?

Thanks in advance

Jon_01

I'd have thought not, sorry.

If you were running on a business acc you might get somewhere, but by the sound of it your on a domestic acc.

potatan

Yes, it's a consumer account, not a business one.

Actually, maybe I could "upgrade" to a business account, then claim that reception is not good enough, and cancel the whole thing in the cooling off period. I wonder if their T's and C's cover that situation?

lucylucky

Unless o2 have changed something recently then I can't see you getting any joy from them.

dave2

Try grabbing a PAYG phone and see if the signal improves. I got some crappy LG thing for £15 (incl. a £10 top up) from Carphone Warehouse, it's unlocked so I can use any sim and I get a significantly stronger signal for both tmobile and vodaphone than 2 other phones I have.

Of course, the bars on phones aren't exactly standardised and some cheat pretty badly, but for £15 worth a shot maybe (IMO, worth it for the backup phone + having £10 credit in reserve).

Fire_Fox

Change your answer phone message to give an alternative landline number, get a cheap PAYG SIM and handset on a different network and charge it to the business?