General O2 service ?

shayne66

how's O2 service these days ? Been with EE/Orange for years and me and the misses phones are starting to die out (Galaxy s9 and Sony Xperia xz1 compact) so looking at upgrading to Galaxy S21fe and Sony Xperia 5iii.

EE seem's miles of price wise to what can order through mobilephonesdirect (part of AO) on a O2 contract.

jefaz07

I’m with o2 and I cannot wait to leave. It’s the worst network I have ever been on, I wish I’d never left EE. 
The signal is absolutely woeful as with my 5G contract is spends most of its time on 3 or 4g. And sometimes will not even open a webpage. And I don’t live in the sticks. 

flaneurs_lobster

If you are talking about O2's coverage then that's down to where you you will be using it. Get yourself an o2 PAYG sim (or one of the MVNOs that use O2 eg GiffGaff, Tesco) to check it out before you sign up. Cost you a tenner in PAYG fees, worthwhile I think before shelling out on four-figure contracts. Won't be able to check 5G coverage or wi-fi calling (if that's important).

Neil49

I switched to O2 a few months ago and although reception at home is patchy I have wifi calling setup which solves the problem. Otherwise it has been OK but of course that depends on where you are. 

There website provides a list of WiFi calling compatible phones so you need to check this. 

I've got a Galaxy S10 and WiFi calling works on that so I'm sure the S21FE will work, in fact your current S9 should also work unless tied up with another provider. 

Just to let you know that you need to contact O2 to get them to set up wifi calling on your account. I tried to do it myself but ended up having to visit my local O2 shop where they sorted it out in minutes. 

Don't forget that inflation increases take effect in April so hold fire until then otherwise you will get hit with a 10% ish increase virtually straight away. 

Hope this helps. 

HaroldWren5

Neil49 said:

I switched to O2 a few months ago and although reception at home is patchy I have wifi calling setup which solves the problem. Otherwise it has been OK but of course that depends on where you are. 

There website provides a list of WiFi calling compatible phones so you need to check this. 

I've got a Galaxy S10 and WiFi calling works on that so I'm sure the S21FE will work, in fact your current S9 should also work unless tied up with another provider. 

Just to let you know that you need to contact O2 to get them to set up wifi calling on your account. I tried to do it myself but ended up having to visit my local O2 shop where they sorted it out in minutes. 

Don't forget that inflation increases take effect in April so hold fire until then otherwise you will get hit with a 10% ish increase virtually straight away. 

Hope this helps. 

What is the cut off point where a new contract won't be hit with the 10-13% increase? Do you have to sign up to a new contract from 1st May onward to completely avoid this year's hikes?

BUFF

shayne66 said:

how's O2 service these days ? Been with EE/Orange for years and me and the misses phones are starting to die out (Galaxy s9 and Sony Xperia xz1 compact) so looking at upgrading to Galaxy S21fe and Sony Xperia 5iii.

EE seem's miles of price wise to what can order through mobilephonesdirect (part of AO) on a O2 contract.

tbh I suspect that the service of any of the large networks is probably pretty similar but as mentioned can be patchy so check what .
5G is definitely patchy  atm - as it happens I have an Xperia 5 III on O2 but I can't (yet) get 5G where I live but then at home I don't really need it.

CS-wise I have always found O2 good.

shayne66

asking my friends etc and getting mixed reviews. Some have been fine with O2, others hate the service. Would ideally stay with EE but the prices are a fair bit more expensive.
I have requested a PAC code for both current EE accounts to see if anyone from retentions rings and maybe offers a better deal(s). 

tinker411

flaneurs_lobster said:

If you are talking about O2's coverage then that's down to where you you will be using it. Get yourself an o2 PAYG sim (or one of the MVNOs that use O2 eg GiffGaff, Tesco) to check it out before you sign up. Cost you a tenner in PAYG fees, worthwhile I think before shelling out on four-figure contracts. Won't be able to check 5G coverage or wi-fi calling (if that's important).

If O2 coverage is what's being asked about then +1 to the quote above - making sure to try and use the O2 network services (calls, texts, data etc), rather than just going by the signal indicator, to see how they work in practice (if you see what I mean).

I say this because I have a Sky Mobile (runs on O2) sim deal, and while signal is broadly fine it's maybe just as well it's so cheap as if it wasn't I would leave as the only network service on it that works without issue here is calls.

Anyway, if O2 customer service is what's being asked about; when I was with O2 direct for a while I found them OK, even with them persistently calling me Mr (my first name) instead of Mr (my last name) or asking if they can call me by my first name.

BUFF

shayne66 said:

asking my friends etc and getting mixed reviews. Some have been fine with O2, others hate the service. Would ideally stay with EE but the prices are a fair bit more expensive.
I have requested a PAC code for both current EE accounts to see if anyone from retentions rings and maybe offers a better deal(s). 

don't suppose that you have broadband/landline via Plusnet? They have decent offers for mobile & as a BT offshoot use EE's network.

Neil49

HaroldWren5 said:

Neil49 said:

I switched to O2 a few months ago and although reception at home is patchy I have wifi calling setup which solves the problem. Otherwise it has been OK but of course that depends on where you are. 

There website provides a list of WiFi calling compatible phones so you need to check this. 

I've got a Galaxy S10 and WiFi calling works on that so I'm sure the S21FE will work, in fact your current S9 should also work unless tied up with another provider. 

Just to let you know that you need to contact O2 to get them to set up wifi calling on your account. I tried to do it myself but ended up having to visit my local O2 shop where they sorted it out in minutes. 

Don't forget that inflation increases take effect in April so hold fire until then otherwise you will get hit with a 10% ish increase virtually straight away. 

Hope this helps. 

What is the cut off point where a new contract won't be hit with the 10-13% increase? Do you have to sign up to a new contract from 1st May onward to completely avoid this year's hikes?

The price rise kicks in on the 1st of April so you should be ok to avoid the price hikes from there abouts onwards.

Update - 24th March is the cutoff date for price increases. 

Supatramp

Been with Virgin for several years, but already suffered a nearly 2 day of no signal when an O2 mast went down.

Switched to BT/EE and saved myself £60 a month.