[Ben]

Pressure is mounting on O2 as media reports of network problems persist...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/08/05/o2_data_down_yet_again/


O2 UK customers are again being left disconnected, disenfranchised and disillusioned as they struggle to get a data connection for the third time in as many weeks.

O2 tells us that network problems are affecting "some users", but reports from far and wide indicate that the nationwide network is rejecting connections over 3G and 2G services, from Brighton to Liverpool, leaving iPhone owners bereft of their service while everyone else is, again, forced to fall back on speaking to people.

Some of the distraught customers who've contacted claimed they were told that BlackBerries had escaped the outage.

Also escaping the carnage are those who've signed up to O2's Twitter service: free delivery of up to 600 tweets a month over the more-reliable SMS network.

Apparently O2 has already handled more than half a million of them since launching the service last week, which makes sense given the reliability of its data network.

But for those whom the internet is more than a source of tweets will have to find a WiFi connection, or consider moving to a network that takes reliability more seriously than O2 appears to.
Only time will tell if anything is going to become of this. The Register obviously have a taste for writing about these faults, and if the stories keep coming then it may force O2 to take action.

[miffed]

I think people such us ourselves can (or should be able to) see that these problems *may* not be quite as bad as the picture that is currently being painted.
I have been using mobile networks for data for years , as many of us have here , and I don't think anyone would deny that these kind of outages have occoured on all networks occasionally - the difference is , they were only ever noticed by the handful of geeks (like ourselves) and certainly never attracted the scrutiny that o2 have now brought on themselves by hosting the iPhone /pre/galaxy etc .

All part of the process IMO , don't get me wrong , I am getting pretty sick of all the SMS/MMS problems , and will not stick around if the problems persist by the time my contracts come around (although I feel they will be well and truly sorted by then )
O2 now have put themselves in the inevitable position where a whole new group of customers (who previously didn't know whether or not their data connection was working anyway !!) and a whole army of critics watching their data network like hawks - Nowhere to hide , o2 will be forced to face home truths about capicity and performance that everyone else has managed to avoid by keeping interest low .

[getti]

O2 are lucky in the fact that only the large rock between the 2 trees somewhere in the UK gets 3G coverage from them so it will be an easy fix.

[@NickyColman]

Dont think I've been affected by all this!

I get 100% 3G signal (5 bars) all the time and havent noticed a single outage!

O2 is by far, the best network where I live.

[hecatae]

O2 are lucky in the fact that only the large rock between the 2 trees somewhere in the UK gets 3G coverage from them so it will be an easy fix.

whats a 3g mast doing on Mount Snowdon?

[Ben]

I wasn't affected by this recent outage either, afaik. Also haven't had an SMS fail for a while now, so whoopy doo on that one...

[miffed]

Anyone else get the "carrier settings update" over the last few days ? I am wondering what the significance was ?
I noticed no change (updated the wife's 3G first , then compared the settings to my 3GS) - No changes whatsoever.
My guess is , that lots of people were changing APN's to try and get data to work , and o2 wanted to put them back on idata.o2.co.uk again !

[@NickyColman]

Anyone else get the "carrier settings update" over the last few days ? I am wondering what the significance was ?
I noticed no change (updated the wife's 3G first , then compared the settings to my 3GS) - No changes whatsoever.
My guess is , that lots of people were changing APN's to try and get data to work , and o2 wanted to put them back on idata.o2.co.uk again !

Just got the message there in my iTunes. Not sure whats changed either? What could O2 need to change?

[Ben]

Lord knows, I've not had it. Sounds interesting though!

[gorilla]

As far as the carrier settings update goes, I can say that it hasn't fixed anything! How bad does the service have to be before you can cancel your contract? Wouldn't it be funny if there was a loophole in everyones iPhone contract that let them cancel...then jailbreak and insert a rivals sim.

But no one would do that, would they :p

[@NickyColman]

Imagine O2 increased their prices like the way Orange have meaning you could cancel your contract without fees?? That would be brilliance!

[Ben]

Anyone else get the "carrier settings update" over the last few days ? I am wondering what the significance was ?
I noticed no change (updated the wife's 3G first , then compared the settings to my 3GS) - No changes whatsoever.
My guess is , that lots of people were changing APN's to try and get data to work , and o2 wanted to put them back on idata.o2.co.uk again !
Oh rumour has it that it may fix the MMS bug where, while roaming, if you send an MMS then data roaming gets switched on. There have been many stories of people going abroad and getting hit with big bills despite claiming data roaming was off.

[Hands0n]

I received an MMS while in Turkey and my Data Roaming was NOT switched on permanently.

I reckon the settings update from O2 is simply a precautionary measure to ensure all iPhones are correctly configured. The settings are too easy to fiddle with by the great unwashed :D

[Ben]

Think you had to send an MMS, not receive one... if it is that then I hope they have fixed it as the stories of 3GS users going abroad and getting big mystery data bills is a bit worrying!

[gorilla]

I got my first 'what were you doing, I couldn't reach you for 30 mins' query yesterday. As far as I could tell me iPhone was working fine, showed some reception! But the caller kept getting my voicemail. I'm wondering if the carrier settings are making the iPhone misbehave?

[@NickyColman]

My iPhone flipped out last night, or at least O2's coverage did. It was about 12 midnight and the entire O2 network disappeared. Not even good old GPRS or the 'o' sign - just got the "searching. . . " for about 5/10 mins.

Then it all popped back on again and all my missed messages came flooding back through!

And here is me proclaiming how good O2's network & coverage have been! :D

[dgilbert2]

This morning in Leicester data on the i-phone has been very hit and miss. Anyone else got the same problem?

[hecatae]

no iphone here, but yes i'm seeing issues, missed calls, delayed texts and mms

[dgilbert2]

I phoned O2 in the end and they confirmed a problem at their with Internet performance/connection today.

I use the iphone with a prepay SIM so do not know if it affects contract SIMs also?

Although, my non-iphone contract phone works fine on the internet today!

O2 are having a bad time at the moment, they need to get it sorted!

[Ben]

I'm finding the payandgo access point awful today - just playing with it now after changing the settings again, looks like the carrier update reset them. Not noticed any problems on the idata (contract iPhone) one, though.

Is taking a few refreshes to get pages to load and even then they're often only half loading.

[miffed]

I must say I do find this "Manually change the APN" business very un-apple ! considering pretty much everything else is done for you with little intervention, it does seem a little bizarre that if you buy a PAYG iphone , you have to go in and change the APN to use the PAYG sim that came with it ! (and then again from time to time when it seems to "forget" you changed it !!

OK so its easy - and no huge deal , but it sticks out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of the iPhone experience IMO

[Ben]

Yeah, I don't know who's to blame really but somebody needs to sort it out.

[@NickyColman]

Just had a quick query there - Do the carrier settings update improve network performance?

Reason I ask is; I work in a signal black hole on the bank of a river in a huge steal government building and you will be lucky if you see Edge once a day. Anyway, I have had a week off since the update came out but on returning to work yesterday and today I have been receiving almost continuous Edge coverage!!

Just wondered if perhaps they have redefined a "good signal" that iPhone can use?

[miffed]

Some people have observed that different firmwares can "report" a signal differently , i.e you are still getting the same signal , but your phone is pretending to be better off !
This in turn , can make a phone more likely to cling to a 3G / EDGE signal rather than dropping back to 3G , as the phone suddenly (perhaps mistakenly) now sees the same weak signal as "adequate" , whereas before it would have looked for an alternative - I have to say though, this does not match my own ecperiences

....But then you have not had a full update , just the carrier settings ?
I can't see that this would affect the way your signal was interpreted ? As I understand it , the settings could only effect your ability to connect to a network where the signal is present , and not the signal level itself .

[Ben]

Yeah, not sure what to make of that either, Bleubean, I think it's unlikely the carrier settings made a difference. It could be coincidence, perhaps, heaven forbid, O2 have actually made a physical adjustment/improvement! *shock*

[Hands0n]

Sitting here in London E1 basking the full glory of ..... 2G, and not even EDGE at that!!

No .... wait .... there it is ...... oh .... its gone again.....

Before my holidays this area was saturated in 3G :(

[miffed]

oo-er , have you tried re-booting ? on the off chance that it was something to do with turning data Roaming off ?

Hey , you didn't turn 3G off did you ?

......Or you could wipe your SIM ?

[Ben]

LoL @ miffed!

Would be interested to hear if it's an iPhone prob, too, or if O2 3G really has vamoosed in your area.

[Hands0n]

LOL - what a plonker!! I turned off 3G in Turkey and forgot to turn it back on again.

I keep Data Roaming permanently turned off.

Now I'm basking in four bars of 3G :D

Doh!!