Much like my hairline, O2′s network coverage seems to be receding over time.
I’m not sure if the issues are temporary, or just local to me, but O2′s network coverage problems are frustrating a lot of people I know. O2 are at risk of losing loyal customers, particularly those customers they scooped up (and paid through the nose for) with the iPhone exclusive launch.
My personal experiences centre on my commute to work. I used to have great O2 3G coverage that kept me entertained when I regularly missed my train home from Richmond station. I could while away the long, err, minutes checking out the news, Twittering or catching up on emails. In the past couple of months O2′s 3G signal has simply disappeared along with the usual fall back EDGE network leaving me in a mobile data black hole! It’s a shame O2′s coverage map (see below) doesn’t seem to recognize this issue.
I’m now stuck with an unusable signal that fails to connect to the internet. It’s ridiculous that a busy suburb of the biggest city in the UK still doesn’t have good coverage. I was on a stag do in Berlin this weekend and the O2 Germany 3G coverage was impeccable – it did cost me £23 for about 5 minutes of browsing though 
O2 helpfully texted me with this information and a little ‘be careful’ warning after I’d landed back in the UK – thanks guys!!
The O2 3G network coverage on my train journey seems to have deteriorated too. There are only small pockets of 3G coverage that are practically unusable as my poor old iPhone tries to cope with switching from 3G to EDGE to GPRS and back to 3G every 30 seconds.
I’ve had no end of problems receiving calls too. Voicemails regularly appear whilst I’m sat awaiting a particular call, watching my phone. I’m pretty sure this is because the 3G coverage is so weak that the phone is continually switching between 3G and 2G coverage and getting its knickers in a twist.
Just this weekend one of my friends told me he now switches off his iPhone’s 3G connection in order to get reliable coverage on O2 and he just puts up with EDGE speed browsing (at best). Surely it shouldn’t come to this?
At home my O2 mobile broadband coverage is unusable too. I recently moved house and was looking forward to getting use from my pay as you go dongle but it was a wasted effort and I had to buy a new one from T-Mobile. Something really seems to be going wrong.
Anyway, rant over and I feel much better for sharing. I could bore you with a lot more examples of poor network coverage but if you’ve read this far you are probably already reaching for the Jamie Oliver blades, wrists outstretched… Suffice to say I’ll definitely be moving to a new network as soon as this contract runs out and I’ll be checking the coverage for Orange and Vodafone very carefully over the coming months.
P.S. I can’t wait to get my hands on the iPhone 4G! 
Have you noticed problems with O2′s mobile phone coverage? If so add a comment below and let everyone know where coverage problems exist!
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I too have noticed a problem with the 02 signal on my mobile. We all use 02 here in a little village in North Scotland because it has always had excellent coverage. Recently however there have been days I can’t get a signal at all, which is really unusual and very annoying.