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Old 13-02-2015, 11:03
Synthetic42
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Morning guys,

Anyone heard anything about the above?

My sister has an S4 mini but has always been on a (handset contract) 3G tariff, never bothered upgrading to one of their 4G plans, however yesterday she got the following text...

" O2: You will have access to 4G from 13 February. At no extra cost. After this date, visit http://s.o2.co.uk/got4G/OFsMvF for more information."

and today she received..

" O2 UK: Great news, your 4G service is ready. Just a few final steps before you get started: make sure your 4G sim is in your 4G phone. Switch your phone off then back on again. When you're in a 4G area, you'll see the 4G symbol on your phone screen. Enjoy your 4G experience on O2."


o2 don't have 4G coverage anywhere near us so she can't really confirm it has been activated yet, but I was wondering if this is something o2 are rolling out across the board or just to certain customers? (She's been with them about 4 years)
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Old 13-02-2015, 11:48
M1kos
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What location is she in I would suggest 4G is coming to the area sooner than you might think. My girlfriend got a similar upgrade a year ago when o2 Turned on maidstone
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Old 13-02-2015, 12:30
Synthetic42
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We don't even have 4G in our immediate area, my girlfriend has been on a 4G tariff since she started her contract and never picked it up round my town / area.

Therefore you could be right, I'll ask her to keep an eye out for 4G at home and I'll try and keep an eye on the checker
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Old 13-02-2015, 15:49
The Lord Lucan
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My dads company phone is still on 3G despite them upgrading them all to 4G handsets. It would be great if they just activated everyone on 4G and stopped selling 3G plans similar to Three & EE but it doesn't seem that way.
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Old 13-02-2015, 16:46
jabbamk1
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They've been doing this for over a year now.

O2 now have over 4 Million 4G customers.
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Old 13-02-2015, 17:47
drabble
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I don't think everyone will get it, I know I probably will not as I still my 2007 tariff with the unlimited data bolt-on, although I hear it is now capped at 4GB but have not tested that out yet.

Anyway I find it interesting that they seem to be activating 4G on 3G SIMs.
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Old 13-02-2015, 18:06
jabbamk1
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Anyway I find it interesting that they seem to be activating 4G on 3G SIMs.
Why is that?
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Old 13-02-2015, 19:56
Synthetic42
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Giving "free" 4G to compete with Three maybe? Or because they're potentially going to be the same company soon.....
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Old 13-02-2015, 20:02
jabbamk1
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Or because they're potentially going to be the same company soon.....
But they've been doing this for over a year... It's not a new initiative at all.

The reason they did it was because 4G adoption rate was low and so they've been slowly getting rid of 3G Vs 4G plans and just selling plans with 4G only. So all of O2's plans now come with 4G as standard when sold with a 4G phone (few exceptions). And existing customers with a 4G phone (but originally on 3G contract) are being upgraded with no additional cost.

Vodafone on the other hand are still charging a premium for 4G and insist on selling 3G and 4G tariffs.
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Old 13-02-2015, 20:39
Synthetic42
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But they've been doing this for over a year... It's not a new initiative at all.

The reason they did it was because 4G adoption rate was low and so they've been slowly getting rid of 3G Vs 4G plans and just selling plans with 4G only. So all of O2's plans now come with 4G as standard when sold with a 4G phone (few exceptions). And existing customers with a 4G phone (but originally on 3G contract) are being upgraded with no additional cost.

Vodafone on the other hand are still charging a premium for 4G and insist on selling 3G and 4G tariffs.
Makes sense, thanks for that.

Got my sister to do the old register on another network, then back to automatic and she's picking up 1 bar of 4G here now, where o2's map says there is none. Maintenance on a local mast next week, maybe they'll be 4G'ing the one near us
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Old 13-02-2015, 20:59
jabbamk1
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Makes sense, thanks for that.

Got my sister to do the old register on another network, then back to automatic and she's picking up 1 bar of 4G here now, where o2's map says there is none. Maintenance on a local mast next week, maybe they'll be 4G'ing the one near us
Sounds like it.

Usually the coverage map runs around ~4 weeks behind the actual live roll out so you may not see an update on the coverage map till next month.
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Old 13-02-2015, 21:51
Synthetic42
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Sounds like it.

Usually the coverage map runs around ~4 weeks behind the actual live roll out so you may not see an update on the coverage map till next month.
Yep sounds about right, I'll get her to keep an eye on the actual signal on her phone instead
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Old 13-02-2015, 22:39
DevonBloke
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Vodafone on the other hand are still charging a premium for 4G and insist on selling 3G and 4G tariffs.
In a minute Vodafone are going to be throwing everything out of the pram and then sitting in the corner, thumb in mouth rocking and humming to themselves!
How on earth did the once leader of the pack fall so badly??
We all saw it coming, how did they not?
Nokia and Blackberry the same....

I tell you... it's only once you get past 45 you realise, no one knows anything.
They are all winging it......
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Old 13-02-2015, 22:43
jabbamk1
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In a minute Vodafone are going to be throwing everything out of the pram and then sitting in the corner, thumb in mouth rocking and humming to themselves!
How on earth did the once leader of the pack fall so badly??
We all saw it coming, how did they not?
Nokia and Blackberry the same....

I tell you... it's only once you get past 45 you realise, no one knows anything.
They are all winging it......
It's strange because I had been told by a Vodafone contact that the UK division were considering upgrading Vodafone RED customers to 4G for free (if on a 3G plan) and getting rid of separate 3G/4G plans and just selling everything with 4G access.

They've gone some way towards doing this (by offering 3G on plans with less than 1GB data and 4G on all plans with more than 1GB data) but they still have separate plans)
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Old 13-02-2015, 23:04
DevonBloke
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They are just too late too the party though. Like Microsoft with Windows phone but worse!
I just wish they would do something radical.
If we are going to have just 3 networks it would be good if they were all level pegging.
Something to actually choose between.
Both O2 and Vodafone are only doing the rollout now because of EE.
Other than that, they wouldn't bother.
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Old 14-02-2015, 06:42
Gigabit
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Still can't get 4G on a one month plan from Vodafone I don't think
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Old 14-02-2015, 17:15
drabble
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From my experience older SIMs have issues, my first generation 3G SIM would not stay connected to HSPA enabled masts and drop back to 2G/UMTS, it was only after a SIM swap things got better. Probably something to do with the SIM applications and keys.

Still can't get 4G on a one month plan from Vodafone I don't think
30 day/£16 900 Plan and above are 4G enabled on Vodafone.
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Old 14-02-2015, 19:37
Gigabit
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And what do you get for £16?
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Old 14-02-2015, 19:38
jabbamk1
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Old 14-02-2015, 19:49
Gigabit
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Wow 500 whole megabytes. I get 2GB for £15 on Tesco.
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Old 14-02-2015, 19:51
jabbamk1
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Wow 500 whole megabytes. I get 2GB for £15 on Tesco.
I assume that was a 12 month contract?
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Old 14-02-2015, 21:15
Gigabit
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I assume that was a 12 month contract?
1 month.
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Old 16-02-2015, 21:43
Synthetic42
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What location is she in I would suggest 4G is coming to the area sooner than you might think. My girlfriend got a similar upgrade a year ago when o2 Turned on maidstone
You might have been right, had a call from some guy at o2 about something else and he asked if there was anything else he could do etc I mentioned my sister got the free 4g upgrade but only the 1 bar, to which he said she'll notice a massive signal boost in the next week or 2 as 4g is being enabled on my local mast now
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