O2 mobile UK:
Mobile broadband is the perfect solution for getting online when you are not at home or at the office. It’s the perfect speed for social networking, doing your e-mail or even shopping online. However, it is not ideal for streaming live video, downloading, watching sports or transferring files over FTP. A dedicated ADSL connection is much better for that.
O2 offers 3 mobile broadband solutions: Pay & Go Starter Kit, the Pay & Go ‘Just the Dongle’ and Pay Monthly. The Pay & Go Starter Kit is a bare-bones solution with 1GB of data and it comes with a stick modem. In addition, it includes unlimited Wi-Fi data with The Cloud and BT Openzone. (note: you cannot connect to BT Openzone’s Wi-Fi with a Mac).
Hardware:
The stick modem that comes with the Pay and Go ‘Just The Dongle’ package is a Huawei E1752Cu and it costs £20.42. This package does not come with any data however so you will need to buy data whenever you run out. Just like the others, this has unlimited public Wi-Fi access via The Cloud and BT Openzone at certain spots.
The ‘Pay And Go’ Starter Kit comes with the same stick modem (the Huawei E1752Cu), but costs £50.64 for 3 months and includes 1GB of data. There is another option available with an increased data allowance of 2GB. It comes with the same stick modem, however it costs £35.74 per month.
The plain monthly plan comes with 1GB and costs £10.21 for 30 days. This is a rolling contract with no obligations and comes with unlimited Wi-Fi too. All stick modems are available in black, white and pink.
Coverage:
Ideally, like with most mobile services, it is best to check the coverage in your area before service. O2 has a great coverage map on their website.
Also make use of the helpful data calculator on the O2 website to determine what plan is perfect for you. It gives you a great comparison tool to check how many photos, e-mails and videos you watch per month. It has 7 sliders which you must use to select the number of items you download on average per month. For example, the first slider asks: “how many e-mails do you send and receive on average per week?”.The options are 0, 500, 1000, 1500 and 2000. Another one asks how many hours of TV do you download? [this is for services like Hulu Netflix]. The options are 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10.
All O2 services come with a 30-day happiness guarantee so if you are not satisfied within 30 days of your service, you can cancel your contract at any time without any extra costs. This is a great way to test their service with no obligations.
02 is officially known as Telephonica UK Limited and is a telecommunications company operating in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1985. Ofcom reports state that O2 delivers websites faster than all other UK providers. O2 also has a UK-based customer service department, which is a nice touch.