Advise on bad O2 signal

dodgeuk

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could advise me on issues i'm having with O2...

I got a new smartphone off them in March last year, average bill for me hits £50. Now, where I live is a bit of a 3G blackspot, but Normal call signal appears to be ok. Problem is for a long time people have tried to call me and they go straight to answer phone, or i try sending texts and they keep coming up with unable to send. My neighbor also has these issues with her O2 phone...

I've spoken to O2 over the year and had everything from weather to problems/upgrades to network as the excuse, which doesn't really help me when i'm paying for services that they don't provide. Can someone please advise me if i take this to them what i could ask for... Looking at other posts i realise that i wont get out of year two of the contract, but if i complain what could i realistically ask for? A rebate as they are not providing me with service for a set amount maybe?

I just want to know what i can ask for during the discussion...

Thanks all

lucylucky

You have put up with a poor signal for 11 months and want to complain now?

I think you may be on to a loser.

No company guarantees coverage but if there has been a marked degradation in the coverage owing to something o2 have done then that is worth pursuing

dodgeuk

lucylucky wrote: »

You have put up with a poor signal for 11 months and want to complain now?

I think you may be on to a loser.

No company guarantees coverage but if there has been a marked degradation in the coverage owing to something o2 have done then that is worth pursuing

To be honest i've put up with their excuses for 11 months. It came to a head when I had the phone sat next to me, full signal, when the house phone went. A mate was saying they've been trying to get in touch urgently, when i left the house and went up to the main road suddenly 5 texts and two voicemails appeared in one go....

There is no guarenty for signal, But i'm sure under simple customer service i'm paying for something that is not being provided to my satisfaction, so something should be doable...

gjchester

dodgeuk wrote: »

To be honest i've put up with their excuses for 11 months. It came to a head when I had the phone sat next to me, full signal, when the house phone went. A mate was saying they've been trying to get in touch urgently, when i left the house and went up to the main road suddenly 5 texts and two voicemails appeared in one go....

There is no guarenty for signal, But i'm sure under simple customer service i'm paying for something that is not being provided to my satisfaction, so something should be doable...

I understand your issue, but as Lucylucky says you'd put up with it for 11 months, If you were unhappy you should have complained before.

Exactly why you get no signal is hard to say, could be the construction of you houseflats in the way of your local mast and you or even hills. None of this o2 have control over, it's in the nature of radiowaves.

If you had complained early on you may have a case, but after 11 months what has changed? (other than it getting on your nerves)

Gordon_Hose

Where I live the O2 signal is bad. But then no mobile operator guarantees signal.

lucylucky

dodgeuk wrote: »

To be honest i've put up with their excuses for 11 months. It came to a head when I had the phone sat next to me, full signal, when the house phone went. A mate was saying they've been trying to get in touch urgently, when i left the house and went up to the main road suddenly 5 texts and two voicemails appeared in one go.... Had that happen to me a couple of times. Or phone message goes straight to voicemail although there appears to be a full signal

There is no guarenty for signal, But i'm sure under simple customer service i'm paying for something that is not being provided to my satisfaction, so something should be doable... I very much doubt it

No harm in asking but since you have tolerated it for almost a year you may struggle to get anything out of them.

Guys_Dad

dodgeuk wrote: »

To be honest i've put up with their excuses for 11 months. It came to a head when I had the phone sat next to me, full signal, when the house phone went. A mate was saying they've been trying to get in touch urgently, when i left the house and went up to the main road suddenly 5 texts and two voicemails appeared in one go....

There is no guarenty for signal, But i'm sure under simple customer service i'm paying for something that is not being provided to my satisfaction, so something should be doable...

With the way that all service providers' contracts are, you are really stuffed - as you suspect. So what do you do to get round the problem?

Ok - you are tied for just over a year, so have you got an unlocked handset? Then put a cheap non-expiring PAYG sim in it and a message on your Voicemail saying "Look, I am on O2 and don't get a signal at home. If this has gone straight to voicemail, try ringing me on 07xxxxxx"

Give the PAYG sim number to people who would text you and ask them to use that for the next 13 months.

Continue to use your O2 handset to make your calls and texts out, though.

I know it's a cludge, but it's the cheapest way out. For different reasons, I have a live Vodafone and Orange phone. I carry both and it seems to work.

liam8282

Presumably if you have bad signal with O2, you will no doubt have bad signal with any other mobile phone company. They are all quite similar to be fair. Although I do know from experience that in some areas you can only get signal with one certain provider, and not the others.

I doubt you will have any joy getting anything out of O2, if you had a problem from the start of the contract, you would have been able to cancel your contract within the first 7 days IRC?

Have you checked this:

http://www.o2.co.uk/coveragechecker

I live in a good signal area, but the makeup of my house means I have bad signal downstairs, but good signal upstairs.

Guys_Dad

liam8282 wrote: »

Presumably if you have bad signal with O2, you will no doubt have bad signal with any other mobile phone company. They are all quite similar to be fair. Although I do know from experience that in some areas you can only get signal with one certain provider, and not the others. Not so. Vodafone and O2 are fine in my house - Orange and T-Mobile are not.

I doubt you will have any joy getting anything out of O2, if you had a problem from the start of the contract, you would have been able to cancel your contract within the first 7 days IRC?

Have you checked this:

http://www.o2.co.uk/coveragechecker

Coverage checker is only good for eliminating networks for bad coverage. It can't prove good coverage in a particular spot. A bit like only true test for magnetism is repulsion.

Gordon_Hose

liam8282 wrote: »

Presumably if you have bad signal with O2, you will no doubt have bad signal with any other mobile phone company. They are all quite similar to be fair. Although I do know from experience that in some areas you can only get signal with one certain provider, and not the others.

I doubt you will have any joy getting anything out of O2, if you had a problem from the start of the contract, you would have been able to cancel your contract within the first 7 days IRC?

Have you checked this:

http://www.o2.co.uk/coveragechecker

I live in a good signal area, but the makeup of my house means I have bad signal downstairs, but good signal upstairs.

Nonsense. All depends which operators have base stations in your local area.

Buzby

Agreed. Every 'real' network is a whole new ball game. As for having full signal strength and calls go to Voicemail - there's no mystery.

BTS (cell sites) and their dependent links, can only handle a finite number of calls. Once this is reached, there's no space for more. When this happens calls go to voicemail, and has no relevance to whether you are in full coverage, but if you aren't then it goes to voicemail anyway!