We know how frustrating it is when you can’t to make a call or connect to the internet on your device. But, if you’re experiencing O2 network issues, we’re here to help. Get useful advice on what may be causing problems with your O2 service – as well as practical tips on what you can do.
What should I do if I’m having O2 network issues?
The first thing to do is visit our O2 network status checker to check if your local mast is working. Sometimes, we may carry out maintenance work on it. Sign up for My Network Portal and you can get status updates about our network and permanent masts – such as planned maintenance, unexpected issues and when things will be fixed.
Is our status checker showing no mast issues? Try turning Flight/Airplane Mode on and off again in your device settings. If you don’t know how to do this, check out our device support guides. By turning Flight/Airplane Mode on and off, it’ll refresh your connection.
Other steps to take:
Connect to a nearby wifi hotspot and then enable the Wifi Calling option on your device. This means you can use the wifi signal to make calls even if you have no signal. Get more information on how to set up Wifi and 4G Calling.
Make sure your phone’s software and security settings are up to date. Check out our device-specific troubleshooter for more help with this.
What can cause poor O2 signal?
We know how important our network is to you – and we always do our best to keep you connected. To keep improving our network, we occasionally have to carry out essential work, which may cause some problems.
You can keep up to date by checking the network status checker.
But are also other factors that could affect your signal.
Buildings
Your signal will always be stronger outside. When you’re inside, signal strength will vary depending on the type of building you’re in. Thick concrete walls or lots of steel beams/pillars are factors that can impact your signal, for example.
Location
The closer to a mast you are, the stronger your signal will be. Things like trees and hills will also play a part.
Temporary structures
If there’s a crane or scaffolding around, you might find your signal is worse than usual in a certain area.
Other ways to stay connected
Our network connects you to the people and things you love. If the O2 network is down for maintenance or your device is struggling to connect, however, here are some other ways to get a great experience – wherever you are.
Experiencing slow data speeds at a busy central location? See if you can connect to one of our 16,000+ free O2 wifi hotspots – and boost your speed by up to 10x
No signal? No problem. Wifi Calling means you can use wifi to call as normal if you have a signal problem – whether you’re at home, in a coffee shop or at the office.
O2 Customers can enjoy access to wifi on the Underground with Wifi Extra. Wifi Extra is available in ticket halls, walkways, on escalators and platforms at over 250 Tube stations – that’s over 95% of the London Underground network. Learn more about Wifi on the Underground.
Network issues support FAQs
Use the My Network app to keep an eye on your coverage, wherever you are. Download the app and you’ll be able to:
• Check the status of our network in your area – you don’t even need to enter your postcode
• Test your O2 network speeds
• Report any issues with your O2 service
• Sign up to receive updates on any reported O2 network issues.
It is simple to use – and you can check the network right from your phone.
There are lots of O2 masts located in the UK. Each one has its own coverage footprint – and they transmit or receive signals for the devices within that footprint. Your calls and messages are converted into a digital signal and sent via electromagnetic waves to the person you’re contacting.
If you’re moving between different mast coverage areas, their footprints overlap so that you continue to have signal. This overlap is only very slight, however. Otherwise, signals may interfere with each other and impact your service. We do need to regularly test and adjust our masts, however, to keep things working smoothly.
This is called network optimisation.
There are so many reasons why your local mast might have an issue. In winter, a mast can get iced-up and stop it working properly. Meanwhile, animals and other creatures might chew through a cable and break an important connection in our network.
So, that’s just two examples of how issues can occur. But, at O2, we’re monitoring our network 24/7, 365 days a year – so that we can spot any problems as quick as we can.
If an automatic alarm goes off, we can investigate the problem and fix it remotely from our control centre. If we can’t do that, we’ll send an engineer out to see what’s wrong – and how to fix it. This can mean coming back again with replacement parts.
Learn more about how we monitor and fix network issues by watching the video below.
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You can call the emergency services by dialling 999 from your O2 phone – as long as you are in range of our network. If you are not within range of our network, or if the network is not available for any reason, your device or mobile phone may try to use another mobile network to connect your call to the emergency services.
Your approximate location (using network, GPS network information and wifi data) may be shared with the emergency services via functionality built into the device – although this will depend on the device you use.
