02 4G Launch 29th August 2013

wavejockglwwavejockglw Posts: 10,596
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First to challenge EE, O2 will launch 4G in London, Leeds and Bradford on the 29th August.

They expect to expand to 10 major cities by the end of 2013.

Minimum price will be £26 a month. Current O2 customers with a 4G handset can upgrade by agreeing to pay the new tariff but will not have their existing contract period extended.

Full Details: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23521211
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Comments

  • mogzyboymogzyboy Posts: 6,390
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    You'd have thought they'd want an adequate 3G network first...
  • John_PatrickJohn_Patrick Posts: 924
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    mogzyboy wrote: »
    You'd have thought they'd want an adequate 3G network first...

    There is a school of thought that over a period of time when 4g handsets are more common that there will be no use for 3G.

    There are those people that just want a phone for calls and texts... Any old gsm phone is good for that...

    Then there are those that want to use data, if the networks priced the 4g offering right (once there is competition.... Take note ee) then surely using 4g would be better than 3G if it was the same price, hence no need for 3G to remain, or at least no need to expand it any further.

    What may happen though, is in city centres, where there is good 4g, the 3G could get redeployed to more rural areas that would be harder to get 4g to.... Backhaul issues etc.
  • Thine WonkThine Wonk Posts: 17,190
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    Sounds like BT has pulled out of a partnership / mobile launch with O2 then?
    BT - the other winner of February's spectrum auction - has said it plans to use its frequencies to let broadband customers connect kit to their internet routers via 4G as an alternative to wi-fi, and has no plans to compete directly with the mobile networks.

    So O2 is going it alone (apart from site sharing voda) with what they've got and is moving to Virgin backhaul like MBNL.

    It'll be interesting to see the detail on the tariffs and what you're getting for your money.
  • interactiv-ukinteractiv-uk Posts: 627
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    mogzyboy wrote: »
    You'd have thought they'd want an adequate 3G network first...

    2G and 3G are rolling out athe same pace. Where there's 4G there'll be 3G indoor coverage too..
  • japauljapaul Posts: 1,727
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    Thine Wonk wrote: »
    Sounds like BT has pulled out of a partnership / mobile launch with O2 then?



    So O2 is going it alone (apart from site sharing voda) with what they've got and is moving to Virgin backhaul like MBNL.
    Probably a couple of things which need separating here.

    Firstly for backhaul or core transmisson it's BT and VM with recently renewed deals with both. In any case there's no getting away from BT in some places for any of the networks at the moment.

    Secondly, spectrum. There were suggestions that maybe O2 and BT could hook up as O2 didn't get any 2600MHz which might be a problem for capacity in future where as BT did but don't have the spectrum for a nationwide network. Whilst the logic is easy to see the problem is O2 is a traditional 'outside in' network where BT's stated intention is for an 'inside out' network i.e. a data service that starts with their home hubs inside the home and gradually works backwards through BT wifi and then wider high traffic areas with their own LTE spectrum. I guess it's still possible though.
  • Everything GoesEverything Goes Posts: 12,972
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    First to challenge EE, O2 will launch 4G in London, Leeds and Bradford on the 29th August.

    They expect to expand to 10 major cities by the end of 2013.

    Minimum price will be £26 a month. Current O2 customers with a 4G handset can upgrade by agreeing to pay the new tariff but will not have their existing contract period extended.

    Full Details: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23521211

    The £26 per month tariff will relate to Sim only deals. Which raises questions as EE cheapest Sim only tariff is £21 per month. So either O2 will offer a better tariff with more minutes texts or data or they intend to out rip off EE :eek:


    http://www.mobiletoday.co.uk/News/26152/O2_launching_4G_in_three_cities_at_the_end_of_August.aspx
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 691
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    First to challenge EE, O2 will launch 4G in London, Leeds and Bradford on the 29th August.

    They expect to expand to 10 major cities by the end of 2013.

    Really, only 3 places, I thought it was going to be a fast rollout?

    So EE really will have over a year headstart, unless voda can get to 10 cities by 30th October.
  • clewsyclewsy Posts: 4,222
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    Well there seems little public interest in 4g so the networks would be better just quietly getting it in place, when also improving overall 3g.

    Isn't the real problem that 4g can only handle data - yet 5g can? I heard something how Vodafone may make the move to 5g bypassing 4.
  • NeilgcalNeilgcal Posts: 60
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    tpk wrote: »
    Really, only 3 places, I thought it was going to be a fast rollout?

    So EE really will have over a year headstart, unless voda can get to 10 cities by 30th October.

    So EE launched on 30 oct 12 with 10 cities and had 16 by xmas with little notice of approval for 4G, meanwhile O2 launches in August having had 6 months notice with 3 cities and it will take another 4 months to switch on 10 cities.

    98% indoor coverage by 2015??!! I can see another 3G fiasco and they are going to struggle by 2017!!!
  • Joel's dadJoel's dad Posts: 4,886
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    I use my data on 3 I can't fault the 3G service it does everything I want and more, with no restrictions too. So I'm not tha bothered about 4g ATM.

    And I'm especially not interested in the enormous price tag fitted to 4g either.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 65
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    The £26 per month tariff will relate to Sim only deals. Which raises questions as EE cheapest Sim only tariff is £21 per month. So either O2 will offer a better tariff with more minutes texts or data or they intend to out rip off EE :eek:


    http://www.mobiletoday.co.uk/News/26152/O2_launching_4G_in_three_cities_at_the_end_of_August.aspx

    £21 per month with 500MB data
  • jazzyjakejazzyjake Posts: 1,083
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    Joel's dad wrote: »
    I use my data on 3 I can't fault the 3G service it does everything I want and more, with no restrictions too. So I'm not tha bothered about 4g ATM.

    And I'm especially not interested in the enormous price tag fitted to 4g either.

    whats 3 like for calling?

    alot of people are telling me to get a payg sim card and test 3 myself but the problem is my phone is locked to orange. this means i would have to pay £20 to unlock my iphone just to test a 3 sim card.
  • jabbamk1jabbamk1 Posts: 8,942
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    I said September 1st (according to what i'd heard).

    So nice to see my source was pretty much right.
  • enapaceenapace Posts: 4,303
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    There is a school of thought that over a period of time when 4g handsets are more common that there will be no use for 3G.

    There are those people that just want a phone for calls and texts... Any old gsm phone is good for that...

    Then there are those that want to use data, if the networks priced the 4g offering right (once there is competition.... Take note ee) then surely using 4g would be better than 3G if it was the same price, hence no need for 3G to remain, or at least no need to expand it any further.

    What may happen though, is in city centres, where there is good 4g, the 3G could get redeployed to more rural areas that would be harder to get 4g to.... Backhaul issues etc.

    That is something in america which verizon certainly want to happen they are hoping have LTE only phones on the books by late this year/early next and have already set a date for switching of 3G network.

    I'm not sure how well O2 will do 4G but it should be a faster roll out in theory just because they using 800MHz.
  • mooxmoox Posts: 18,880
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    enapace wrote: »
    That is something in america which verizon certainly want to happen they are hoping have LTE only phones on the books by late this year/early next and have already set a date for switching of 3G network.

    I'm not sure how well O2 will do 4G but it should be a faster roll out in theory just because they using 800MHz.

    Verizon is banking on Voice over LTE working. I wonder how far they are with testing that (is it even a standard? has it been tested outside of a lab?). 2013/early 2014 sounds like it might be a bit too soon.

    From reading about it, Verizon's LTE is a bit like how EE LTE is reported to be - they're claiming it is in loads of cities but they've only really done the bare minimum - turn on a few cell sites and suddenly there is enough coverage to call it complete. Instead there are reports of very patchy coverage, hardly a good thing when it's for critical stuff like voice.
  • The Lord LucanThe Lord Lucan Posts: 5,054
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    enapace wrote: »
    That is something in america which verizon certainly want to happen they are hoping have LTE only phones on the books by late this year/early next and have already set a date for switching of 3G network.

    I'm not sure how well O2 will do 4G but it should be a faster roll out in theory just because they using 800MHz.

    Still needs on site upgrades and for cities you need about the same amount of mast sites as 1800 to allow proper loading of traffic. Hence why Cornerstones final mast target is only slightly less than MBNL's final target.
  • enapaceenapace Posts: 4,303
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    moox wrote: »
    Verizon is banking on Voice over LTE working. I wonder how far they are with testing that (is it even a standard? has it been tested outside of a lab?). 2013/early 2014 sounds like it might be a bit too soon.

    From reading about it, Verizon's LTE is a bit like how EE LTE is reported to be - they're claiming it is in loads of cities but they've only really done the bare minimum - turn on a few cell sites and suddenly there is enough coverage to call it complete. Instead there are reports of very patchy coverage, hardly a good thing when it's for critical stuff like voice.

    Not sure on that Verizon LTE is meant to be very good in key cities I know quite a few american friends who only drop LTE signal for calls. AT&T is also catching up.VoLTE is not to far of coming it obviously still in testing but It not to far off now. 2021 I believe is the approximate date to to turn of both 2G and 3G though likely 2G will be switched of before that. Still a long way off but once LTE is solid like 2G is there will be no longer any need for 2G or 3G networks apart from allowing old phones to make calls etc.
    Still needs on site upgrades and for cities you need about the same amount of mast sites as 1800 to allow proper loading of traffic. Hence why Cornerstones final mast target is only slightly less than MBNL's final target.

    Very true what I meant was that we could likely see more cities popping up but reception being patchy/slow for a while till other upgraded sites in those cities are done to take congestion.
  • The Lord LucanThe Lord Lucan Posts: 5,054
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    2016-17 is being talked about in the UK for the start of 2G switch off. Starting in major cities first.

    O2 seem from what i'm told are doing the coverage quite thick rather than basic coverage that gets better in an announced city.. a lesson learnt from EE's roll out perhaps.
  • unouno Posts: 973
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    i am not surprised at all that Leicester is going to be one of the first O2 4G places as everywhere you look, You can see engineers replacing O2 cabinets and Vodafone ones as well. In fact in the last week I can think of 3 that have been replaced so seem to be having a real blitz on the area,Unlike EE thye seem to be going blanket coverage right over the city from launch.

    Does anybody know once the new cabinets have been installed by the ground workers how long until the engineers come to install the internals and connect it all up ?

    Also like with EE will these new cabinets being installed for O2 and Vodafone bring any improvements for 3G and 2G ?
  • jabbamk1jabbamk1 Posts: 8,942
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    uno wrote: »
    i am not surprised at all that Leicester is going to be one of the first O2 4G places as everywhere you look, You can see engineers replacing O2 cabinets and Vodafone ones as well. In fact in the last week I can think of 3 that have been replaced so seem to be having a real blitz on the area,Unlike EE thye seem to be going blanket coverage right over the city from launch.

    That's exactly what's going to happen. The cities are going to get pretty much total coverage first.
  • paulkerpaulker Posts: 927
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    There is a lot of work going on at o2/voda sites in Glasgow just now. Lots of pipes hanging out the ground !
  • wrexham103.4wrexham103.4 Posts: 3,334
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    uno wrote: »
    i am not surprised at all that Leicester is going to be one of the first O2 4G places as everywhere you look, You can see engineers replacing O2 cabinets and Vodafone ones as well. In fact in the last week I can think of 3 that have been replaced so seem to be having a real blitz on the area,Unlike EE thye seem to be going blanket coverage right over the city from launch.

    Does anybody know once the new cabinets have been installed by the ground workers how long until the engineers come to install the internals and connect it all up ?

    Also like with EE will these new cabinets being installed for O2 and Vodafone bring any improvements for 3G and 2G ?

    but isn't this what they did with 3G and never got outside towns and cities after that:rolleyes:
  • unouno Posts: 973
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    A funny thing I have noticed from all the planning applications O2/Vodafone and Cornerstone have lodged is the names of the cabinets all after World war aircraft with Spitfire,Vulcan,Lancaster and Hurricane cabinets i presume each are different sizes and some may have more equipment in. It seems in areas with more space like grass verges and road side there will be 2 cabinets one for each network but in more tighter areas just one big cabinet.
  • DevonBlokeDevonBloke Posts: 6,835
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    2G and 3G are rolling out athe same pace. Where there's 4G there'll be 3G indoor coverage too..

    Are they rolling out all three like EE then? Where have you heard that? Actually with O2 there won't necessarily be any 3G indoors where there's LTE. In fact this will be more so than with EE. On EE, even after they've finished everything you are still going to have LTE indoors but no 3G. Same as with 2G/3G now since LTE will mirror the 2G network and 3G will still be the same MBNL kit it is now using WCDMA and so always worse signal than 2g/LTE.

    On O2 it will be even more marked because O2 are only using 800Mhz so their LTE penetration will be even better than EEs (assuming areas with only 1800Mhz).

    This will make 3G seem worse on O2 than on EE, even if it's actually the same.


    Or something.........:)
  • DevonBlokeDevonBloke Posts: 6,835
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    There is a school of thought that over a period of time when 4g handsets are more common that there will be no use for 3G.

    There are those people that just want a phone for calls and texts... Any old gsm phone is good for that...

    Then there are those that want to use data, if the networks priced the 4g offering right (once there is competition.... Take note ee) then surely using 4g would be better than 3G if it was the same price, hence no need for 3G to remain, or at least no need to expand it any further.

    What may happen though, is in city centres, where there is good 4g, the 3G could get redeployed to more rural areas that would be harder to get 4g to.... Backhaul issues etc.

    This is correct. At least for now. For one thing 3G is needed for voice fall-back until we have a VoLTE solution in place.

    I doubt if the 3G in rural areas idea would happen though. I can't see the point. 3G is at it's worst in the countryside. LTE will be way better (both 800 and 1800).
    Anyway backhaul won't be a problem. In rural areas it wouldn't need to be really high capacity and in any case a 1Gbps microwave link is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick!
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