O2 tears wraps off £26-a-month mobe sport, music, games (and 4G)

O2 has joined EE and Vodafone in using 4G to justify a jump in pricing, to £26 a month, leaving Three the only UK network selling connectivity rather than technology. O2's 4G pricing in the UK will start at £26 a month for one gigabyte of data a month, aping EE's tariff and matching Vodafone on price. Voda customers get twice …

[Big_Ted]

WTF are these operators thinking ?

OOOooo look I can download this 1GB file in seconds.......shit there goes my allowance.....

I want 4G to stream stuff like movies and high quality music from my google play storage etc and to download stuff like navigation maps as required, I don't want a tarrif that eats through my data in a few days.

Three are the only ones who understand that data is what will count in the future, there is no way I will sign up for one of these crippled tarrifs, I will stick with three and the one plan, I can then spend the extra saved on a phone as part of the contract that will handle the speed.

[Some Call Me Tim]

WTF are these operators thinking ?

only 1 or 2 GB a month what are they thinking? do they really not understand what a smart phone is for?

That's why after years with O2 I've just moved to 3 with all you can eat data. And I'm sure I'll not be the only one.

3 will be laughing unless you're with them you'll be paying s#!tloads to the other muppets

[Anonymous Coward]

ref. WTF are these operators thinking

they're thinking: greed is goooood.

they're thinking: punters are idiots

they're thinking: punters will pay, and will keep paying. Pay for contracts, pay for going over the limit, and then pay extra for not having to worry they're going over the limit.

and, you know, maybe they will pay. Or not.

Not My Problem Though :)

[Nathan 13]

Madness

The mobile networks give us faster connections but with less data allowance?

As stupid as the UK public can be, they are not stupid enough to sign up for this rip-off!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Madness

People are pretty stupid.

Give it 12 months and the same idiots will be on the news complaining about 4G being a rip-off.

[Compact101]

Lazy commenting, as I haven't clicked through to see the sport on offer.

But would be nice if 3 came along with an offering that was just football and/or pop music based.

I like climbing, mtb, snowboaridng etc.

I would be nice to select from a list of sports to receive, maybe something you can change everything month.

Videos, clips, news updates etc.

That would be more tempting to me than football.

[Geoff Campbell]

No, it wouldn't be nice.

It would be nice if network service providers realised that content delivery is separate from network service, and give us the best data service they can, leaving us to decide where to get the content from.

GJC

[D@v3]

o2 tarrifs

Don't start at £26, it's £22 for 1gb. £27 for 3gb.

The £26 a month is on simplicity.

http://www.o2.co.uk/4g/4g-tariffs

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: o2 tarrifs

So what - it's still a joke and a total rip-off

[Anonymous Coward]

Déjà vu

"...but O2 hopes its bundled music, sport and games will tempt punters..."

Here we go; the 3G cat and mouse game all over again. They stick the prices up and hope to make us pay through the nose for something we (very vaguely) want but don't really need by bundling it with something that sounds superficially attractive to a Kool Aid fuelled marketing type, but rather less so to punters who can get all the supposed 'goodies' elsewhere for less, should they want them. Good luck with that.

At least its moved on a bit from ringtones, 'angry kid' videos and blocky ITN news clips in the walled garden. With 3G what they didn't want to give us was access to the internet (where we might make purchases they didn't get a slice of). With 4G the large Elephant sitting in the corner is bandwidth - which the networks seem to think is equivalent to voice minutes, as they're now handing them out like confetti in a way that looks suspiciously like they're trying to divert attention from their fondly held idea that 500MB per month is an OK starting point for twenty odd quid a month.

The networks have lots of internal research that says we don't want lots of bandwidth; less fawningly partisan research elsewhere says we do. Lets hope it takes less than the 8 years or so it took with 3G before they ditch the clownish gimmicks and start offering plans with usable allowances at prices we're prepared to pay. Till then, depending on where you live, there's Three.

[AMB-York]

All I need now

Just need O2 to extend GPRS to my house and I'll be able to make phone calls.

[James 51]

Re: All I need now

They'll probably turn GPRS off and use the specturm for 4G before that happens. Besides, they are probably rolling out 4G on the sites they already own. I doubt they are investing in new sites.

[CommercialBod]

Actually O2 and Vodafone are deploying 4G together...

There aren't 4 networks deploying separately: http://blog.vodafone.co.uk/2012/11/20/better-coverage-fewer-masts-your-complete-guide-to-our-network-joint-venture/

In any case, personally I think Three have the right approach. The technology that delivers the data should really be irrelevant - it should all be about the amount of data delivered.

[Mikewickwar]

I'd just like to have any reception of any kind from any network at home.And as for 3 a lot of people complaining about their speeds going down the pan the last few months,3 months ago was getting 20mb connection in the centre of Bristol now I get less than 2mb & the excuses just keep coming from 3.I pay for tethering so I can use iPlayer,Netfilx on nights but now it just buffers all night long.Cheers 3!!!

[Christopher Rogers]

three is fine by me

Even in remote parts of Northern Ireland I can get a 16mb line and in the office its those on the 3 network who are happy enough to set up tethering to stream sky sports to the plasma screen on the wall. No other network compares. As for bundled merde like Spotify - keep it. I source my own content.

[TonyJ]

I'm on O2 for my business tariff

Share a number of lines - when I first signed up about four years ago they were great.

Then, because of iPhone demand, they shipped their support to Azzuri. Didn't ask, just did it.

Support went downhill. So, it seemed, did their coverage.

I'm still with O2 because to keep my business, they gave me new handsets for all of my numbers, reduced the price of the tariff and put my support back under their aegis and out of Azzuri.

They also provided me with a boostbox so I could get a decent signal in the office.

And a couple of months ago it seemed they were showing some common sense by decoupling their service costs from their handset costs - want to upgrade, sure...just pay. It may end up costly but at least it's transparent.

But now this...1Gb of data at 4G speeds??? How many seconds would that take to burn?

And how about those of us who don't want these silly bundles of music and sport? How about those of us who would like to be able to tether our laptops for work without paying stupid amounts of money (to the extent it is cheaper for me to now use a Three One Plan SIM only in a cheap handset and tether using their all you can eat data plan)...and that's on a rolling 30 day contract.

So O2, when this contract comes up for renewal, who do you think, right now, will be getting my business? Hint...not the stupid provider(s) who think 1Gb of data on a 4G connection will suffice!

[Anonymous Coward]

There's a reason Three is cheaper/unlimited

Three's "one plan" is indeed fantastic for all of those smartphones which never leave the perimeter of the M25, or spend the vast majority of their time within another large town/city. It's also excellent for data-only devices (laptops/dongles etc).

However, wander beyond these concrete-conclaves, and Three really struggles due to them not possessing any of the 900MHz spectrum for 2G/3G.

Personally, I use giffgaff (an O2 subsidiary) in my smartphone as a good 'all rounder', and Three in my laptop for the best 3G speed/coverage/cost.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: There's a reason Three is cheaper/unlimited

I wouldn't label County Durham as being near the M25, nor with having large towns or cities yet the 3 signal is just fine, even out in the middle of no where the signal is as good as or better than other networks in my experience.

[Dave 137]

Re: There's a reason Three is cheaper/unlimited

I must admit I've never really had a problem here oop North, even manage to get a usable signal in *most* places when I'm out in the Peak District on my bike, however when I dared venture south of the M25 into deepest, darkest Sussex I didn't get a great signal. Not that I was bothered, there's not much for a northern monkey like me down there apart from overpriced pints and of course the Goodwood racetrack- and to be honest I didn't really want anyone to get hold of me when I was there anyway (although unfortunately the racetrack does have a curiously good signal, hmmm).

So I guess it just depends which direction you're leaving the M25 from? Next time you need to make a call, head North.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: There's a reason Three is cheaper/unlimited

As a Derbyshire lad with a partner from a village in the North East (North Yorkshire Moors), I was actually basing my comments on (trying to use) Three in exactly these areas, Derbyshire Peaks, rural North Yorkshire, and also the Lake District, all where O2/Voda are seldom a problem, albeit usually 2G rather than 3G, and Three is often nowhere near, especially indoors.

Another interesting point I noted on Friday when out with a few mates in Nottingham, was that in most of the venues we were sat in, the Three guys usually ended up with little or No Service, the EE/Vodafone guys usually fell-over to 2G, and only I and my partner on giffgaff (O2) conistently had a good 3+ bars of 3G in all of these locations, which I can only attribute to O2 currently being the only network with widespread use of 3G on the 900MHz band.

With the above in mind, it's going to be the lower-end frequency needed to provide good indoor 4G, and as only O2 and Voda have purchased a substantial amount of the 800MHz band for 4G, these are the two networks I'd put my money on for providing the most usable network long-term. EE and Three will become the 'budget' networks offering cheaper tariffs for less coverage than O2/Voda provide.

[Julian 3]

O2 has least 4G spectrum Not Three!

O2 have the least 4G spectrum not Three!

O2 have 2 X 10 MHz at 800MHz

(Total 20 MHz)

Three have:

2 X 5Mhz at 800MHz (10MHz)

2 X 15mhz 1800 MHz (30MHz) from EE

(Total 40MHz)

So double what O2 have unless O2 want discontinue 2G & 3G spectrum and use it for 4G.

[KroSha]

3 are easily the best value

OK, I live in London, so the network is good.

But I recently wanted to get a personal hotspot. EE wanted £26 for 8GB/month. 3 offer 15GB/month for £19. No contest.