O2/BlackBerry - Northern Ireland

djb215

Hi all,

I've been with O2 for 11 years (since it was BT Cellnet lol), and in June changed my tariff from PAYG because of a massive increase in usage.

I signed up for a 24 month contract £35/month with a BlackBerry Bold 9700, for which I get 600 mins, unlimited texts, data and wifi (as part of the BlackBerry unlimited tariff) - no problems so far.

In about 2 weeks time I am going to Armagh, Northern Ireland over the long bank hol weekend (Thursday - Tuesday), and was wondering where I stand with mobile usage? i.e. would it be classed as roaming?

Before anyone pulls out the Union Jack, I know it is part of the UK, but many adverts etc. say "Not available in NI", and i've tried to find the info from the O2 site and by searching this forum, but to no joy.

My data services on my phone are currently switched on all the time as I receive a lot of email, text and Facebook notifications etc - I'd hate to go away then come back for a bill for £xxx!

TIA :beer:

thetope

Don't worry - Northern Ireland isn't roaming. We operate on the same mobile networks. HOWEVER Armagh is fairly close to the border with the Republic of Ireland. If you go more than a few miles south of Armagh city you may find yourself switching over to O2.ie and you will be charged for roaming for that. If you're worried, set your network manually rather than choosing the "automatic" option - then it won't switch over to O2.ie without you knowing

Littlemiss27

Any calls and texts you make when you are in NI to mobiles or landlines will come out of your allowance as normal. The only thing to keep an eye on is that when close to the border your handset may sometimes connect to one of the networks from the Republic of Ireland, to get round this you can set your handset to connect manually to a chosen network ensuring you are locked to O2 UK.

Littlemiss27

thetope wrote: »

Don't worry - Northern Ireland isn't roaming. We operate on the same mobile networks. HOWEVER Armagh is fairly close to the border with the Republic of Ireland. If you go more than a few miles south of Armagh city you may find yourself switching over to O2.ie and you will be charged for roaming for that. If you're worried, set your network manually rather than choosing the "automatic" option - then it won't switch over to O2.ie without you knowing

You beat me to it!

djb215

Hi, thanks for both replies :beer:

That's good to know, I'll make sure it says O2-UK on my phone, cheers!

Lit_Up

djb215 wrote: »

Before anyone pulls out the Union Jack, I know it is part of the UK

No it's not. It's an occupied part of Ireland, partitioned against the will of the majority of the Irish people.