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o2’s joint mobile and home broadband service - wicked!

Started by Ewan · 11 months ago

This is rather neat. In fact if I’d known about this a few days ago, I’d have held off going and buying the bog-standard BT Broadband for my new place.

O2 have launched a service combining both home broadband and mobile broadband. That makes a lot of sense to me. It’s a wickedly [...] ... Continue reading »

20 comments

  • Samantha

    11 months ago

    All that for £20!?!?
    Wow. My connection (home), is a bog-standard 2mb, at the same cost. None of the extras or anything.

    Could it sound too good to be true though? Remember the Carphone Warehouse and their attempt to offer home broadband, it was terrible.

    Let's hope it works out!

    Samantha.
    reply
  • Michael

    11 months ago

    This o2 service has been available in Germany for quite a while - I've been thinking about this, too (my main mobile operator is o2 anyways). But, then, I heard from some people - one beeing my direct neighbor - that the "home broadband part" wasn't all too good in terms of stability and transfer rates. So, I will observe this a bit longer...
    reply
  • MarkW

    11 months ago

    It sounds great, but I can't help that oft-proven adage "you get what you pay for" popping into my head. And I'm far from sure I'd want to put all those eggs into O2's basket, given their track record and the hassles people have had with similar 'too-good-to-be-true' offerings from others...

    Still, it could be one to sit back and watch (til at least mid-October, perhaps!).
    reply
  • DanLane

    11 months ago

    As you may have noticed, I'm not O2's biggest fan, but the ADSL part of the connection is provided by Be Unlimited who are absolutely fantastic :)
    reply
  • Kip Hakes

    11 months ago

    From what i've heard the O2 broadband service is VERY good - I do believe its won some awards too!

    K
    reply
  • nacho

    11 months ago

    Tried it and hated it at the beginning.
    Installation is not idiot-proof or Nacho-proof and the modem/router does not have enough power for our home wifi operation (3 laptops and two smartphones connected more or less regularly at the same time)
    Customer service is good though, and available 24/7 when the first router didn't work, they replaced it within 24 hours.
    We're using it now anyway and it got better, speed is so much better that any provider we've had before but coverage of our small flat is not uniform. I have yet to enjoy all the other benefits
    reply
  • MarkW

    11 months ago

    Oh, okay. My fears are somewhat soothed! As I'm in the market for a new provider I may take a look. Although I'm not in the 60% coverage that get the cheapest deal. Doh!
    reply
  • Anthony

    11 months ago

    If only o2 did their own version of 3 Like Home with their sister networks - I'd have loved something like this Spain
    reply
  • AJ

    11 months ago

    I switched from virgin to O2 a few months back and they are fine. Very stable connection. Good download speeds not far off the advertised 8mb. Excellent customer service - 24 hours on an 0800 number and very helpful. They force you to use their mail server though unless you pay an extra £5 per month for a static IP.
    reply
  • Ben Smith

    11 months ago

    AJ - I use Be (the same provide, just not bundled by O2) and you are free to use any mail server you like - I use a good number of IMAP and SMTP servers. I believe this is the same as for O2. Static IP is only useful for hosting your own server.
    reply
  • AJ

    11 months ago

    Rather than email server, I meant smtp server.

    Check out the following link which explains the issue (ignore the bit about skype though because this is no longer the case):

    http://www.intomobile.com/2008/01/27/o2-broadba...

    For some weird reason they tie the get-out with a static IP which is obviously a completely different issue.

    It still worked out cheaper than my previous broadband package and the service is much better. Virgin told me the best speed I would ever be able to get was 1mb but I get around 6mb with O2.
    reply
  • planetf1

    11 months ago

    Whatever way you look at it, the basic O2 broadband package is wicked value even at 12.50. Since my wife has an O2 phone I only pay 7.50. What's great as well is freephone tech support, and the fact that even "level 1" know a lot about adsl ie pretty technical. I just hope this continues.

    This deal just makes things better!

    Unfortunately I couldn't find the detail on the O2 site for this combined offer. I could see £20pcm for the 3Gb broadband, which alone is *not* competitive. Three only want ~7.50 for me as current subscribe for 5Gb.
    reply
  • planetf1

    11 months ago

    Quick reply to AJ who said "They force you to use their mail server though unless you pay an extra £5 per month for a static IP." -- not so. I'm happily using gmail via smtp/imap without any problem. I suspect it's because they use non-standard ports. Previously I used 1&1, and they too offered non-standard ports.

    Works great at work too, where outbound smtp on the default port is similarly restricted ;-)
    reply
  • planetf1

    11 months ago

    Quick reply to MarkW who said "It sounds great," .

    I've been an ADSL user since 2000 & have worked in telecoms. the O2 service is *superb*. of course in the early days so were Tiscali and then bulldog. In each case the tech support teams were small and highly knowledgeable/helpful. The challenge is whether they can sustain that as they grow. I really hope so as right now they seem to be the best of the big names.

    I can't say the same about mobile, where they seem somewhat laggard in the data area when compared to say 3 who since introducing Xseries moved from nowhere to #1 in no time.
    reply
  • planetf1

    11 months ago

    Quick reply to "nacho" who said about the router "does not have enough power for our home wifi operation"

    I'd agree with you on that. I got a 780WL from them, and am convinced the wireless tx level is limited below std. It's fairly poor, and I've ended up using an external (FON) router running dd-wrt.

    The router itself is locked to O2 firmware, but VoIP can be enabled. It is based on the Broadcom BCM6348 chip which is a great match for the O2 DSLAMs and works very well. It also have QOS built in to the router. Compared to a zycel and netgear dg834gt I own it is significantly superior in stability on my dodgy ~63dB 5km line.

    Oh it's real ugly though ;-(
    reply
  • AJ

    11 months ago

    Noticed this post about tethering and the iphone:

    http://www.macrumors.com/2008/07/31/nullriver-i...

    Apple are so predictable sometimes - you know it is going to end in tears even before you get to the last paragraph.
    reply
  • Barry-Jon

    11 months ago

    Very cool - moving end of September and had been looking at O2 as a new broadband provider - I think this clinches the deal.
    reply
  • The Cloud

    11 months ago

    The O2 Broadband ‘Home and Away’ package gives users mobile broadband courtesy of The Cloud Wi-Fi. As Europe's leading independent wireless broadband provider, The Cloud partners with some of the world's leading telecommunications operators.

    We welcome O2 customers and would like to give them some information to help maximise their experience. The Cloud provides extensive outdoor broadband coverage throughout the City of London, and for a full list of our Wi-Fi hotspots, please visit www.thecloud.net/for-you/where. Should you have any support enquiries, please contact O2 customer services.

    Happy surfing!
    reply
  • Ewan

    11 months ago

    Thank you!

    On 8 Aug 2008, at 15:18, "Disqus" <notifications-
    reply
  • muthumadhu

    2 weeks ago

    I am Using the Same O2 Mobile Broadband,Also Home Broadband ..The Connections are Providing the Service Better.I am using this also in my office.The speed Is the Highlighting Thing..
    reply

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