17 May O2 network issues update

On 17 May there was issue on our network in parts of East London, North London, Kent and East Sussex. Here’s what happened and what we did to fix it.

 

 

07:50 update: We've now restored coverage to the affected areas.

What happened?
There was a theft and vandalism at one of our operations sites in East London and, as a result, customers in East London, North London, Kent and Sussex may have had experiencing problems making or receiving calls, texts or data, although at 17:30 full service was restored.

How did you fix this?
Our engineers attended the site, replaced the stolen equipment and repaired the vandalism. From 17:30 full service was restored.

How long did it take you?
Our engineers restored service at 17:30.

Can I get compensation?
We provide a quality and award-winning service to 22 million customers in the UK and spend £1m a day maintaining it. Mobile networks are not completely fault-free but incidents like the one we have experienced today are extremely rare. In light of this we do not, as a rule, offer compensation but customers can be reassured that full service has been restored as at 5.30pm last night.

When did this happen?
We discovered the problem in the early hours of this morning. Our engineers were on site as soon as possible. Once we discovered that there had been a theft, we made the site secure and informed the police.

How secure was the site?
This was a well organised theft which targeted this operations site. We have the full support of the police in investigating this incident.

Do you have backup plans?
We have extensive continuity plans which we brought into effect to restore service as quickly as we could.

What are you doing to make sure this doesn’t happen again?
It’s too early to draw any conclusions but we will be conducting a thorough investigation into how this happened.

I’m not in one of those areas but I’m having issues. What about me?
Please contact our Customer Service team who’ll be able to investigate what’s happening. You can also use our status checker at http://status.o2.co.uk.

 

Comments

[david]

hi i am o2 customer and i am living in grays,essex. but since, this morning i am not able to use my o2 line and always shows no service so could you tell me what happened the line? thanks

[Andrew Bailey]

If the outage persists a discount for failure to provide contracted service might be welcome. This outage is hours long now and a real issue.

[John G]

Thank you for updating people about the situation. However as a pay monthly customer why should we pay full price for the service not being available?

I have a phone in front of me that has been out of action since first thing this morning. We pay the monthly line rental for a service provided from 02, fair enough theft of equipment and vandalism is unforeseen and unfortunate but I'd like to know why I/we as customers should still pay the full price?

[Richard Middleton]

Why haven't you done more to notify your customers of the problem? E.g. there's no warning notice on the front pages of your website I had to drive 25 miles into Folkestone - park, and then walk into the O2 shop to be informed that the problem was yours and not a fault on my phone. I had checked the website but that obviously was of no help whatsoever....

[Kate]

Also in Essex with no service. I appreciate that this has been caused by a theft and was therefore out of O2's control, however the information online is incorrect and needs updating. None of my friends/colleagues on O2 in the Billericay area have any coverage at all.

[Laura]

I agree with John G, surely there should be disaster recovery procedures and back up plans for outtages, can one incident really wipe out such a massive area of coverage?

[Eleanor]

Completely appreciate this is an unforeseen situation but as someone who is currently in the area for work, going to a new office, trying to contact colleaugues, being lost en route etc, to find myself with no phone signal (have two phones, both O2) was extremely inconvenient and a little worrying at times. I sincerely hope compensation is offered.

[Johnny Briggs]

Normally you expert crap service from T-Mobile (or whatever they're called today) and NOT o2.
Security alert causing the problem perhaps ?????

[sarah amelle]

i'm not happy at all with this, i pay £25 a month to be able to use my phone, not £25 a month to be cut off for over 12 hours. i get that there wasn't anything you could do to prevent it, but there are going to be a lot of unhappy customers!! what do we get as compensation.?!

[Liam Gomm]

Thank you for your updates and thank you for trying to fix this problem as quickly as humanly possible. I for one will not be seeking any compensation as my usual service from O2 / Telefonica has always been exemplary.

[toni heselden]

I agree that we should get a payment for the inconvenience caused, especially for business users where work has been affected

[samantha watson]

Thank you for updating people about the situation. However as a pay monthly customer why should we pay full price for the service not being available?

I have a phone in front of me that has been out of action since first thing this morning. We pay the monthly line rental for a service provided from 02, fair enough theft of equipment and vandalism is unforeseen and unfortunate but I'd like to know why I/we as customers should still pay the full price?

Posted by: John G | 17 May 2011 at 01:03 PM

[suman kakkar]

Hi, I am O2 Customer and I cannot use my phone since morning. There are no calls that I can recieve and also I cannot make any calls either.

Could you please let me know what exactly happened and when the issues would be fixed.

[Jo H]

I'm from a small town in East Sussex and it says on the status checker I should have coverage, but I do not. I was on the phone at 1am when it suddenly stopped working and it hasn't worked since then.
I agree with John G why should I pay full price for a service that isn't even available.

[otbmedia]

I accept that there are issues and that they are out of your control but I use my o2 blackberry to run my business when I am out and about and having just got back to my office I have found that I did infact miss 3 vital emails and various urgent phone calls. I am not happy with this at all and I really do fel that o2 should do something to compensate all of its customers on both pay monthly and PAYG.

[MJT]

My god! One (quite major) problem that was out of o2's control and all you two can think about is "compensation, compensation, compensation"!!! Vital equipment has been stolen, it's being replaced. It can be a long and slow process. This is what your bill-bucks go towards.

If you're a business user and it has had a detrimental effect on your business, fair enough. If you're a text-happy maniac, deal with it. Rest your weary hands.

I'm not so much annoyed at my mobile service being out of use at this time, but it's the awkwardness of finding out what is happening.

Here's a sugestion for o2, which I'm sure others will agree on:
Why not have a "Network Status" box on your homepage? That way, all users need is a quick glance at the homepage only. Simples.

[Justin]

I echo the above sentiment.

I am in East London and have been unable to use my mobile since the morning. I have missed urgent calls and have been left unable to make important phone calls.

02 needs to compensate,

[Sarah]

Its only half a day so far without a phone! What would that amount to 50p refund? These things happen :)

[Nettwerk]

My phone stop works last night as well at 3am.
I have phone on contract and I hope you give discount or free (Exsample: 60 min calls to other countries) etc.

[KFrench]

I will be expecting a partial refund for the days that I have been unable to use my phone. I am a pay monthly customer also so some sort of compensation would be fair.

[John Loughridge]

As i have not been able to send picture messages for some time now (months!!), and texting is hit and miss, along with repeated times that i cannot make and recieve calls over my last 5+ yrs with O2 there's nothing new with todays news, not bad for an average bill of £65 per month. & hey it doesnt matter anymore as i have no friends left thanks to O2 & most of my customers have also given up trying to contact me too, what great advances mankind is making, thankfully O2 are not attempting to put a man on the moon ;-)

[bamber]

why the hell does 1 of my o2 payg phones work but the other doesnt????

[--]

I was affected by this issue but turned off my 3g network and began using the gsm/2g network. Why doesnt O2 advise customers to try this to gain back some use of their phones?

[Sarkar S]

I agree with John G. It is not only causing O2 customers trouble but also as Lycamobile customers are as well out of coverage and some of the phones are working and some aren't. This issue is affecting other small providers who is depending on o2.

[Stephanie W]

Any idea how long this will take... Not impressed when im meant to be working from home :(