yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Touch Cruise General] DMAND:
2k difference? I thought buisness was capped at 340kbps, this is really annoying but I reckon its only because O2's HSDPA is fairly new, maybe if Apple were to unleash a 3G iPhone O2 would hurry up
[Touch Cruise General] rickgillyon:
I probably wasn't clear, I think people are showing around 130k because O2 by default are capping HSDPA at 128k (or close).
[Touch Cruise General] danma7_200:
finally

After being run around in hoops for over a month with regards to data speed being limited to 128k second, no one could give me this answer that higher speeds are only available to business users.

Finally now I know why. Thankyou.

Rang o2 customer services again today, told them this limit, they admitted it (why didn't they before) and can now termiate my account early.

Thankyou for this forum!

God bless!

Daniel
[Touch Cruise General] dysoong:
thanks for the info, mate.

But could you help us out a bit more.... can you give us the email address of the business CS team?

The one on the O2 website is for us second-class customers and the webform limits is 150 characters...

good grief its like drawing blood from a stone when you're trying to get info from O2.

At least if I have it in writing (of electronic sort at least) directly from O2 telling me I'm capped at 128K if i'm non-business user, then I can take it from there with complaints etc.

Not sure if i'm willing to terminate my contract because I love my phone and I'm on a good tariff... but at least I get to shout at someone higher up than a CS call centre lackey.

thank to you all so far. what a top-notch forum this is. :)
[Touch Cruise General] rickgillyon:
SMEBusinessAccounts@o2.com

But I don't think they'll entertain you unless you have a business account number, I suspect that they'll just tell you to contact non-business CS. Good luck!
[Touch Cruise General] dysoong:
well, here's another twist to the story...

My mammoth 45 minute call to CS and tech support today about the apparent discrepancy between business and residential network HSDPA speeds resulted in "There is no difference in HSDPA speeds between the business and residential networks" and "We refuse to comment on any speed restrictions". Obviously I was given the usual range of gumpf about network congestion, coverage area, poor signal, we don't support HSDPA etc. etc. etc. until I made the CS line manager look at an O2 HSDPA coverage map online, but the final answers were those paraphrased above (relayed from tech support via said line manager). The line manager authorised the release of the Press Office phone number and advised me to speak to them instead. How strange...

I've called the press office and, after some confusion as to why exactly I was given their number, they agreed to help answer my questions and will call me back. I'll post here when I have more "official" answers. I've also emailed business CS to see if they know anything and will, apparently, be answered within 24 hours. Again - will post when I know more.
[Touch Cruise General] rickgillyon:
I believe that this is true, everyone is capped at 128k. It just seems that they are willing to remove the cap for business users...

Not to rub it in, but I've been showing 900-950k today.
[Touch Cruise General] Straputsky:
I wonder what they would say if we could show them a test where someone measures the speed with a non-business sim then he changes to a business sim and suddenly has a faster speed? The usual excuses won't work anymore due to the fact that place and phone didn't change and time was also nearly the same.
[Touch Cruise General] DMAND:
I've wondered this too but dont know anyone with a buisness SIM.

Why is it that this issue is only being discused here in the Polaris thread, are there not other HSDPA phones on O2 getting poor speed's? The more attention brought to the matter the soon their CS will have to widely admit the cap
[Touch Cruise General] dysoong:
SUCCESS!

After my efforts over the past few weeks, I've finally had an "official" answer and solution.

It turns out that the very helpful lady at O2 press office managed to speak to one of the CS team members that liases with the Project Level teams in O2 in Leeds.

This CS/project level man phoned me up this morning to say that he had activated my SIM card to remove the 128kbps speed limit on 3G and HSDPA. I should now get 384 kbps on 3G and up to 1.8Mbps on HSDPA.

This is what O2 normally automatically assigns to corporate user SIM cards. SIM cards for residential customers are shipped with the automatic 3G and HSDPA 128kbps speed restriction.

It seems that O2 are having internal debates right now about what speeds to offer customers on various tariffs, phones and bolt-ons. e.g. they may offer full speed access to XDA users, or to unlimited web bolt-on users or to customers above a specific tariff price band. The man said to me that the debates are occurring at the highest level, but are not yet resolved. He

also said that they are now very aware of the serious problem of the multi-level nature of their customer support team and would review that process also. I explained the problem that many of us have had trying to get proper answers and access to technical support members that actually know what they are talking about. He agreed that this is a problem caused by the multi-level nature of CS and that more training needs to be done to help stop lower-end CS giving nonsense answers. Additionally, he said that there is no official policy or procedure set in place to help residential customers unlock the speed restriction and that he understands that this is causing the main problem for us. This is also now under review, apparently.

I made it clear I'd be posting all of the things we talked about on this website and he was happy with that.

My advice to all the users that have had this problem is this:

Call O2 CS and demand to be put through to someone from the project level/CS liasion level of customer support, or to have your requests sent there directly.

Every residential customer is entitled to full speed HSDPA until O2 bigwigs agree on their policy and you should be able to unlock the speed restriction if you speak to the right person.

Do not accept the usual crap answers of "we don't support HSDPA", "there is no speed restriction", "there is no difference between corporate and residential customers". Tell them you know FOR A FACT that residential SIM cards are released with a speed restriction.

For those that still have problems, PM me and I will give you details of the specific man I spoke to and the phone numbers I used. Hopefully, you'll be able to get to the correct level of tech support just by being insistent. The lower levels are just trained very badly - ask for a manager and explain the problem and solution to them in no uncertain terms.

best of luck to you all.
[Touch Cruise General] rickgillyon:
Hmmm, not so in my case. My SIM was shipped with the 128k restriction, but it may be that SMEs have the restriction while large accounts don't.

Well done on getting the speed!

BTW, don't hold your breath waiting for 1.8Mb, I've not hit 1Mb yet...
[Touch Cruise General] Aleemz:
Well done! Your persistence has paid off. I'm going to contact them.
[Touch Cruise General] chrisbond:
Well done - just managed to speak to the same lady in the press office as you and she's going to refer me the same way as you. Was very helpful indeed.

Hopefully i'll get mine sorted shortly too!

Kind Regards,

Chris Bond
[Touch Cruise General] chrisbond:
Bingo now getting more than 128kbps!! Thanks for your help worked a dream - if only everything was so simple with o2!!!
[Touch Cruise General] dysoong:
yup. I've tested mine a few times now and consistently get over 650kbps. Not anywhere near the 1.8Mbps stated maximum, but it a damn sight more than 128kbps. I'm happy enough with that. :)

I urge all residential O2 users to get on the case and give O2 CS some hassle. If you've got friends that don't read this polaris forum then tell them also. The residential customers deserve to get what they paid for every bit as much as business customers. If O2 say they supply HSDPA broadband for super fast surfing, then they should damn well mean it.

O2 should have gotten their act together months ago instead of lying to their customers. Spread the word and take some consumer action, people!
[Touch Cruise General] chrisbond:
I have to admit the same on the speed tests ive done usually range from 520->700kbps so a damn sight more than 128kbps.

Personally I think we need to hit theregister.co.uk with it but will be a bit hard i think!
[Touch Cruise General] Aleemz:
Customer Service are a waste of time! Can't get them to put me through to anyone. Did you ring the Press Office directly?
[Touch Cruise General] chrisbond:
Thats what I did Emma answered called straight back (just left name and number didnt say anything else!).
[Touch Cruise General] Aleemz:
Sorry, I'm not sure I follow; you phoned the Press Office the person who answered was Emma, you left your name and number - but what did you say to her?
[Touch Cruise General] chrisbond:
Just said im experiance speed problems on 3G and HSDPA where its fixing me 128kbps. I meantioned that other people have contacted her and she was extermely helpful and said she'd pass on my details to someone in technical project level, about 2-3 later i got a call back saying the change had been made turn my device on and off and it worked!
[Touch Cruise General] Straputsky:
If they change speed of each of their customers by hand, they'll have some work for the next months. :D
[Touch Cruise General] dysoong:
I feel sorry for the press office lass already. It's not her job to deal with our problems! But if CS won't help, what are you supposed to do? The project level/CS liason team are the 3rd or 4th level of support at CS. Make it clear to whoever you speak to that you want to speak to a manager to make your complaint if they don't direct you request to the project/CS liason level of Customer Support. Be insistent and make sure they know that the lower levels of CS are not yet trained to deal with this
[Touch Cruise General] Aleemz:
I tried going through customer services again, and no joy. Not their fault really when they havn't been informed/trained in this area. Left an answerphone message with Emma and within an hour I had a call from a guy in tech support. He acknowledged the restriction, and that he had lifted it. Turned the phone off, then back on, and woohoo! Good increase in 3G download speed. Now I just need HSDPA coverage where I work and play :D

Thanks to dysoong and chribond :)
[Touch Cruise General] chrisbond:
We're one of the luckly one's o2 just brought a new HSDPA mask up last week! Before that it was Edge.
[Touch Cruise General] benjclews:
Hi all,

Been following this thread with great interest after being thoroughly unimpressed by O2's supposedly high-speed mobile internet.

I've tried customer services several times now and hit 'the wall of denial/ ignorance' each time. When I asked to speak to a line manager after 10 minutes of debate with CS, said manager accidentally cut me off. Following that I rang when he/ she was unavailable and was promised he/ she would ring me back. Which, of course, he/ she didn't.

Now I'm looking at the press office approach. Can anyone who's had success PM me the number? Is it the one on the site (01753 565656) or another entirely? (Ideally, I'd rather not ring someone who has no idea what I'm banging on about (I had enough of that with CS))

Thanks again for this thread- it's nice to know there is hope for those of us stuck at 120kbps.
[Touch Cruise General] Aleemz:
Yes, its the Press Office number from the O2 website. If it goes to answerphone leave a message with your O2 number, name, and that you'd like the cap lifted.

Good Luck!
[Touch Cruise General] redjupiter:
how did you test your speed?

I am on O2 UK too. I pay £7.50 for unlimited Internet and I always get HSPDA most of the times. Curious though how do you test your phone link speed? Mine seems much faster than 3G when surfing.

Thanks
[Touch Cruise General] DMAND:
I got mine lifted on Monday with that number, hit 968 kbit in Birmingham the other day :D

Man I love this forum
[Touch Cruise General] Aleemz:
Point your internet browser to www.dslreports.com/mspeed
[Touch Cruise General] hertz999:
benjclews trust me it works-

-i called emma at press office also - first no reply left message on am, then i tried calling back from landline (thinking she wont answer to o2 mobile numbers) she then answered.

emma knew what i was talking about straight away, sounded like she had many others callin her, but seemed little fed up that they keep calling her number- Although she was very nice and said she would sort it out. Took mob number and within the hour it had changed!!!

just tested now got 941kbit
[Touch Cruise General] benjclews:
Cheers mate. Left an answerphone message- fingers crossed for the HSDPA fairy visiting me in the next day :)
[Touch Cruise General] Doughnut:
I got some rude man on the phone telling me not to call him as im not a journalist...
[Touch Cruise General] benjclews:
I do hope that wasn't "Steve"- the person whose answerphone I left a message on :(
[Touch Cruise General] Aleemz:
I left a message on Emma's answerphone. If you heard a pre-recorded answerphone messgae from 'Steve', maybe it's Emma's day off or she's on leave. I'd contiunue calling the Press Office number over the next few days until you get to Emma's answerphone.
[Touch Cruise General] ScarthyUK:
Be Carfeful

Hi Guys,

I've had a long chat with Emma, She has asked that if you would like to contact her to remove the ban that you only do so between office hours! you guys have been calling att 11pm etc.. the guy that is there after office hours is their for national emergancy's.

She is also pushing to have it removed for everyone.

Cheers.
[Touch Cruise General] phillim:
Just to follow-up on ScarthyUK's post

I too have spoken to Emma this morning; what a nice lady - she doesn't deserve to have to do O2's CS job as well as her own. She would really appreciate it if we could keep our calls between 9.00am and 6.00pm. (BST)

Now looking forward to seeing speeds as high as I used to get on TMob.

Mark
[Touch Cruise General] benjclews:
Just spoke with Emma. I agree- she's a lovely woman dragged into an unfortunate position. Some possible good news from all this however: she's been pressing about this matter to O2 since we began ringing her and she seems to think the general situation will be changed soon anyway :)
[Touch Cruise General] redjupiter:
got some results for O2 technical support

Hi,

just a wee update. I contacte O2 support and told them the problem. Basically, that I have a monthly contract (£45) plus unlimited internet add-on plus O2 XDA orbit 2 and my area is totally covered by the HSPDA map. The lady on the phone was very helpful and she spoke to technical support on my behalf and they promised to upgrade my connection. They have levels and I am on level 5 (I get like 120K on HSPDA), and they promised to upgrade me to level 6.

I think it is worth it to keep calling support. I gave them no chance of denying or giving me any excuses. I called armed with all the facts and made it clear that I bought the contract and the phone on the promise of HSPDA.

I will report in a couple of days if things improve or if they kept their promise.
[Touch Cruise General] dysoong:
Any news? Did you manage to get HSDPA unlocked through normal O2 CS?

It took me nearly 4 weeks of repeatedly bashing my face against the O2 CS firewall before I managed to get some proper answers and the eventual the press office/emma route.

I'd like to know if our perseverance has actually made a difference to O2 and their CS...

Probably not, but it's always nice to hope that a bit of consumer action can change a crappy policy.

If anyone manages to have success via normal O2 CS, please post here so that we may all bask in the glory of our small triumph. ;)
[Touch Cruise General] magnumforce2000:
I spoke to Emma this morning briefly, though she didn't seem too pleased! She said she would pass my details on but I haven't heard anything.

Did everyone get a call back or was the restriction just removed without confirmation?
[Touch Cruise General] jabok:
I'm ashamed to say I went the Emma route too, without even trying CS. :( I'm not very good at "arguing" on the phone so took the easy way out. :p Anyway, I called her at about 4:30pm and about an hour later I was at proper HSDPA speeds. :D There wasn't a call from Tech Supp, it was just done.

We should get her some flowers or something!!! ;)
[Touch Cruise General] magnumforce2000:
Just restarted my phone, ran a mobile speed test (1MB) and got 907 kbit/sec :)
[Touch Cruise General] dysoong:
That's actually a very good idea and a very thoughtful gesture. No joking.

She's had to put up with us lot calling her to deal with a problem that's simply not her job and has done so with a delightful measure of helpfulness unheard of at O2.

If someone's willing to collect donations, I'd be happy to throw in a fiver for some flowers and chocs.

Alternatively, if someone can tell me how to collect donations (eg via paypal) I'm willing to order the flowers and have them sent.

EDIT: ok. i'm a bit slow. sending money via paypal is actually very simple..... If anyone actually does want to send some flowers, just log in to your paypal account and click "send money". Recipient: dysoong@gmail.com

When I've collected about £20, i reckon that should be enough (plus my fiver) for a bunch of flowers.
[Touch Cruise General] ScarthyUK:
Success!

Just had an e-mail from the register and they are about to run a story on the issue! Big thanks to Emma.
[Touch Cruise General] dysoong:
Nice One! I emailed one of the editors at The Register about this after chrisbond suggested it, but never heard anything back. I thought they weren't interested... apparently they were interested after all.

Good news for all O2 residential customers!
[Touch Cruise General] marisa4755:
This is now beyond silly. Phoned CS today to try to get a respectable speed. (Tests at the moment show between 98 and 200 ish kps.

1st call, lasted 15 minutes and then I got cut off (probably my fault, dropped the phone).

2nd call lasted 15 minutes, got some information, was put on hold and got cut off.

3rd call lasted 15 minutes, got different information: the sum total of which was:

"O2's HSDPA does not come into effect until 18th April"

- so how come my phone shows an H, my postcode is shown as covered by HSDPA, and nothing of this was said to me in the shop when I bought my device, mentioning it specifically.

"Well, there are some areas where you may get it at present, as they are trialling it"

-has it definitely been enabled on my account?

"It doesn't need to be enabled on your account, as long as you have a capable device it will automatically pick up the fastest signal and use it"

-I was told that it had to be enabled on my account, and that there are different speeds available to be enabled.

"No, there are no different speeds, everything is as it should be on your account, leave it until the 18th April and if you still don't get a better speed let us know then".

- but there are other people in my area getting much better speeds right now

"then you have a faulty device. Try taking it back to the shop where you bought it and they can send it away for repair"

Anyway, we went round and round in circles on this until I got bored and then ended the discussion.
[Touch Cruise General] reyjabs:
:eek:Good customer care eh?:mad:
[Touch Cruise General] marisa4755:
The trouble is all the people I spoke to I think were genuinely trying to help and telling me what they thought was the truth. They were very polite and friendly. It's a shame. It's bad training, insufficient information etc etc. It's not their fault that they are put in this position.

However, I had been with O2 in the past, and swore never to go back, but I allowed the fact that I thought the Orbit2 looked nicer to influence my choice. Never again, ever. Even before I'd set eyes on the iPhone, I knew I wouldn't get one over here because it was O2. And then, I had a mad moment.

The happiest I've ever been was when I had a sim only from T-mobile with W & W and then bought whatever phone I wanted. it seems expensive at the time, but it's the best solution in the long run. Excellent service from t-mob, and no fuss when I want to change my device.

Oh well, live and learn. Hopefully something will come of the register article. I'm not holding my breath.
[Touch Cruise General] thegr8one23:
Meh, Im glad Im still with o2 tbh

£20 -

600 mins,

1500 txts,

unlimited web bolton

and they gave me the orbit 2 free
[Touch Cruise General] fantasist:
Speed increased by Technical Support

Hi, guys.

I called o2 CS last night and the guy from technical support called me back today and confirmed my hsdpa speed was increased to maximum. I tested straight after work, now it's at 957kbit/s.

I just wanna share my exp with all of you and it may work for you too. :)

the procedures were as following:

I called the online customer service (08706003009) using my mobile as I bought orbit 2 online. And I chose option 4 which is "less than happy with the service you received". The woman who answered the phone had no idea what HSDPA is and she put me through to the technical staff. I explained the situation that residential hsdpa speeds are restricted and how incompetent they are. The tech guy told me he knew the situation and he checked my hsdpa speed was at the lowest lvl.

Then he told me to hold the line and he would find a way to solve this as he couldn't change it himself and he needed to inform customer service to let them change it. I was then on hold for exactly 30mins. He came back and said sorry that he was still with the CS. I was told CS doesn't know how to change these settings at all and the tech guy had to teach CS step by step.

Then i was put on hold for another 10mins, the tech guy came back and told me the department which can deal with speed increase was closed by 6pm and i was promised he would call me back today to confirm whether i could get speed increase.

This afternoon around 2pm, he called me on my mobile and he said my hsdpa speed was at maximum. he was a very responsible guy and he asked me when i would finish working then he could give me a call then to see my test result. hence he could close the case. I said i would be home late but i could email him my confirmation. Then i got his email.

After that we talked about the general situation like what is happening on this forum. He suggested that we should keep calling them. They would do their best to solve this problem for us. It sounded like it's just o2 made this so complicated.

The guy prefers to keep his email confidential but he said i could recommend him to other residential customers. His name is Naveed from o2 Data Support.

Hope I made it clear with my bad english and hope all residential customers get fair speed.
[Touch Cruise General] marisa4755:
Ok, will give this a go tonight, thanks for the update, I never thought I would need as many as 600 minutes a month - now it will come in handy for phoning O2!
[Touch Cruise General] marisa4755:
The Register story is up:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/09/o2_speed_limits/

Apparently all we have to do is ask! Wish I'd thought of that!
[Touch Cruise General] chrisbond:
LOL - nice of them to tell ya which department you ring though - im sure emma's glad its getting some press!
[Touch Cruise General] dysoong:
heh. be careful though, the 0870 numbers don't come off your allowance. You get charged for "08" numbers (inlcuding 0800 freephone numbers). I'd advise just using the freephone "202" from your O2 mobile then selecting the "less than happy with your service" option.

If that fails - there's always the press office route. I've said before - I feel sorry for Emma at the press office because its not her job to deal with us, but if CS won't help, then you've got no other option in my opinon.
[Touch Cruise General] marisa4755:
Good advice, will give it a go after work. This work thing is very tedious!