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[chrisgixer]

o2 seem way behind on their 4g network

http://www.o2.co.uk/4g/coverage-and-cities

and today made news by increasing the cost of their customers tariff's.

now call me a synic but is it fair to assume o2 are struggling to keep up? They may be top provider in the customer satisfaction charts,  but if they keep this up they might not have many customers left.

...or is 4g not worth the bother anyway?

[henryd]

My other half is on O2 and aint that impressed with them generally.

[Mr.OmegaMan]

Saw something about Tesco offering Free 4G and Don't they share O2's network.

http://www.uswitch.com/mobiles/news/2014/01/tesco_mobile_announces_free_4g_for_new_and_existing_customers/

[tunnie]

Not worth bothering yet. Too expensive. Crap coverage.

[chrisgixer]

Not worth bothering yet. Too expensive. Crap coverage.

even on EE? I haven't checked their coverage yet, tbh

[tunnie]

Coverage still poor. It's expensive for little data too.

[chrisgixer]

3g seems quick enough for me tbh.

yet it seems o2 are charging me for 4g anyway, with the tariff increase.

[pscocoa]

I get good usage out of 4g on EE. Also strange that signal strength generally seems better than 3G phones when it drops down yo 3G. Quite often switch my ipad to tethered to 4g in preference to in built 3G of ipad. Paying about £33 unlimited calls and text, 1gb data.

[05omegav6]

Or get an unlimited T mobile contract all the benefits of EE without the limits

[Marks DTM Calib]

Well, 4G is pretty pointless (although is cheaper to operate than 3G for the providers).

Plus as more move to 4G, the throughput on the 3G will increase.....an consequently the throughput on 4G will drop. Ultimately, the operators will switch you to 4G 'silently' over time anyway and without charge.

As for 02, there coverage is good and they are, argueably sensibly, rolling out 4G in a more conservative way.

On pricing, we recently renewed er-indoors contract and 02 were 7 pounds a month cheaper than the rest at 22 notes for the phone and tariff we needed. 

[Mr Skrunts]

I lost the 3 signal at home and tried vodafone (even worse at the time) and then O2, no problems at all with O2 with a PAYG sim, so upgraded to thier 4G pay monthy tariff, no issues at all on 3G allthough  speed varies from village to village, but sadly not seen 4G in action yet even though Sheffild is apparenly 4G enabled.

Ah well, time will tell. 

[TheBoy]

3g seems quick enough for me tbh.

yet it seems o2 are charging me for 4g anyway, with the tariff increase.

Which is ironic, as your iPhone 5 cannot use O2's 4G implementation


Due to OFCOM's usual balls-up over 3G, 4G licencees (with the exception of BT, as their's is to be used in a different way) have to provide 98(?)% coverage by the end of 2017(?), so the roll-out will be fast. In the case of O2, that has an appalling 3G coverage (but excellent 2G coverage, probably the best by a long shot), 4G would be welcomed to overcome the lack of 3G coverage.

[TheBoy]

Well, 4G is pretty pointless (although is cheaper to operate than 3G for the providers).

Plus as more move to 4G, the throughput on the 3G will increase.....an consequently the throughput on 4G will drop. Ultimately, the operators will switch you to 4G 'silently' over time anyway and without charge.

As for 02, there coverage is good and they are, argueably sensibly, rolling out 4G in a more conservative way.

On pricing, we recently renewed er-indoors contract and 02 were 7 pounds a month cheaper than the rest at 22 notes for the phone and tariff we needed. 

4G cannot carry (traditional) voice, so the handset will still use 2G/3G for voice.

At some point in the future, maybe it will go VoIP over 4G, although I can see providers trying to limit that somehow, as with preinstalled VoIP apps, subs may use cheaper voice providers, rather than the provider's service.

[chrisgixer]

My 5, and your 5 will be long out of contract by the time 4g is worth the bother.

[TheBoy]

My 5, and your 5 will be long out of contract by the time 4g is worth the bother.

I'm not in contract. I haven't had a (longer than 30 day) contract myself for 15+ years.

That said, I have no desire to have 4G speeds. To me, the only advantage is (going to be) coverage, as O2's 3g coverage is worse than piss poor. If in the next year or so, 4G coverage greatly exceeded 3G, I would buy an iPhone 5S (as Android KitKat still doesn't work well enough for my needs). But seeing as currently, O2 (and all the others) are only putting in 4G in areas with comprehensive 3G coverage.