O2 is the UK’s second-largest mobile operator with over 27 million subscribers

About O2

O2 is a joint venture of Telefonia and Liberty Global, owned by Virgin Media. O2’s CEO is Mark Evans and the company has six subsidiaries:

• Giffgaff
• Wvev Limited 
• Statiq Limited 
• DX Communications Limited 
• mmO2 Limited 
• O2 Money 

Several UK Mobile Virtual Network Operators use the O2 network, including:

• Giffgaff
• Sky Mobile
• Tesco Mobile 
• Lycamobile

O2 has won the Best Network for Reliability award by GWS for three years running in 2019, 2020 and 2021 and Best Network Performance 2019 and 2020 from Mobile News.

O2 Contracts and Products

O2 offers a selection of different contracts and products:

O2 Pay Monthly Sims 

Pay Monthly Sims can either last for 24 months, 12 months or 30 days and they provide data, minutes and texts along with some additional benefits.

For more information, visit the O2 Pay Monthly Sims website.

O2 Pay As You Go Sims 

O2 offers data bundles where users can earn cashback and data rollover in addition to the data allowance they purchase, all with no contract. 

This isn’t set to a time scale and only stops when you run out of data.

For more information, visit the O2 Pay as You Go website.

Mobile Phones 

O2 sells brand new phones and like-new phones with the option to pay via a pre-built plan or a customised plan. 

Users can customise upfront cost, contract time period and how much data they want. 

For more information, visit the O2 Mobile Phones website.

Mobile Broadband 

O2 offers 4 different HotSpot options that can be paid for monthly, and some have the choice to be paid for with Pay As You Go. 

They each come with their own bundles. One of the options is a 5G Pocket Hotspot Pro and comes with a 36 month Plan.

For more information, see the O2 Mobile Broadband website.

O2 Coverage Checker

To check O2’s coverage you need to enter a postcode on the O2 network checker it will generate the network results for your area – you can then choose to filter by Masts and Wifi Hotspots if you wish to. 

The checker covers the types of connection available in that area and tells you whether it is good for indoors and outdoors.

Click to visit their Coverage Checker.

O2 Coverage Details

Nearly 99% of the outdoor population is covered by O2’s 3G and 4G. 

O2 provides a 4G download/upload speed of 18.2/6.2Mbps with a 4G latency of 38.1ms. 5G, 4G, 3G and 2G are all covered.

In terms of 5G, O2 is rapidly increasing their network and at the time of writing 5G was available in over 150 towns and cities in the UK.

O2 Network Features

O2 offers a range of different perks and benefits for using its products and services. 

O2 customers can customise their plans to get the best deals for them, some bundles offer entertainment with subscriptions to sites such as Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video. 

Data rollover is available for businesses in a unique bundle and for personal accounts via a “big bundle”.

You can also sell old phone handsets to O2 for extra cash and get an extra discount if you have multiple devices with O2. O2 also offers Wi-Fi Calling, 4G Calling, Tethering and roaming with no charges under 25GB. 

You can find out more about the other network perks O2 offer on the O2 website.

O2 Customer Service

O2 offers customer support via its website and by phone and you can check for any network issues on the O2 website.  

Despite this, it’s fair to say O2’s customer service scores are quite poor. 

O2 Trustpilot scores

With an overall 1.4 stars on TrustPilot, O2 has received 16% 5-star reviews and 71% 1-star reviews. 

In 5 star reviews, there is praise for the customer service valuing the time of the individual and keeping the service professional. 

1-star reviews express how wait times can be long and it can be difficult to get your issue sorted. 

O2 Reviews.io scores

On Reviews.io O2 also scores poorly, scoring just 1.66 out of 5 and with just 14% of customers saying they’d recommend the network.