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iphone 3G on O2 (UK) a couple of questions

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Psyxologos

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 12, 2008
196
0
I am currently on Orange, planning to migrate to O2 for iphone 3G sake. After getting my PAC from Orange, I was hopping to buy my new phone from my local shop. I might wait a day or two though for those keener than me to have their go first.

I was just wondering about coverage and general customer service on the O2 network. I have been with orange for over 10 years, so I am a bit nervous about the switch. I am thinking on going either for the £35 or the £45 per month option. They both say they offer 'unlimited wi-fi and data'. Does that mean I can browse the net, use weather and GPS and read/write emails all inclusive? If so this is really appealing. Any help?

Thanks for your help!
 
Psyxologos said:
I am currently on Orange, planning to migrate to O2 for iphone 3G sake. After getting my PAC from Orange, I was hopping to buy my new phone from my local shop. I might wait a day or two though for those keener than me to have their go first.

I was just wondering about coverage and general customer service on the O2 network. I have been with orange for over 10 years, so I am a bit nervous about the switch. I am thinking on going either for the £35 or the £45 per month option. They both say they offer 'unlimited wi-fi and data'. Does that mean I can browse the net, use weather and GPS and read/write emails all inclusive? If so this is really appealing. Any help?

Thanks for your help!
Click to expand...

If you really want an iPhone 3G in the next few days I would recommend getting one on Friday, it could all be hype but O2 are really playing the "there isn't much stock, get them quick!" card.

I have been with O2 for 18 months now and my experience in terms of coverage and customer service have both been excellent. In my old flat I hardly got a bar of reception on Vodafone so I switched to O2 and got 5 bars solid, EDGE coverage is also good where I live (near Manchester), I am hoping 3G will be just as good if not better.

In terms of customer service I have emailed the CEO a couple of times and had replies back, as well as emailing staff at their head office and again getting very timely emails back. Whenever I have had cause to phone the customer service number thay have been more than helpful and extremely polite.

Good luck with getting an iPhone!
 
Hey dude,

Yes exactly what you said. One thing to bare in mind is the texts are quite low on the iPhone contract so add the £7.50 bolt on for unlimited texts if you use that many and your sorted :)

O2 have excellent coverage and usually they are very switched on as far as support goes. Staff in the stores I find to be slow and slightly clueless.

Join the iPhone side of things my friend!

Chris
 
yes unlimited data means you don't have to worry about how many webpages you visit or emails you send etc. Iphone's wouldnt really work that well without this because they are constantly comunicating with the Internet.

Even though there has been a lot of bad press lately, O2's customer service is really their strong point for me. They answer calls quite quickly, have uk based call centres and are genrally very polite and helpful. I've been with all the major uk networks and I would rate them the best when it comes to customer service. Don't worry :)
 
Sorry, forgot to reply to your tarrif question. I am on the £35 a month tarrif currently and get 600 minutes and 500 texts a month as well as unlimited data. The data really is unlimited so yes you can check stocks, weather, browse the net, email, anything you like and it is all included in your unlimited data. GPS is also included in your data as it is "A-GPS" and I guess uses tiny amounts of data from the cell towers to help position itself quickly. The GPS part does not use data.
 
O2's coverage is the worst I've ever seen in the UK. In my house I rarely get above 1 bar out of 5 on my iPhone and everywhere else it's rare to see above 3. EDGE coverage is nonexistent.

Good luck.
 
neiltc13 said:
O2's coverage is the worst I've ever seen in the UK. In my house I rarely get above 1 bar out of 5 on my iPhone and everywhere else it's rare to see above 3. EDGE coverage is nonexistent.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

I dont believe that to be true, statistically they are the strongest carrier for any coverage. In northern ireland Vodafone is rather bad.

Maybe where you live is different (dont mean to sound mad at you) but anywhere ive been on the UK travelling and working O2 has never let me down.
 
chrissmash said:
I dont believe that to be true, statistically they are the strongest carrier for any coverage. In northern ireland Vodafone is rather bad.

Maybe where you live is different (dont mean to sound mad at you) but anywhere ive been on the UK travelling and working O2 has never let me down.
Click to expand...

Even though we clashed on Monday past I agree with Neil. O2 coverage is generally great. I gave up on Vodafone in Northern Ireland long ago but I a cautious about 3G access given that I am still waiting for my local area to get Edge :)

David
 
WOW! This was really FAST. Thanks a lot guys, I am much obliged with your help.

I live in a place close to Blackpool (Lytham St Annes) and currently with Orange I get a full 5 bars on 3G. Does the EDGE network refer to o2's own infrastructure? I guess I could easily check coverage by buying an o2 pay as you go card and moving about the house. I do not expect problems though.


Does anyone know anything about VoIP applications on iphone 3G? Is this a possibility? when I got my Nokia N95 last year (Orange) the feature was disabled. I have read that o2 are not as pedantic as Orange is.

As far as the ID and credit checks are concerned, I get conflicting messages from reading these forums. As I am non-British (living in the UK for the last 15 years), I do not have a UK passport, birth certificate or driving licence (I come from an EU country so I have the equivalent) but I of course have UK debit cards, NI number etc. Would I be OK with the security checks? On the o2 website it does not mention any need for me to present driving licences etc, but I read in these forums that some people were asked to fax copies of these documents over. Any update on this?



I am getting quite hyped up about it, it should be exciting getting the iphone 3G in my hands.

EDIT: A quite important question is whether I can transfer my contacts from my N95 to the iphone 3G. Could I do this over bluetooth? If not, what are my options?

apologies for the long email and the barrage of questions.
 
As far as credit checks go, its a minor thing, no need for ID I think, take a driving license or something but I doubt you will need it, well since you are signing for a new contract they may ask for some identity but it will not matter where your passport etc is from, just that you are you lol.

http://www.webmap.o2.co.uk/

Go there ^^ for a good idea of your O2 coverage, in Blackpool you should be fine for EDGE too, I have had edge support in some really poor locations so dont worry about that.

No voip support I believe at the moment, maybe a native app from the app store will appear. Anything else your not sure on?

Defo invest in the iPhone, best investment I ever made...except maybe a news paper I bought once for 60p and won £1300 in a scratchcard win. That was a good day :)
 
chrissmash said:
As far as credit checks go, its a minor thing, no need for ID I think, take a driving license or something but I doubt you will need it, well since you are signing for a new contract they may ask for some identity but it will not matter where your passport etc is from, just that you are you lol.

http://www.webmap.o2.co.uk/

Go there ^^ for a good idea of your O2 coverage, in Blackpool you should be fine for EDGE too, I have had edge support in some really poor locations so dont worry about that.

No voip support I believe at the moment, maybe a native app from the app store will appear. Anything else your not sure on?

Defo invest in the iPhone, best investment I ever made...except maybe a news paper I bought once for 60p and won £1300 in a scratchcard win. That was a good day :)
Click to expand...

hahaha. Thanks mate, you made me smile!

As far as coverage is concerned, it looks like I have high HSDPA coverage (I gather this is 'better/faster/newer' than EDGE, right?) as well, so no problems at all.

Since your offering :eek: I would like to know if I can transfer my contacts from my N95 to the iphone using bluetooth. People in other threads write that the bluetooth on iphone is 'crippled' as it is not A2DP (whatever that means).

Thanks again!
 
Psyxologos said:
hahaha. Thanks mate, you made me smile!

As far as coverage is concerned, it looks like I have high HSDPA coverage (I gather this is 'better/faster/newer' than EDGE, right?) as well, so no problems at all.

Since your offering :eek: I would like to know if I can transfer my contacts from my N95 to the iphone using bluetooth. People in other threads write that the bluetooth on iphone is 'crippled' as it is not A2DP (whatever that means).

Thanks again!
Click to expand...

Well when you set up your iphone there is way to import your contact, I believe the video is on apple.com/iphone as far as I kno. It lets you move over your contacts from your N95 and sync them back to the iPhone.

Its a great device dude, and I strongly recommend trying to get on on Friday.

Also you have no worries as far as EDGE/3G go, i think all major cities and tourist spots are sorted for it so dont you worry your tired little head about it....y am I still up??
 
chrissmash said:
Well when you set up your iphone there is way to import your contact, I believe the video is on apple.com/iphone as far as I kno. It lets you move over your contacts from your N95 and sync them back to the iPhone.

Its a great device dude, and I strongly recommend trying to get on on Friday.

Also you have no worries as far as EDGE/3G go, i think all major cities and tourist spots are sorted for it so dont you worry your tired little head about it....y am I still up??
Click to expand...

Keep asking myself the same question. :confused: I guess I got excited about the gadget and I am trying to find as much info as possible. Thanks anyway, I think I got all the info I needed, will post again if I think of something. Have a good night!
 
another fan of O2's coverage here. I was on Orange, but switched about a year ago and i literally have full signal everywhere! With Orange i was constantly waiving my phone around or holding it up when sending a message to get an extra signal bar (i usually had 1 bar the majority of the time).
O2's coverage, for me anyway, has been amazing!
 
Psyxologos said:
As far as the ID and credit checks are concerned, I get conflicting messages from reading these forums. As I am non-British (living in the UK for the last 15 years), I do not have a UK passport, birth certificate or driving licence (I come from an EU country so I have the equivalent) but I of course have UK debit cards, NI number etc. Would I be OK with the security checks? On the o2 website it does not mention any need for me to present driving licences etc, but I read in these forums that some people were asked to fax copies of these documents over. Any update on this?
Click to expand...

The best thing to do is bring your EU passport and/or driving license and a utility (i.e. gas, electricity) bill to prove who you are. It's better to be safe than sorry!

EDIT: And don't forget details of the bank accounts you'll be using to pay for the iPhone and the contract
 
Jacksteruk309 said:
The best thing to do is bring your EU passport and/or driving license and a utility (i.e. gas, electricity) bill to prove who you are. It's better to be safe than sorry!

EDIT: And don't forget details of the bank accounts you'll be using to pay for the iPhone and the contract
Click to expand...

Yea, will do that. Will allso bring my NI and bank cards for good measure! :cool:

Thanks!
 
OK, I have a couple more questions after fiddling with a 16GB in my local shop!

Something that worries me is that, when I tried to send over a 'business card' from my N95 to the iphone via bluetooth, there were 5 failed attempts before the salesperson and I gave up trying. I mean, is this a general problem due to the 'crippling' of the bluetooth in the iphone or it was just my bad luck?

I do not see me getting an iphone if I will have to manually imput ALL 200 contacts (each one of them with more than just one piece of info i.e mobile number, landline, email address etc). I will be doing nothing else for a week. Any ideas on how I can transport all my contacts from my N95 to the iphone?

Another question I have is whether I could use any piece of music from my iphone as my ring/message tone. Is this possible or do I only have a choice from the pre set ones? I hope i will be able to chose as I please. Any help?

Finaly, what impressed me was that he told me apple is going to release another iphone (next generation) in less than eight months and that O2 are going to upgrade ALL iphone owners free of charge (apparently he said they did the same this time round with first generation iphone owners to upgrade them to the 3G one). Was that just a sales technique or does it stand?
 
Psyxologos said:
Something that worries me is that, when I tried to send over a 'business card' from my N95 to the iphone via bluetooth, there were 5 failed attempts before the salesperson and I gave up trying.
Click to expand...

I believe this is a consequence of the crippling. I don't think you can do any kind of bluetooth file transfer using the iPhone - it's purely for connecting it to bluetooth headsets and the like.

Any ideas on how I can transport all my contacts from my N95 to the iphone?
Click to expand...

Use Nokia PC Suite to transfer your contacts to your computer (Outlook, Outlook Express or whatever) then follow these instructions.

Another question I have is whether I could use any piece of music from my iphone as my ring/message tone. Is this possible or do I only have a choice from the pre set ones? I hope i will be able to chose as I please. Any help?
Click to expand...

Yeah, search the forum - there are instructions! Apple intended people to buy music from the store and then pay a little more money to make 30 second clips of the songs into ringtones but if I remember correctly it's not hard to bodge in your own, unless they've broken this with 2.0.

<snip> O2 are going to upgrade ALL iphone owners free of charge <snip> Was that just a sales technique or does it stand?
Click to expand...

It seems very unlikely that a sales droid in an O2 store will have any idea what Apple's release schedule is. They may have heard rumours but unless they personally know someone very high up in Apple or someone very high up in O2 (if even they would know) you can probably safely assume they have no idea.
 
chrissmash said:
Hey dude,

Yes exactly what you said. One thing to bare in mind is the texts are quite low on the iPhone contract so add the £7.50 bolt on for unlimited texts if you use that many and your sorted :)

O2 have excellent coverage and usually they are very switched on as far as support goes. Staff in the stores I find to be slow and slightly clueless.

Join the iPhone side of things my friend!

Chris
Click to expand...

anything above the £30 tariff has a good amount of txts
 
neiltc13 said:
O2's coverage is the worst I've ever seen in the UK. In my house I rarely get above 1 bar out of 5 on my iPhone and everywhere else it's rare to see above 3. EDGE coverage is nonexistent.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

I've just moved from Orange to O2 (about 3 months now) and O2s coverage is significantly better than Orange's was. I think I saw an "E" symbol once on my last 2.5G edge enabled phone on Orange. On the other hand with my 2.5G iPhone with O2 I have Edge support at work (in York), intermittently around Leeds, on the Lincolnshire coast I had full Edge support where I barely had a single bar with Orange. I'm not saying it's perfect but I've found Edge support all over the place, including on major towns on the train between Leeds and London.
 
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