Slow speeds in USA

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I'm currently in San Francisco on holiday, I've been here a few times before but I've never visited since moving from Three to O2. I'm currently paying the daily £4.99 O2 Travel but the service seems shocking.

Webpages are taking minutes, images won't download on WhatsApp and Google Maps is struggling to show anything yet my partner on Three network (in the UK) sitting next to me is browsing away fine.

We're both connected to T-Mobile USA and both have full signal with HSPA+. I've tried a speed test and I'm getting response times for 350-600ms and up/down speeds of 0.02-0.04mbps.

I haven't used my phone for tethering, downloading any significant amount of data (other than Web browsing and using a few apps).

I've also tried manually connecting to one of the other networks but each is refusing my connection. I'm using a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.

Am I doing something wrong, is there a specific configuration that should have been applied that could explain the speeds?

WiFi in our hotel is currently $18 / day, I'd prefer not to pay that for 5 days but my connectivity is virtually non-existent via the current cellular network.

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Rob

[MI5]

Nothing you can do mate.
That is the speed you get on o2 travel I'm afraid.

[jonsie]

Roaming on O2 Travel is truly awful for data speeds. They promise so much but deliver so little. We always advise a Three sim when travelling to the US. 

[Anonymous]

O2 data roaming is absymal. Try wifi whenever you are near a wifi spot

[jonsie]

---

@Anonymous wrote:
O2 data roaming is absymal. Try wifi whenever you are near a wifi spot

---

$18 dollars a day in the hotel where he probably needs it the most. I would probably end up paying it out of frustration but he must turn off mobile data otherwise hell end up paying O2 £4.99/day when he's away from the hotel. Hopefully he can find wifi in other amenities but the US isn't renowned for the abundance of free WiFi. 

[MI5]

£25 on a Three PAYG sim could have prevented all this frustration.

[darrengf]

When are o2 going to learn. Do they no realise how many people they are peeing off

If Vodafone can offer 4G speeds in USA at £5 a day and you can use all you data in one day if you want and three can offer decent speeds in USA with PAYG and even some EE tariffs have USA included for free.

When is o2 going to listen? Are they that desperate for money or just happy to upset more and more customers.

They used to be leaders in things and doing things out of the norm.

What do they now offer that's different to other networks?

[adamtemp64]

http://sfgov.org/sfc/sanfranciscowifi Looks like some free wifi in certain areas from the local government

also  http://wifi.boingo.com/wireless-internet-hotspots/?lat=37.7771186828613&lng=-122.419639587402&zoom=1... Has affordable plans for wifi used them in the past 

[jonsie]

Sadly, O2 are now probably the worst network for roaming. Unfortunately the leading company in telecommunications is now in decline, they really need to come up with big improvements both overseas and in the UK. 

[madasaf1sh]

I think you are being a bit harsh on o2, having used a variety of networks to roam on across the globe.. I can say that o2 are mediocre,and not sure why Telefonica dont pull their fingers out globally and allow 4G roaminig across their networks.

BT (EE, PlusNet, BT Mobile) are by a long way the worst i ever had the misfortune to use.. their billing system never worked with any of the global roaming bundles, and customer support worse than 3.,in the end they let me out of the contract as they couldnt fix their billing system.

3 when i took it the states from east to west coast and to pacific islands was an absolute pile of crap, it prefers T-Mobile as a default roaming partner, and outside metro areas it doesnt work or you end up on EDGE.

Ive never tried vodafone, but reports from colleagues have always been positive.

If you have issues with t-mobile switch to AT&T much better in cities than t-mobile