02 are changing their conditions for those on a airtime contract. Essentially they are charging more for some 08/09 numbers and restricting your data to 25gb if you travel to the EU(if your plan has that). What does this mean to the consumer ? As they are materially changing the conditions of said contract, you, the consumer can terminate the contract with 02 without penalty or by having to pay any further costs or fees. (you may still have to pay the 30 days notice period). This only works for those on an airtime contract and not on a device contract.
How do I know this ? 02 sent me an email this morning advising me as such and after having to wait 40 mins to get hold of a call handler and advising them I wanted to cancel my contract, my line was literally disconnected there and then with my contract ending today. A little inconvenient as I will have no mobile connection for a day or so but I've saved over 6 months of existing contract fee's and at least I can now choose whether to just get a cheap sim deal or look around for a new phone.
I suspect also the other mobile providers will soon do something similar, so keep an eye out for an email or post regarding them changing your fees/contract.
P.S. anyone know any good phone deals
EE has already announced that from Jan 2022 they would charge for roaming in the EU; 3 has also reduced its free offer from 20 GB to 12…
Basically in a few days they will have all jumped on the bandwagon.
The only advantage I see in staying with O2 for the moment is that the price increases are smaller than for a more recent customer.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
I'm frankly surprised that people are surprised.
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
Do their costs go up because of Brexit or are they just using rule change as an opportunity to cash grab?
Have no idea but probably the latter...Originally Posted by Christian
The former
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
O2 is the Spanish Telefonica so I doubt their costs go up.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
No it is not.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Do enlighten us then optix.......?
A quick Google turns up that it is now 50/50 joint venture between Telefonica and Liberty Global (who own Virgin Media).
On the fact that O2 is not the Spanish Telefónica? https://news.virginmediao2.co.uk/about-us/
Telefónica is more like BT, Orange, Nippon etc
Wholesale costs for data change between countries. Brexit just by its nature increases costs due to bureaucracy that goes along with it.
I thought that the fact that Telefónica both owns (part of) O2 and is a major European mobile operator meant that roaming agreements would be easier (and cheaper) than for a UK only operator (like EE?).
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Its very difficult to understand how Brexit pushes up costs of global communications companies by that much. It very much feels like a cash grab by these companies because the rules now allow them to charge.
That said, 25gb is a lot of data...I think I use about 3gb per month and I stream music, use GPS maps and surf the internet a lot whilst out-and-about. This only affects really heavy users that stream video or do video meetings. Can't see this causing too much trouble for your average traveller.
I’ll stick with them I think. I only pay £28 a month for unlimited calls and texts and 20gb data and that includes Disney+ and Amazon Prime. I also get £12 back each month in Caffè Nero coffee!
I did try and avoid the whole brexit thing, however what it does do is give the 02 consumer the right to cancel their existing 02 airtime contract early. I was able to terminate my 02 contract with 6 months left on my original contract , so every cloud etc etc.
If you wanted out of your contract that is fine indeed. If you wanted out because of the 25GB limit I am afraid it will be a case of "out of the frying pan, into the fire" as most -if not all- will follow suit.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
A case of Hobson's choice then, irrespective of what I do.
I agree though, it's shameless profiteering on part of the mobile operators and I dare say over the next few years the remaining roaming privileges will be chipped away till we are back paying charges everytime we go abroad.
Just not sure how they will justify that. Most global roaming plans have places like USA on where you can use data for free. Even if they say there is an associated cost with Brexit, it can't make it any worse than those other places outside the EU?
EE have stated they will re-introduce roaming charges on new contracts from Jan, so it's not a question of how they can justify it, they are doing it.
Anyway, my post was about giving a heads up to anyone on a 02 contract which might be affected by their changes and what action they can take if they decide to do so. I've terminated my contract and calculate I'll save over £300 over the term, so it's worthwhile looking into.
They robbed us with roaming charges until the EU passed a law to stop it and I am pretty sure the changes came in on the last day then with O2 and Vodafone at least. Not surprised now the law doesn't prevent them they have reintroduced roaming charges especially with little travel happening at the moment so helps them keep it under the radar.
And no, I am sure their costs haven't changed...
O2 haven't reintroduced roaming charges. The only difference to travel is that data is restricted to 25gb which is more than adequate for normal use, surely?
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote