phones2buy.co.uk » O2

O2 UK Apologises for Poor Mobile Broadband Performance in London

Julie — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 17:00:37 +0000

The CEO of O2 UK, Ronan Dunne, has apologised for the poor performance of its mobile data network since the summer, especially in London. Dunne admits that the operator’s network was simply unable to cope with the surge in data usage by Mobile Broadband and iPhone users, though improvements are already working their way into the system.

Mr Dunne told the Financial Times:

“Where we haven’t met our own high standards then there’s no question, we apologise to customers for that fact. But it would be wrong to say that O2 has failed its customers en masse.”

No mobile operator is immune from capacity problems, with recent Mobile Broadband benchmarks indicating that most have enough trouble achieving a stable average speed of 1Mbps let alone the dizzy heights of 3.6Mbps to 7.2Mbps promoted by some.

O2 plans to solve its problems by imposing better Traffic Management, installing 200 additional base stations in London and working more closely with handset manufacturers to help keep usage down. Future LTE technology will also help, but ultimately operators will have to find cash and invest in more capacity.

Tesco and Asda go head to head on termination rates

Julie — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 19:19:22 +0000

Tesco Mobile echoes O2’s position, while Asda is for lowering the charges

Two of the UK’s biggest supermarkets have taken opposing positions on the reduction of termination rates.

Tesco has warned Ofcom that lowering charges would mean price hikes for customers, while Asda is supporting lowering the charge, saying it encourages a ‘level playing field’ between operators.

Tesco Mobile, which runs off the O2 network and is jointly owned by the O2 and Teco in a 50/50 split, has echoed O2’s position in which the operator claimed that lowering termination rates would mean increases for customers.

The predominantly prepay provider warned Ofcom that lowering termination rates would mean a price hike on call tariffs and that the effects of raising prices would have particular effect on prepay customers. Tesco said: ‘Ofcom should consider carefully the impacts on customer segment rather than this spurious impact on new entrants.’

Meanwhile, Asda claimed that a reduction would result in lower prices for customers and a more level playing field for operators.

Asda supported the lowering of termination rates despite having a wholesale agreement with Vodafone, a network which is also staunchly against lowering termination rates.

A number of companies made submissions to Ofcom from the end of July as part of a consultation taking place on termination rates.

Tesco Mobile said: ‘Tesco Mobile believes that reducing mobile call termination charges below long run incremental costs will have a significant impact on the structure of the UK mobile market and in particular on certain groups of customers. Changing where common costs may be recovered will have implications for pricing structures.’

Asda said: ‘Deregulation would present a level playing field for all Mobile Network Operator (MNO) and Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs). It would reduce both MNO and MVNO costs and create greater competition in the market place. Low cost providers will then be able to offer low price products to the customer.’

Written by Mobile Today

Pre Pay Broadband Dongle – ONLY £14.67 on O2 OFFER EXTENDED

Julie — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 10:33:57 +0000

O2 have slashed the price of their pre pay dongle in half. From now until 6th August it can be purchased at this extremely low price then it will revert back to its original price of 29.35, and because its pre pay there are no monthly contract charges just pay as you use it.

CLICK HERE TO BUY NOW

New iPhone 3G S crack expected

Julie — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 18:28:10 +0000

The unlocking community is expecting new surge in business as crack for O2-tied iPhone 3G S is in the pipe

Dealers are confident the new Apple iPhone 3G S will be an unlocking success, but said it will take time before they can find an appropriate solution.

The new model, released again on the O2 network on June 19, has seen a surge of buyers ask unlockers to free the handset up from O2 tariffs they deem too expensive.

Fone Doctors proprietor Faisal Sheikh said: “We had a few enquiries over the opening weekend but we’re still getting a lot of the old 3G models in for unlocking.

“We have an unlocking solution but the problem is how to load it onto the handset. It may take a few weeks for this to happen and once people realise that this is again possible, the encouraging sales of the iPhone 3G S are likely to get better, fuelling more unlocking requests.”

Phone Tek-Nation store manager Jamie Turner said: “We’re offering an unlock but we’re still to test it and are working out how exactly to use it.

“We’ve had about a dozen requests and are openly advertising that we can unlock the phone. It appears that the unlock could take as little as 30 minutes so once word spreads on that, I’m confident we’ll be flooded with requests.”

Article by Mobile News

Launch of iPhone 3G S boosts O2 store footfall by ten-fold

Julie — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 18:52:54 +0000

The new iPhone went on sale today (19 June)

The launch of the new iPhone 3G S saw long queues outside stores this morning as O2 claimed footfall in its stores was 10 times higher than on an average day.

The operator said it sold more of the new devices in the first two hours than it would normally sell in one day, while its online shop saw a 150% increase in traffic.

Over half of O2’s iPhone customers have downloaded the new 3.0 software, after it went on sale on Wednesday (17 June).

The black version of the new iPhone is outselling the white by a 3:1 ratio, with O2 adding that it is ‘likely to sell out of some variants’ in ‘a number of stores’. More stock will be shipped this weekend.

Meanwhile, Carphone stores had started to sell out of the new model by lunchtime, with one Oxford Circus store sporting a ’sold out’ sign in the window.

Carphone CEO, Andrew Harrison, said: ‘The launch has gone incredibly well for us with sales of the iPhone 3GS surpassing even our expectations.

‘We received 18,000 pre-registration inquiries for the handset, which is the best response of any handset we have had. Stores across the country opened from 7.30am onwards and we’ve seen streams of customers through our doors.

Written by Mobile Today

Apple iPhone 3G S now available to order

Julie — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:38:07 +0000

The iPhone 3G S is now available to pre-order here.

At up to two times faster than its predecessor, the first thing you’ll notice with the iPhone 3G S is how quickly you can launch applications. Amazingly, this increase in processing power actually helps to improve battery life. The iPhone 3G S features an enhanced 3.0 Megapixel camera with autofocus and is also the first iPhone to include video recording. Elsewhere, a built in digital compass offers true turn by turn navigation, HSDPA and Wi-Fi offer high speed web browsing, iTunes puts all your music at your finger tips and everything looks as good as ever on the beautiful 3.5 inch touchscreen display with multi-touch technology. Available in 16GB or 32GB memory capacity.

CLICK HERE TO BUY NOW

Apple poised for iPhone launch next week

Julie — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 19:45:56 +0000

The manufacturer’s new 3.0 software will launch to all iPhone users

Two new iPhones will launch next week (19 June) on O2, alongside Apples’s new iPhone OS 3.0 software.

The software will be available to download ahead of the handset launch on 17 June and will be free to all existing iPhone users. It will offer over 100 new features.

The iPhone 3G S will be free on some consumer and business tariffs and will be available on pay as you go.

It will have improved battery life, a higher resolution 3-megapixel camera and a built-in digital compass.

The existing iPhone, the iPhone 3G 8GB will cost £342, while the new 16G will cost £440 and the new 32GB £538.

Article by Mobile News

O2 UK about to lose iPhone exclusivity?

Julie — Wed, 06 May 2009 14:24:38 +0000

Orange UK set to take a bite out of O2’s Apple.

According to the people over at theiphoneblog, the Apple iPhone 3G (possibly the new refreshed version) has appeared on Orange’s internal systems.

This could mean that the new refreshed iPhone’s which are due to go onsale this June will no longer be exclusive to O2 UK.

No confirmation has yet been given by Apple, Orange or O2 but personally this could be a good thing for the UK as many current iPhone 3G customers have suffered frequent problems with the supposed 3G services via O2.

Article Written by: my3G.co.uk

Free iPhone 3G – Lowest Price Ever £34.26 Per Month

Julie — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 12:44:53 +0000

Online 35

24 months

£34.26 a month
600 mins and 500 texts

Tariff details
*600 UK minutes and 500 UK texts each month
*Unlimited data and Wi-Fi (worth £15 a month)
                            *Unlimited visual voicemail
                     *Cheaper roaming rates with International Traveller Service (ITS)
                      *Free itemised online billing

CLICK HERE TO BUY NOW

Inclusive minutes
Inclusive minutes can be used for calls to standard UK landlines (starting 01, 02 or 03) and all UK network mobiles. It excludes calls to non-geographic numbers (starting 05, 08), 07744 and 07755 numbers and premium rate (09) numbers. Please note that from 30th September 2008 the numbers that form part of your inclusive minutes allowance will change.

Inclusive texts
Your inclusive text allowance can be used for UK text or roaming messages. 1 text message sent from abroad is equivalent to 4 text messages.

Data and Wi-Fi
Data usage whilst roaming not included. Unlimited Wi-Fi is available at any of the 9,500 Wi-Fi hotspots from our partners The Cloud and BT Openzone. Excessive usage policy applies.

Please note – the prices shown below will appear slightly higher in the basket (e.g. £34.26 will appear as £35 in the basket). You will be charged the price shown below on your O2 bill. Prices shown include VAT at 15%. The VAT rate is due to return to 17.5% after 31st December 2009.