Well thats what they just told me when I phoned them to leave

I cant imagine a company like Orange would lie but there you go

No suggestion of prices or contracts but they will have it soon – and thats 3GS not just the 3G

very interesting – i heard O2's exclusivity ran out in October, so it all adds up.

Definite possibility.

Surprised that O2 would let exclusivity slip away but I guess it is ultimately up to Apple and the O2 network has struggled at times to handle all the extra traffic from iphones.

I cant imagine a company like Orange would lie but there you go

After the debacle a few weeks back with their attempt to change terms and conditions while trying to prevent customers leaving the altered contracts by telling them that there were no contractual changes I wouldn't put it past them to lie on this one.

It could be true………..

When I left O2 to get my 3G iPhone, they told me that they were "weeks away" from launching the iPhone themselves. They still haven't and we're a year down the line.

Not to say this isn't true but I'd be cautious about signing on with them until you see it on their site.

Surprised that O2 would let exclusivity slip away but I guess it is ultimately up to Apple…….

Indeed, ultimately its up to Apple.

When they first launched the iPhone in the UK it was a bit of an unknown quantity. Sharing the costs of launching a product with a single network provider and giving them exclusivity for the favour was a shrewd decision but now that it is an established (and sought after) product Apple would be fools to continue the exclusivity arrangement. No matter how sought after the iPhone is many people have held off getting one purely because the O2 provide such a poor service and to ensure continued expansion sales (rather than replacement sales to existing iPhone users) Apple will need to offer it to other providers.

i've never had a problem with 02 – indeed, I get better coverage than when i was on orange.

That article linked to from Tangoman suggests 1-2 years, not 1-2 weeks!

That article linked to from Tangoman suggests 1-2 years, not 1-2 weeks!

To complete the merger not to take on iPhones.

i've never had a problem with 02 – indeed, I get better coverage than when i was on orange.

O2 had a couple of major outages in the past few months where no one was able to get any internet/email access on their network for a full day.

Not good.

They also re-compress images on the fly when using mobile internet (making them all blurry), presumably to save bandwidth.

iPhone users typically use WAY more mobile internet than other users, so the network has struggled at times.

This is interesting too:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/13/iphone_orange_t_mobile/

I think it's pretty much expected that the 3G will go to Orange, but no sign that anybody else will be selling the 3GS in the near future- apart from the op's comment.

To complete the merger not to take on iPhones

doesnt it mention something about they'll only be able to bid for bigger stuff once they become one?

They also re-compress images on the fly when using mobile internet (making them all blurry)

never had a problem if that does happen! All images perfectly clear enough for me unless the original image was stupidly small!

O2 had a couple of major outages in the past few months where no one was able to get any internet/email access on their network for a full day

didn't notice that one… and I use mine every day for data pretty much. must have been fortunate to miss it I guess?

doesnt it mention something about they'll only be able to bid for bigger stuff once they become one?

Yes but that is sooner 1-2 years.

O2 had a couple of major outages in the past few months where no one was able to get any internet/email access on their network for a full day.

Not had any problems here either, so it obviously didn't affect everyone.

i'm having one!

my sister mentioned that Orange had an outage the other week and her blackberry has been temperamental the last few weeks, suggests orange are far from stable. Never had an issue with O2 in last 5 years.

Ahem…

"UK operator O2 is having data network problems that are making it impossible for most users to access the internet, as well as preventing data-based applications such as MMS."
— Wheels come off O2's data network (El Reg, July 21st 2009)

 

"…those who have entrusted mission critical functions to O2's data network will already be regretting that decision, while the industry as a whole suffers from a perceived lack of maturity in the technology caused by the incompetence of one company"
— O2 data network falls over again (El Reg, July 27th 2009)

 

"O2 tells us that network problems are affecting "some users", but reports from far and wide indicate that the nationwide network is rejecting connections over 3G and 2G services, from Brighton to Liverpool, leaving iPhone owners bereft of their service while everyone else is, again, forced to fall back on speaking to people."
— O2 data fails, again – Third time in three weeks (El Reg, 5th August 2009)

 

"The statement we finally managed to get out of O2 this morning simply admits that there was an outage, and that it lasted for around two hours on Saturday, though the O2 forums, and reports from El Reg readers, would seem to indicate a longer downtime."
— O2 just can't keep it up – Another data outage over Bank-holiday weekend (El Reg, 1st Sept 2009)

I've had a number of 'no service' outages over recent months, the latest was Saturday morning, though, intruigingly, when it came back briefly, the network indicator showed 3G instead of the usual E, which I wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't been on the extreme edge of my wifi and it had dropped off for a couple of minutes. O2 recently added a second equipment box to the mast at the top of my road, so I wonder if at least some of these outages are due to ongoing upgrades to the Edge network to full 3G.

O2 has been pretty good for me, sometimes it's shit, most of the time it's not.

In fact, much like every other mobile phone company I've ever had a contract with. Graham certainly seems to care a lot though, does he work for orange….

Just spoke to a friend who works for Orange and she is none the wiser about the possibility of iPhone going to Orange. Doesn't mean it won't though.

Sounds good news to me.

I've got another 9 months to run on my current iPhone/02 contract and whilst I'll definitely stick with an iPhone I'll happily migrate to Orange where I was before I got the iPhone.

Orange's free broadband was a good offer which I'd be keen to take back up if it was available, plus O2 will be more inclined to offer a better deal when there's a competitor in the market place, win/win for customers.

C

so I wonder if at least some of these outages are due to ongoing upgrades to the Edge network to full 3G.

Possibly, though during the outages I've been hit with I was still able to get a full 3G signal – I just couldn't use it!

Graham certainly seems to care a lot though, does he work for orange….

Nope, just a pissed off O2 user.

I have worked on mobile phone network monitoring software though and I can tell you that none of the major UK network providers I had contact with exactly filled me with confidence.

Bingo. They are all just as bad as each other, if I cared enough I'm pretty I could find similar articles about any network.

Just glad someone else pays my bill…

Yep, certainly wasn't implying that Orange are any better. Just that O2 have visibly struggled to cope with the extra data demands of the hordes of iPhone users they now have on their network – so a bit of competition may be good for everyone!

These outages then. Do they stop everything, or can you still talk / text?

(Intrigued prospective iPhone buyer)

The ones that hit me just stopped data traffic (Internet and MMS), talking and texting were fine.

Do you have to be in a full 3G area to get data, or does it drop back to GPRS when signal's iffy? If so, is this still free?

does it drop back to GPRS when signal's iffy?

Yup, uses the best it can get: WiFi -> 3G -> Edge -> GPRS

If so, is this still free?

Yup (well free as in: included in the Unlimited Internet part of the O2 contract).

T-mobile told me that they were getting the i-phone in the new year. I think it must be something to do with the merger.

T-Mobile have been offering them to their high spenders as a retention sweetener, more here as well as the Orange rumours.