Is O2 Broadband any good?

By Neil Hawkins Staff Writer Monday, 10 December 2007

Is O2 broadband any good? Read our reviews of the O2 Broadband packages: O2 Broadband Standard O2 Broadband Premium O2 Broadband Ultimate Compare all three O2 Broadband packages: Compare O2 Broadband Other O2 broadband news See our other recent news about O2 broadband: O2 Price drop for non-O2 customers O2 Broadband has slashed the price of all its broadband packages by £5 per month for non-O2 mobile customers signing up before 30th April 2008. O2 for iPhone and Broadband? HOW many of the newly subscribed O2 iPhone customers have considered switching their broadband provider to O2 too? O2 mobile customers rewarded with incredible O2 broadband deal PRESENTING probably the UK's best high speed broadband packages, O2 has quietly snuck onto the market and is gaining happy customers by the shedload. Be Broadband versus O2 Broadband: Which is better? BE and O2 are offering the best new broadband packages around. But who will give you the best deal? Julie Kukiewicz puts them in the ring together and dings the bell! Similar 'Any Good' Articles See our other investigations into whether a particular broadband provider is any good: Is Orange Broadband any good? IS Orange Broadband any good? We attempt to find out. Is Post Office Broadband any good? IS Post Office Broadband any good? We have the answer. Is TalkTalk any good? You've asked it - we answer it: Is Tiscali broadband any good? Is Tiscali any good? Is Tiscali broadband any good? We find out. Is Sky broadband any good? We answer the question: Is Sky broadband any good?

YOU may not have noticed but just over a month ago O2 launched its own broadband service offering big discounts to O2 mobile pay monthly customers.

The low key launch was a deliberate move to ensure that they didn't encounter the problems experienced by other operators caused by oversubscription.

The good news is, it seems to have paid off with positive reviews for, and experiences of, O2 broadband appearing all over the place, especially from customers who are on O2 mobile contracts and get their broadband package for considerably less than those customers who are not.

Different approach

O2 bought Be Broadband in 2006 but they are keen to stress that they remain very much separate companies.

O2 required a platform to offer its mobile customers broadband but at the same time wanted to maintain the reputation Be Broadband has acquired for excellent customer service and connection reliability.

O2 Broadband Performance Impresses

O2 Broadband customers’ most regularly identified positive point is the improved speed and performance of their broadband connection.

O2 broadband run their service over the same ADSL2+ network as Be Broadband and can therefore offer speeds of up to 20mbps.

Obviously only those living incredibly close to the exchange can get those speeds but nonetheless most users see an increase in speed of around 25-50%.

Many customers find the much improved upload speed offered by O2 Broadband to be a bonus too, especially when you consider that, like Be broadband, there are no real usage caps or throttling policies in place, keeping gamers, downloader’s and the like happy.

Free O2 Broadband Customer Service 24/7

Another area in which O2 has impressed users is its customer service.

The O2 broadband customer service team is based in Glasgow and is available 24 hours day 7 days a week on a freephone number. Yes that's right, freephone!

Not only that, O2 mobile users can call the O2 broadband support team for free from their mobiles too.

Most O2 broadband customers seem happy with the O2 Wireless box, which is provided as part of the package, but as with all ISPs, local conditions can affect the connection stability.

Some users are reported to have gone back to using their previous routers but most are happy with the extra features, such as built in VoIP connectivity as well as the apparently excellent built-in firewall.

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