Hi,

Had iPhone for one year now and am on the old O2 45 which gives U/L internet with excessive use policy.

Now, they have never EVER stated at what figure they deem to be excessive. I have had a text telling me very strictly to "immediately and drastically" reduce my data usage or they will disable my data.
I called O2 up and they said that my usage was excessive, so I asked him what amount is defined as excessive. 500MB? 1GB? 3GB? He interpreted it as 1GB a month. I asked him where it said that in the terms and conditions. He couldn't answer that. I also said to him that I was told to reduce my usage, but to what extent and by when? Also, couldn't answer it.

It's all well and good having a fair use policy, but O2 don't tell you what they deem to be fair use.
Also, the O2 bloke told me we're all getting the hard data cap from this month (750MB), not just for people joining up from 24th June.

I said that was a detriment to my T+C's as it'll increase my costs, and he basically said it was tough and O2 could do what they like. I have had no text or letter to advise of a T+C's change.

Anyone who works for O2 care to comment? What is the fair use amount? And where can I find it in their terms and conditions?

If they disabled my data by claiming I have breached a limit they don't advise customers about, I'm not sure that would stand up in court.

Thanks!!

Hi what i heard was they are clamping down on the data usage from Yesterday. You can get data bolt ons but i dont feel we should have to. Try use your wireless router and the cloud when you can. Your tariff gives you 1gb dont change to new tariff it only gives 750mb for same money. Also sadly you would have recieved a text informaing you of changes in terms and conditions. Sadly they dont have to make sure your informed dont forget you now pay for picutes message for 20p from yesterday if you move to new tariff

You can't buy a bolt on with the old plans. And I've had no text. I can assure O2 if they change my plan to my detriment I'll be cancelling without penalty.

And... (sorry to reply to my own post)....

Without wanting to be picky, how do I know my usage was impacting other users? Where's the proof? Could someone at O2 send me a screenshot of my usage against others connected to the same HLR/BSC? I doubt that.... just gotta take their word.

Also, I could buy, theoretically a 10GB tethering bundle for my iPhone and use that in a month. Oh wait, I'm paying extra for that - so does that stop me from impacting the network now?!?

I hope you laughed at hime when he said that :P Sounds like reason enough to claim breach of contract.

And going where? Orange 750MB, Vodafone 500MB etc etc

The grass isn't greener anywhere else, apart from GiffGaff which is O2 anyway except with much less customer support and no customer service phone line.

The unlimited GiffGaff data won't last long anyway, I'll give it till March, it's just a way of getting customers to switch, it won't last, especially not on a network which is already really struggling data wise.

I'd move to GiffGaff first due to keeping O2 signal (therefore seems stupid for them to make me move really), and then if they stop U/L data on that I'll just go back to using my Orange sim and suffer the much lesser coverage - until they bring out a 3G plug-in internet signal booster (a-la Voda's Sure Signal)

T-Mobile offer 1GB FUP, unless you have an android phone which comes with "internet plus" in which case it's 3GB FUP.
Since they're merging networks with Orange in a couple of days they'll have even better coverage.

Giffgaff seems to be doing quite well in terms of growing its customer base. However, you're quite right in saying this is hardly a vindication of its new approach to customer support.

Rather than rushing to a network that replaces a helpful CS line with a bunch of sarcastic spotty kids on a forum, people are flocking to Giffgaff purely based on the fact that they're currently offering piles of free data for the iPhone and Android types to gobble up. People are going despite the "community", not because of it.

With their parent network struggling and slashing data allowances, how much longer are they going to allow Giffgaff to even give away unlimited data with goodybags, let alone free to all their customers regardless of spend?

I can see them closing Giffgaff altogether by the time you mention, to be honest. Without the free data, it's not of particular use to anyone. It'll just be another me-too cheapie MVNO sitting next to the likes of Asda, Tesco and that Ikea one no-one uses, and O2's not in that game.

And that's without even mentioning the horrible 3G signal that disappears with a slight breeze and the general unreliability of the network and payment systems as a whole. As soon as they stop the freebie data, I'm off back to Three.

OP, hi.

Just curious, but what sort of data usage are we talking? I only ask because I'm a fairly new smart phone adopter, and don't really get through that much each month. Don't stream, don't really download much, mainly just surfing etc. In fact, I'm probably the sort of person that all the carriers are using to justify their "fair use" policy. "90% of our customers...blah, blah, blah".

What sort of amount does a seriously heavy user get through? Like I said, just wondering, because I'm clearly not using my phone in the way a lot of people are doing. What am I missing out on!

Cheers.

well i have a iphone use facebook msn and surf net stream sky tv for 4 hours a month and use 2 gb a month.

Personally I think this is hilarious.

(From another thread)



(This thread)

First of all gloats on an internet forum about literally raping his internet connection with multiple gigabytes of data in just 1 week saying "..and they'll be more next week".

Then comes back crying when the network tells him he has to drastically reduce his usage or face having his data cut off...

genius.

Haha I was thinking the same

Hmm, according to O2, just 0.1% of the users consume 36% of all the total data traffic....

The op acconts for 25% alone

Well, I don't think streaming a footie game is going to cripple the network, is it? If it does, then it proves a lack of investment and infrastructure.

If they said unlimited with a FUP of 1GB, then I'd try and keep to that, if it was 1.5GB, then again, I'd try and keep to that. But to not say what their interpretation on FUP is then to get aggressive with me when I do use a lot of data is just borderline stupidity!

No mate they said it was unlimited browsing and it says in the T&C's that continuous streaming of audio or video is not allowed. It doesn't get much clearer than that.

You chose O2, other networks don't have those T&Cs and just give you 1GB or whatever to do what you want with.

Well it doesn't look like 02 will try to keep the op based on his excessive useage

So by using YouTube, which is a built-in app on your iPhone you are immediately in breach of the data T+C's?

As it stands I had no intention of staying with O2 at the end of this contract anyway. But I now have other options open to me which should suit.

http://www.avforums.com/forums/iphon...striction.html
There's plenty of examples of O2 users having data cut off for using too much.

I much prefer the way 3 operate, you get a fixed amount of data included and can increase it with add-ons, you know where you are with that, you can see how much you've got left on MyThree.

They are 1 of only 2 networks that you can stream the BBC iPlayer on (the rest block access), and they seem to adhere to net neutrality, i.e they are the provider, you've got an allowance, they allow VOIP, unlike O2, how you use your data it is up to you. They also have better coverage and speeds than O2.

On wifi only it seems, the BBC blog has a question about streaming BBC radio on O2, it's old, from the days when the iPhone was only available on O2:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcintern...our_comme.html


****

When you try and access the BBC iPlayer to watch video via the iPhone on O2 it says "sorry this feature is only available to customers of the 3 and Vodafone networks". Screenshot

That's because the BBC asked each of the networks whether they were going to allow or block their streams and O2 said that they would block it, so the BBC agreed to block it gracefully with a message, rather than have it just not work with no explanation to the user.

I just tried bbciplayer via the dolphin hd browser on o2 and it started and played,all i did was change the browser agent i have a galaxy s btw.

Its still beaching O2's conditions though, use it too much and you'll get the same text as plymouthbloke1974.

This is so stupid and means having a smart phone is going to become pointless. During the world cup , using my iphone i was streaming football matches. One of the reasons why i have a smart phone.