Review: O2 Mobile Broadband

O2 Mobile Broadband Review

In a nutshell: O2 Mobile Broadband costs the same as most other mobile broadband services at £15 per month. However, the monthly charge includes unlimited WiFi access from 7,500 WiFi hotspots, and O2 are also offering cheap home broadband as part of the deal. O2 also offer a "Happiness Guarantee" which means that you can cancel the contract without penalty within the first 50 days if you're not happy.
Best buy: O2 Mobile Broadband (from £15 per month)

O2 mobile broadband lets you connect your laptop to the internet on the move using a USB modem (called a "dongle") or via a WiFi "hotspot." The basic contract costs £15 per month, which is the same as other mobile broadband suppliers. However, you can also bundle in your home broadband connection for a monthly charge of £5. So, for £20 per month you get mobile broadband and home broadband, which is an excellent deal.

An independent study undertaken by SIRODA in January 2010 across 150 UK locations found that O2 provided the fastest mobile broadband music download speeds. In London, O2 also achieved the fastest web page access times.

The O2 service is compatible with both PC's and Apple computers.

You can read an expert's O2 broadband review at Broadband Expert.

O2 Mobile Broadband Consumer Reviews

Love your mobile network? Hate it? Please share your experiences to help other people choose the mobile broadband network that's best for them. Please do not review this network if you have not used it. This is a review site, not a forum, so please don't just ask questions. Please do not use swear words or offensive language, and please, no advertising!

Average rating from 37 reviews:

Reviewed by jim from ireland on 17th Aug 2010
paid €250 to watch world cup on o2 broadband. Very dear!!!!!!
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Reviewed by eoin from ireland on 12th Aug 2010
DISGRACEFUL.......cant say anything good about them.......hidden charges......outrageous overusage charges..shocking coverage....extremely slow broadband.......dont waste your money
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Reviewed by Paul from UK on 31st Jul 2010
Some of these reviews are actually for home broadband not mobile broadband. I have home broadband from o2 and its great but mobile broadband from them is slow and unresponsive. Relies on a good 3g signal. If you have a BT landline and don't need access anywhere get o2 home broadband set up with router. Enjoy speeds of 11MB/S over WIFI, or 16 over cable connected to computer. These mobile broadbands are far slower and patchier but on the upside it will work anywhere, so long as its in a 3g area.
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Reviewed by Dave Roberts from United Kingdom on 19th Jun 2010
Simply appalling. So frustrating to use, software install takes 10 minutes, increases Windows Startup by a good 30 seconds and is so badly designed, and un-responsive. It feels like it was knocked together in a day, with testing taking place over half a day. I was informed in the shop to expect 3.2 meg, if not 3g, then half a mbps, which I was overjoyed with. I was conned, paid my money then for hours after, grew more and more frustrated with awful software, and hardware that simply just doesn`t work. It takes about 2 mins to connect, then double that to load a simple page. Even though reception says Very Good, constantly an error would occur, saying no coverage. I just have to take it back to the shop, DO NOT use O2 Mobile Broadband, you will tear your hair out. I tried a number of computers, and locations which indicated on their website had great coverage.
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Reviewed by Michael Gardiner from UK on 4th May 2010
DO NOT USE O2 BROADBAND!! Why? Because in their Terms and Conditions it states that if you leave them for another ISP you must return their router or they will charge you £50! Yep, even if you have completed the obilgatory 12 months period. They keep this part quiet of course, wouldn't want to deter customers from signing up. I have to say that it is a unique stipulation in my experience, no other ISP has ever asked for their kit back when moving on.
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Reviewed by Andrew from Scotland on 12th Apr 2010
Switched from virgin to o2, best move ever! Even though i am paying for 20MB and getting 13MB max (this is due to BT not updating the exchange) its still brilliant. i live with 5 other guys and we download all the time, and surf whilst doing so. But, we get maximum bandwidth all the time. No capping policy which is great. And less than £10 a month! Really recommend!
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Reviewed by Paul from UK on 4th Apr 2010
Terrible coverage - despite being told 'excellent' in the shop. Not enough bandwidth to watch video, websites take 2-3 mins to load. Amazingly, even my 3 donlge was better (but not great)
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Reviewed by Phil from England on 27th Mar 2010
I cant fault O2. I even get internet with a very low signal strength. It very rarely looses connection. Iwould recommendit to anyone!
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Reviewed by Aaaaaaa from Ni on 26th Mar 2010
Seriously what do u people expect if you want fast speeds just realise you have to pay the price of a landline as well mobile broadband is not meant to be fast, you can't expect the networks to know exactly what speeds ur going to get either so many factors come into what speeds you get, I.e. The buildin ur in, how many people in your area are using it, and obviously if u have a mast close by or not (and don't say they should put more masts up coz they cost millions) and if you want cheap deals like they do in the uk then think about it logically, everyone expects things to be perfect but we have thebest mobile networks in the world and the most competitive alot of other countries have to have credit on their phones just to recieve calls never mind what you get for mobile broadband
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Reviewed by fred from england on 7th Mar 2010
The worst dongle on the market! it fails after 30 mins and i have to wait hours for it to re-connect. whatever you do, buy something else!!!
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Reviewed by mirriam from london on 10th Jan 2010
i've got an o2 mobile broadand on 24 month contract for £40 when signing up with them i was living in walthamstow and the coverage was ok i am now living in essex and have no coverage at all. 02 says they dont cover this area they dont cancel the contract, they also wont drop my tariff i will never buy anything from 02 again even if its free!!!!
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Reviewed by richard from uk on 8th Jan 2010
hey what the matter with you guys ;) 02 is actuallly really good, i had it for year now and when i had a problem, they fixed it up in no time
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Reviewed by kev from uk on 4th Jan 2010
Worked quite well for 2 months. Problem with dongle, would not replace, advised to send for repair by shop. No assurance on length of time away. 02 direct very helpful, 02 shop customer services awful !!
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Reviewed by kev from uk on 29th Dec 2009
i'll tell you, o2 pay as you go mobile internet dongle is like trying to strain water through a solid wall it is rubbish, when i had the device it was connecting to hsdpa network at between 20-40%, now it does not connect to hsdpa it connects to 3g occasionly but most of the time to edge network what does that mean, less than 10 kbs speed and to down load a small 28meg means just over 2 yes 2 hours and they call this a service how is it the signal is just usable and then over time it deteriates to nothing i am not happy rubbish service, i expected better form o2/bt
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Reviewed by Laura from Scotland on 28th Dec 2009
I was shocked to read the negative reviews given to o2 for their broadband, I've had mine a while now and not once have I had any problems with it. The dongle cost me £15, the man that sold me it was very helpful and polite, while I explained to him the problems I had with the network3 and T-Mobile dongles - Which I'm NOT going to go into on here, I might get angry again!! LOL :-D Mobile broadband will never compare to NORMAL broadband, say that of Virgin or BT, but it is good as a stop gap or for traveling. What I can't get my head around is the amount of people who complain they can't download stuff, dongles were merely created to allow internet access, not for movie downloads. After using other networks, and now finally getting an o2 dongle I won't be looking back.
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Reviewed by Bill from UK on 26th Dec 2009
Not happy with the PAYG mobile O2 Broadband at all. On my account web page it says I still have credit. Whenever I find the web page is running slow I find if I top up this problem some how automatically dissapears. Could it be possible this is done deliberately to get people to top up even though there is credit to get more money out of people?
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Reviewed by Bridget from uk on 13th Dec 2009
so far my o2 pay as you go dongle has been great, but lately not very good signal, but i am quite impressed so far and i have had it for nearly a year.
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Reviewed by Callum from Wales on 5th Dec 2009
im with 02 its descent enough for facebook...thats about it.. anyone know how 2 view webcam on msn with it or infact youtube...which tbh slow is an understatemant cheers
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Reviewed by mike from england on 19th Nov 2009
HI I HAVE HAD O2 BROADBAND FOR MONTHS AND I HAVE TO SAY IT IS BAD VERY BAD IT IS SLOW MOST OF THE TIME 1.3 DOWN LOAD SPEED ,,AND WHEN YOU GO TO YOUR HOME PAGE AND GO ONTO YOUR EMAIL YOU HAVE SO MANY PROBLEMS YOU WANT TO THROW YOU LAPTOP AT THE WALL I HAVE RANG O2 THEY SAY I AM GETING 2G DOWN LOAD SPEED BUT YOU DO NOT THEY DO CHECK TO SEE HOW GOOD YOUR SPEED IS I AM SORRY O2 PULL YOUR SOCKS UP AND GET IT RIGHT...
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Reviewed by Claire from England on 23rd Sep 2009
Really rubbish. I used to be on T mobile, but that messed up my computer so i decided to go onto 02 to see if it was any better, and i might as well go back to T mobile. Absolutely rubbish, takes forever to connect, and when it does i can't see any vids on youtube because it is so slow, or email, i can just browse, and even then it takes about 5 minutes...it shouldn't be this bad. Will this nightmare ever end????????????????????????
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Reviewed by KATIE from ENGLAND on 4th Sep 2009
BOUGHT MY 02 MOBILE BROADBAND A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO WORKED FINE, UNTIL NOW, LAST THREE DAYS ITS BEEN ON AND OFF MOSTLY OFF, WHEN I CAN ACCESS THE INTERNET I AM THROWN OUT AFTER A FEW MINUTES, WHEN I TRY TO GET ONLINE I CANT, ITS AWFUL O2 SHOULD BE LOOKING AT THE PROBLEM AND SORTING IT. (4TH SEPTEMBER 09) WHEN IT WORKS ITS FINE...
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Reviewed by gianni from uk on 1st Sep 2009
the worst mobile broadband on the market, i left 02 for 3, there coverage is unbeatable and the price is outstanding.
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Reviewed by Ikenna from London, Uk on 20th Aug 2009
I tell u this don't leave o2 to 3 network if you love ur life
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Reviewed by Adam from UK on 7th Jul 2009
Bad area coverage. We used to use Orange UK and changed to 02 to see if better coverage and it's the worst possible. Takes around 10 - 15 minutes to pickup the 02-UK network and once connected, it connects at 56 kbps. Slow connection, slow program loading. Complained to 02 and will pursue.
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Reviewed by Tony Calzone from UK on 22nd Jun 2009
Decent for checking emails and browsing, anything more, forget it!
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Reviewed by Rachel from England on 15th Apr 2009
I got totally ripped off by o2. Please don't use them, it could happen to you. Supposed to pay £15.00 a month, supposed to get an email when nearly reaching 3gb limit. Never received an email, used less than 1gb over limit and monthly bill was £182.28!!!!! This is despite not being able to get any signal at all on a few occasions. Please do not get taken for a fool... like I did!!
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Reviewed by Danny Harper from UK on 13th Apr 2009
Awful Customer Service and they lie through their teeth.
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Reviewed by Piecan from UK on 6th Apr 2009
I've had good CS with o2. I left Plusnet, which is a very good company, so was worried it might not be as good. The change over was very fast and easy and I was kept in touch by text and email of the progress. The only problem I have with it is that it doesn't have a place on their website with a current status report of any issues. Like many others I had the dns problem which caused lots of disconnections. Fortunately I found their forum reporting the issue and a temporary solution until it was fixed (which worked great). Plusnet have a very good website giving details of any problems and the lead time fixing them, which I miss.
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Reviewed by alice x from dubi on 13th Mar 2009
o2 is a very good broardband i wud recomend it definitly my brothers is o2 (it is great) mine is orange (not so great)i wud recomend it!!!! thank you to all the dubi doctors for helping me
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Reviewed by Kirsty from England on 12th Mar 2009
I felt obliged to write a review after taking out O2's pay as you go mobile broadband, as I'd used these pages to help me make the decision in the first place. Firstly; shop assistant in the O2 shop could not have been nicer or more helpful (without the pushiness I associate generally with phone shop assistants). Secondly, my only regret is that I did not buy my dongle sooner! The internet was very easy to set up (I'd previously had problems connecting my laptop to wifi internet so I was a little wary) and it works an absolute treat! Being able to top my internet up as and when without being tied to a contract is ideal as a student. The dongle was much cheaper than others have advertised at only £30.00 and I think £15.00 for 30 days unlimited internet access is extremely reasonable. All in all I'm very happy with my mobile broadband and would happily recommend it to anyone who, like me, live in a good network area. I haven't really tried it out on the move as my laptop is too heavy to really drag around with me. The picture quality is not as good as it is at university but there have to be some comprimises doesn't there? :)
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Reviewed by Claire from UK on 5th Mar 2009
Had problems from the beginning. It kept dropping connection after 30 minutes and took hours to get back on. Cancelled in store under the 50 day guarantee and that was the start of the real problems. O2 now insisting that the account is still active and I owe money even though I have proof it was cancelled. Its taking loads of phone calls to customer service and the store and I've even had to go into the store. Still not resolved. The service is pathetic and the customer service is appalling. They are only interested in taking money. I've given 1 star but only becuase I can't give none!!! Stay away
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Reviewed by Mark from SW England on 22nd Jan 2009
Have had nothing but problems with O2, have spent hours on the phone to technical services attempting to rectify thse issues but to no avail. It's been taken to the highest tier, and has been blamed on several occasions to upgrades to the local exchange taking place. Two months on and speeds are still slower than dial-up (3.4 kb/s on one download!!) and one computer in the hous eremains unable to connect to the 02 box entirely. Looking into cancelling the contract but I do not want to pay the £50 charge for cancelling the contract early and having had the broadband longer than the 100 day grace period. Avoid like the plague.
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Reviewed by Laura from GB on 10th Jan 2009
this is ok and im in an excellent signal area but it is still really really slow. i ent 100% satisfyed but in my eyes slow internet is better than no internet
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Reviewed by yenrod from NW England on 27th Dec 2008
Ive had O2 mobile broadband non-contract (usb dongle) for over a week now and as much im on 'low signal' im still getting HSDPA so the nets pretty quick and upto now has been good and highly recommendable. I was gonna check it out and if i never liked it take it back and buy my network of 8 yrs - vodafone 1GB offer but this has got to be better £7.50 for a weeks worth or 2pound a day or £15 for a month. Very Good
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Reviewed by zhao from uk on 25th Dec 2008
very good
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Reviewed by bryony from england on 25th Nov 2008
o2 is the best! i can get signal almost anywhere and they have the best offers all my mates are on o2 aswel now so thats good =)
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Reviewed by Andrew from England on 17th Sep 2008
Do not pay 119 for the usb stick in order to get the 30 day rolling contract if you intend to cancel the contract for any reason. If after cancelling (several months after in my case) you decided you can make use of the service again you will not be able to use your existing hardware as O2 insist you have to buy ANOTHER usb stick to get a 30 rolling contract. It is a complete con
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You can read more O2 Broadband reviews at RecommendedBuys UK.

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