Reliability of O2 network

[Mokola]

How strong is the O2 network coverage in the NorthWest?

[MI5 · Accepted solution]

@Mokola 

You can get a rough guide here O2 Service Status

However, best to check with a PAYG sim yourself before taking a contract.

[jonsie]

My personal experience is that the O2 network has been steadily declinining over the past few years in Lancashire despite O2's 5G expansion which has only hit the big cities and towns.

Manchester is diabolical and Liverpool had just about the best coverage and connection, although not a patch on EE's overall excellence

[Enlli]

I'm in Liverpool and things are not bad here. (Don't have 5G at home but Three and EE do). Went to town centre Warrington and the network was oversubscribed. Data speeds were impossible to do anything meaningful. Data speeds is something to check. Having to drop down to 3G to do things is a pain.

[pgn]

And 3G is now being wiped out in some countries, Germany switched off the last 3G service in July 2021, even o2.de service is now 4G/LTE or higher. Not sure what the plan for 3G in UK is, but I agree O2 is slipping down the ranks in signal strength if not geographical coverage. Makes you wonder why some people report better than O2 service levels with their Tesco mobile or GiffGaff phone, given they all use O2's infrastructure 🤷

[Arasheed]

https://www.o2.co.uk/coveragechecker

Put the postcode and check 😉

[Enlli]

@pgn Both Vodafone and EE have indicated their 3G will be closed down by the end of 2023 (Vodafone have already shifted much of the 2100 3G over to 4G)

Three say 3G will go by the end of 2024.

AFIK 02 have made no announcements 

[Enlli]

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@Arasheed wrote:

https://www.o2.co.uk/coveragechecker

Put the postcode and check 😉

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But it does not indicate data speeds. Parts of Warrington have excellent coverage but terrible data speeds.

Maps have always been over optimistic