O2 UK network review (2015): Everything you need to know

Of all the current networks, O2 is the network that has undergone the most changes; the network was only “born” in its current disguise in 2002 but its history dates as far back as 1985.

Prior to being known as O2, the BT-owned network was first referred to as Cellnet (when it was formed through a 60:40 partnership with BT and Securicor) before BT bought out its partner in 1999 and rebranded the network to BT Cellnet. In 2002, the holding company was rebranded to mmO2 – and later O2 plc – and the O2 brand was born in the UK.

The changes for the company weren’t over there as three years later, BT sold the network to Spanish company Telefónica for £18 billion, which saw the O2 brand retained and O2 plc rebranded to Telefónica Europe. Now, ten years later, the company is set to undergo another massive transformation in the UK market shake up.

Network technology

O2’s network currently uses the following frequencies:

O2’s UK network has traditionally struggled compared to its rivals but the UK’s second largest network – behind EE – has progressively improved its network over the past few years. It was the third network to launch 4G services (behind EE and then, Vodafone) and its network also powers several Multi Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs), including the O2-owned GiffGaff network.

4G LTE

In the 4G spectrum auction held in 2012/13, O2 solely acquired 2 x 10MHz of 800MHz spectrum, which will be deployed for 4G but this came with a coverage obligation; despite spending only £38 million less than EE (who captured both 800MHz and 2.6GHz spectrum), O2 acquired the spectrum that Ofcom had attached a crucial coverage obligation to meaning O2 has to ensure that 98 percent of the UK population has access to mobile broadband services on 4G LTE by the end of 2017.

The decision to solely acquire the 800MHz spectrum – as opposed to a combination including the 2.6GHz spectrum like its rivals – means that, while O2’s network will eventually offer blanket indoor 4G coverage, the network won’t offer the superfast speeds achieved through the use of the 2.6GHz spectrum. This does somewhat limit the future capabilities of the network and makes it highly unlikely that O2 will offer double-speed LTE-Advanced services (like EE and Vodafone) in the future.

Overall, O2’s network has certainly improved over the past few years and the obligation to provide blanket indoor 4G coverage within a couple of years should mean the end of so-called “not-spots” of no coverage. Whether it gets to that point however, remains to be seen as O2 is at the heart of the biggest shake up of the UK market in years (more on that below).

Pay Monthly Handsets

O2’s Pay Monthly handset (PAYM) offering is probably the most unique in the UK as the network is the only one to currently split your monthly price into a handset and an airtime price. Dubbed O2 Refresh, this has both good and bad points for customers but how does it work?

Traditional PAYM contracts combine the cost of the phone and the airtime into a single monthly cost but the case for O2 Refresh is pretty compelling; the biggest problem with a single tariff is that if you want to buy your contract out (whether it’s to leave the network or upgrade early), you have to pay the full price of each remaining month, even though you’re not getting the airtime benefits.

With O2 Refresh however, the separate monthly airtime and device payments mean that actually all you have to do is pay the remaining amount of your device plan and you’re able to upgrade early or leave the network whenever you want. O2 Refresh also allows you to pay off your handset to reduce your monthly outgoings and provides you flexibility to control your monthly cost.

How does O2 Refresh work? Here’s an example: say the Galaxy S6 costs £35 per month on a standard O2 tariff (if they offered one), O2 Refresh would split the tariff into a monthly cost of X for your airtime and Y for the handset cost. The handset cost is an interest-free loan that’s exempt from VAT or any discounts and the Galaxy S6 costs £20 per month for the device plus your choice of airtime plan. Over the life of the contract, the £20 per month device plan cost works out at £480, which is less than the £550 retail price of the handset.

This figure is key as it means that if you did want to upgrade 12 months into the 24-month contract, you’d only have to pay the remaining handset cost (£240) as opposed to 12 months worth of line rental on the old package, which at £35 per month as per our example, works out to be £420. The higher the monthly cost of your contract, the more you stand to save if you do need to pay off your contract early.

Overall O2 Refresh is, without doubt, the most unique PAYM package in the UK and is only available from O2 Direct. Having been on O2 Refresh since it was announced, the ability to pay my contract off early has saved me hundreds of pounds compared to how much it would cost on the old tariff. On selected 4G plans, O2 also gives you access to Sun+ Goals, letting you access goals, highlights and football news at any time and on match days, Sun+ Goals is the first place to see the goals and highlights of each game.

O2 Refresh definitely splits the opinion over whether it is useful but I for one believe it definitely the best PAYM package on the market, mainly for the flexibility it offers (even if plans are, on average, a few pounds extra per month over past plans).

Pay Monthly SIM Only

Like all networks, O2 also offers SIM Only (SIMO) packages for customers who prefer to buy their phones and contracts separately, although it can work out cheaper to buy a phone on an O2 Refresh PAYM contract and pay the handset off straight away.

O2 offers a range of SIMO packages but the range of 30-day contracts are more limited than the 12-month options. 12-month plans are available with up to 10GB 4G data each month while 30-day plans are limited to a maximum of 5GB 4G data. Here’s O2’s 4G SIMO plans:

Pay as You Go Plans

Like many networks, O2 splits its Pay As You Go (PAYG) offering into packs and different types of SIMs for different usage; the Big Bundles offer minutes, texts and data in exchange for your credit each month while the Big Talker SIM gives you a free allowance of o2 to O2 minutes, texts and data when you top up. The international SIM offers the same perks as the Big talker but also gives you international calls from 1 pence per minute.

Here’s O2’s PAYG plans:

O2 Perks

Compared to its rival networks, O2 offers the widest range of perks for its customers and there are certainly many compelling reasons to buy an O2 PAYG, SIMO or PAYM handset. Here’s a few of the O2 perks:

O2 Priority

O2 Priority is the biggest perk for O2 customers and it is arguably the best perk available to customers of any mobile network. Priority is available to any O2 customer (PAYG included) and gives you exclusive pre-sale tickets to some of the hottest gigs & live events across the UK.

At The O2 (formerly known as the Millennium Dome), Priority also gives you access to a special VIP bar and experience and having used Priority to gain early access to tickets including comedy shows and music gigs, I can safely say that Priority is definitely a compelling reason to buy an O2 plan.

Priority also gives you access to exclusive offers from restaurants, shops and establishments near you and one of my favourite Priority perks is the £1 lunch offer on a Monday. The offer means you can get a personal pizza from Dominos, a baguette meal from Upper Crust or a lunch pack from Caff Ritazza for just £1 between 11am and 3pm every Monday. This is absolutely perfect for lunch, especially when you have the Monday Blues.

O2 Wi-Fi

O2 customers also get access to O2 Wi-Fi, allowing you to connect to any of the 10,000 O2 Wi-Fi hotspots in the UK free of charge. While this is technically an O2 Perk, customers of any mobile network can access O2 Wi-Fi free of charge which doesn’t make it an exclusive offer to O2 customers.

Evernote Premium

This is quite a useful perk for any O2 customer and gives you access to 12 months of Evernote Premium, worth £35 per year, using just your O2 mobile number. Each month of Evernote Premium comes with 2GB of cloud storage to backup your notes each month and if you’re an existing customer, you can use the year of Evernote Premium to extend your current subscription.

Quad-Play

The drastic increase in demand for data-driven services has meant mobile networks are encroaching on traditional fixed-line service providers to offer their customers TV, broadband and landline services. Unlike its chief rivals, O2 does not offer any quad-play services to its customers nor has it mentioned any current plans to offer quad-play services in the near future.

The network previously offered O2 Broadband to customers but this was sold to Sky in May 2013 and since then, the network hasn’t offered fixed-line broadband services in the UK. O2’s position in the UK market is set to change dramatically, which makes it highly unlikely that the network will ever offer Broadband services again.

UK Outlook: Who’s Buying Who?

We’ve been teasing the UK shakeup throughout this review and for good reason: in the biggest shakeup of the UK market for nearly a decade, O2 is set to be at the heart of the action. There are two major deals that will irrevocably change the UK market: the biggest network EE is being bought by one of the old communications companies in the world, BT and O2 is being bought by Three, which will establish the UK’s largest mobile communications provider.

O2 as a network has undergone many transformations during its life as a network but the sale to Three could mean the end of the O2 brand in the UK. The UK’s second largest network merging with the fourth largest will mean the creation of the biggest network and Three’s existing 800MHz spectrum (along with the 1800MHz spectrum it acquired from EE) should mean the combined network has great indoor coverage.

However, both networks offer the slowest LTE speeds in the UK and there’s very little to suggest that the buyout will change this, with the deal expected to instead, create a network that offers compelling coverage that is certainly the slowest on the market. The buyout of O2 still requires ratification by the competition authorities and while there’s a chance that this will mean the deal won’t go through, it’s more than likely that we’ll see O2 amalgamated into Three.

What does this mean for customers? This is unknown but there’s likely to be conditions placed on the deal by the regulator and this may (or may not) work in the favour of customers. Three’s buyout is likely to complete in the 12 months or so, meaning we’ll soon find out more info about what customers can expect from the UK’s largest network and we’ll of course bring you the information when we have it.

Final thoughts

As a network, O2 has undergone major transformations both in name and in stature since it was formed back in 1985. The first network to offer GPRS data in the UK, O2 has since seen its market share eroded and coverage take a massive hit but compelling offerings like O2 Priority and O2 Refresh has seen O2’s market share rise.

O2 as a network definitely has its positives and its negatives and having been a customer for many years, I’ve personally seen the transformation and the improvements the network has undergone through the past five years. The lack of 2.6GHz spectrum means that O2’s network is highly likely to ever offer the top speeds available on EE or Vodafone but this should be offset by the coverage obligation, which should mean solid indoor 4G coverage for all the UK within the next 30 months.

Related:

EE Network Review (2015)
Vodafone Network Review (2015)
Three Network Review (2015)

The buyout by Three will most likely mean the end of O2’s operations in the UK, although it’s possible that Three will be required to keep the O2 name like Telefónica were when they bought O2 from BT. If the deal does go through, it’ll be sad to see O2 disappear as a network but all competitors in the market are facing increasing challenges to the bottom line and consolidation in the market could be what both Three and O2 need to remain competitive.

O2’s offerings – including Priority, Refresh, Wi-Fi and Evernote Premium – are certainly compelling but are they enough to get you to switch? If you frequent music gigs, comedy shows and events often then certainly they are but otherwise, you may find another network is more suitable for your needs. That being said, I’ve been an O2 customer for many years and although I’ve had my fair share of issues (like all customers on all networks), the network is certainly good enough for most needs.

Are you an O2 customer? Let us know your views on O2 in the comments and don’t forget to vote in our poll below as well.

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