News - O2 gets into landlines

[Bob Crabtree]

very interested, their CS is an absolute winner! Unlike BT/VM who I have had the pleasure of dealing with....

Certainly agree with that when it comes to broadband technical support.

Typically - with O2 - you will be speaking to a UK-based native-English speaking (OK, from Scotland anyway, cough!) techie and not a script-reader in an Asian call centre.

In my experience, the O2 techie listens to what you have to say and then responds in a highly logical and appropriate fashion.

I get VERY hacked off when, as happened today with BT broadband, I speak to someone who INSISTS on following a script.

I explained precisely what I'd done to try to pinpoint the cause of the intermittent connectivity problem (different socket, different modem cable, different ADSL filter, different PC - and pointing out the same problem happens on all four of the customer's PCs!) but the pesky support droid just ignored all that and insisted that I turn off the firewall on my PC (which I KNOW works perfectly) and do a whole lot of other inappropriate things, as per his script.

He concluded that the modem was faulty and said that if the client signs up for another period of time, he's get a replacement sent out free. This despite my telling him I had also substituted a different modem router!

Fortunately, when I called back an hour later, the guy who picked up did seem to listen and eventually concluded that there was a fault on the line - having carried out a line-test, of course.

D'oh!

I'm ever more impressed each time I speak to O2 broadband technical support (a good deal less so, though, on the mobile phone side).

Not sure of the stats but I strongly suspect that word-of-mouth alone will have helped O2's broadband sales grow massively and rapidly.

As best as I can recall, every 02 broadband customer I've spoken to has been no less impressed than I've been.

Bob C

[Gregalach]

In my experience, the O2 techie listens to what you have to say and then responds in a highly logical and appropriate fashion.

Thanks Bob, I had a similar recent experience in setting up a friend's Sky broadband recently. All went well after I got through to Vijay in India. The Livingston and Dunfermline call centres were gormless ! And I live about 10 miles from either of them !!

O2 deal seems to be what I need to move to from Pipex which is just getting worse

Note that to get the best of the deal you, or someone in your family, will need to have an O2 mobile. Also, you need to be LLU'd (I am, thankfully)

Reading elsewhere, I am swithering whether to go for the broadband today (as there is a chance of Quidco) and the landline next month as there does not appear to be a financial benefit in ordering both together

[Bob Crabtree]

Gregalach,

Not sure what your best way forward is - because of the caveats you mention - but, of course, you are right about needing to have an O2 mobile to get the best price for broadband.

Fact is, though, that I do have an 02 mobile (cos it's the only decent reception I get at my place) and so the cost of the monthly broadband is much reduced. Know also that you can have a pay-as-you go O2 account and still save money, as long as you pay a certain amount every month (and that amount is a good bit less than the savings you make on broadband costs by having the O2 mobile phone).

Fact is, it's so cheap (though not, I think, the rock-bottom cheapest), that I recently signed up to O2 broadband here - simply to have a backup broadband system; my 20mbps Virgin broadband is lovely and rarely falls over but I live and die by the internet and have found it unbearable to use a traditional modem when the Virgin has had problems.

Cost to me for that peace of mind with 02 is of the order of £120 per annum - for a connection that's not much slower than Virgin - and that's well worth paying, as far as I'm concerned (and I could have been paying a good bit less if I'd opted for a slower O2 connection).

The only issue I've had with 02 has been due to my own stupidity.

There has been a number of times when I've struggled for a while to set up POP3 and/or SMTP on an O2 account simply because I've typed 0 (zero) rather than o (the letter).

D'oh!

(or should that be D'zero!?)

Cheers

Bob

[Brewster0101]

Does this prince from O2 include line rental???

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Does this prince from O2 include line rental???

You are a prince!!??

[Bob Crabtree]

Does this prince from O2 include line rental???

Totally ignoring the typo* - no, it doesn't include landline rental and if you think about it briefly, you'll understand why.

This forum thread was linked off the news story about the brand new service the O2 is starting to offer - landline phones.

Bob C

* Of course, if I've mentioned it, I haven't totally ignored it - but you know what I mean, I'm sure.

[Gregalach]

Does this prince from O2 include line rental???

Price does include line rental - only if taken over from BT though

"£17 a month will get you up to 8 meg broadband (depending on where you live), line rental and an Evening & Weekend call package."

"There will be two O2 Home Phone packages to choose from -
Evening & Weekend = * Line rental * Unlimited evening and weekend calls to UK landlines £9.50 per month
Anytime = * Line rental * Unlimited calls to UK landlines at any time * Calls to 0845/0870 numbers * Calls to international landlines in over 20 countries at any time * 25% discount on daytime mobile rates to UK mobiles compared to the Evening & Weekend package £12.50 per month"

Sorry I can't post the URL as I'm a new poster !

Page header is "O2 Home Phone is coming" - Google this instead !

[Gregalach]

Page header is "O2 Home Phone is coming" - Google this instead !

Just noticed that, when I Googled this to check the page, the Google short description says "O2 Home Phone is only available when you have O2 Home Broadband." May not be possible to split the package but there doesn't appear to be anything on their site to confirm either way

[Azza]

Has anyone heard anything more about this at all?