O2 has admitted it's been having faults on its data network once more, leaving thousands of customers without internet access on their phones.
We spoke to O2, who declined to comment on the reasons for the outage, but did confirm it wasn't a problem with capacity on its networks.
UPDATE: O2 has been in contact again, giving a little more insight into why the problem occurred (although it probably won't mean much to most people):
"We are aware of an issue currently impacting data access for some of our customers. We have identified a fault with the allocation of IP addresses and are working to resolve this as quickly as possible. We apologise to any affected customers."
Data failure
Anecdotal evidence currently suggested that the problem is contained within London, and given the density of data-loving customers, this would obviously inconvenience a large portion of customers.
However, O2 has also (somewhat mysteriously) told us that this problem is "not geographical" - so we have very little idea what's causing this problem.
O2 data outages over the past year have been well publicised, mostly due to the large portion of iPhone users on its networks, although this data failure isn't just contained to that one phone model.
We're awaiting further information on the root of this problem (we're hoping it's something fun like mice chewing through wires) but don't worry - we're assured it's not going to be a Christmas wrecker.
UPDATE 2 [29 December 2009]: O2 has today apologised again, this time in an article in the Financial Times. Despite O2 previously denying to TechRadar that the problem was due to network capacity, Ronan Dunne, head of O2, now says that the issues with the London network were caused by an "explosion" in demand for data from bandwidth-hungry smartphones.
To address the problem, Dunne said that O2 is working on its infrastructure to improve the management of voice and data traffic on its network; that it would be installing an additional 200 base stations in London; and that it is talking with handset manufacturers including Apple and RIM in an effort to better understand the demands that smartphones place on a network.
"Where we haven't met our own high standards then there's no question, we apologise to customers for that fact," Dunne told the FT. He described the problems as a "short-term blip."
Your comments (12) Click to add a new comment
scotland369
December 22nd 2009
12. I'm sick of this ****!!! O2: You've had your chance; I'm switching to Orange
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ginga_nut
December 21st 2009
11. Ever since i have had my o2 iphone i've had problems. I still cant send MMS despite having made nearly a dozen calls, loads of resets and a new sim. I gave up with the '3G' and wifi ages ago as rarely does it work properly. O2's service is ****...period. My friend just gor a 3gs on Orange and its great. Everything works propely and quickly. I will NOT be upgrading with o2 thats for sure
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drcrank
December 21st 2009
10. I hardly expect it to get better any time soon! After testing on PAYG on another network, I always get my signal back in under a minute after going through tunnels, and no longer do I lose my signal standing perfectly still, and I get 3G in most places. O2 have and continue to invent causes and solutions (such as, "Have you tried swtiching to GSM mode?") which are impractical and defeat the purpose of having an iPhone. I think O2 can Foxtrot-Oscar!
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jmace86
December 21st 2009
9. Ahh, this explains why I have not been able to access the internet on my iPhone since last night.
Rather annoying really, I hope that 2010 brings a more reliable service.
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deephack
December 21st 2009
8. Yesterday I couldn't get any data connection at all in Edinburgh from morning till night. Normally O2 have excellent data rates in Edinburgh rarely dropping below HSDPA speed. Soon as I ventured out of the city I got data again albeit nothing much above GPRS speed.
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khsbenny
December 21st 2009
7. Im a new customer to o2 and I spent HOURS trying to configure my phone to go onto the internet, which reading this I obviously couldn't do.
A simple text maybe o2?
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danjbirch
December 21st 2009
6. Vodafone's announcment of their iphones price plans and pre orders couldn't have come at a better time.
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rochefort10
December 21st 2009
5. Latest in a long line of poorly handled, poorly communicated problems. The fact that this is currently the only place I have been able to find confirmation of the problem is pathetic.
2nd or 3rd time I've had a 12 hour plus data outage, and in the past I've had disappearing voicemails, reappearing deleted voicemails and even had other people voicemails pop up on my phone....
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tshallett
December 21st 2009
4. What's worse is that there was nothing about it on their website, blog ot Twitter feed.
I get this regularly as I have a pay as you go iPhone and each time I update the software it resets the data settings to pay monthly.
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calcio
December 21st 2009
3. Absolutely agree. It's the most abysmal phone service I have ever had. It's becoming more and more clear that O2 overpromised to get the iPhone and have served themselves up a PR nightmare because of how poor the service is.
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drcrank
December 21st 2009
2. I am now 21 days from the end of my contract. I have NEVER been able to get a 3G signal in my home post code (Cambridgeshire) despite the coverage map indicating it. I cannot use it in Canary Wharf for data due to over-contention. I am now requesting my PAC code and going sim-only with another network. O2 have invented reasons to explain away their faults so many times that only by unlocking my phone and putting a PAYG sim from another network in it was I able to prove that the problem is O2, not the iPhone. Goodbye O2 - this sealed your fate!
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wigwam_salesman
December 21st 2009
1. What they mean by non-geographical is that it was the whole damn country. I came back from Poole to Manchester yesterday and had no data access for the entire time. For £45 a month contract these outages (which are getting more frequent) are completely unacceptable.
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