O2 Coverage and Network Review

Table of Contents Coverage 5G Coverage 4G Coverage 3G Coverage Plans 5G Roaming Tethering VoLTE WiFI Calling Data rollover Spending caps Unlimited data Family plans Credit Checks eSIMs Unique perks Awards Network Speeds Frequencies Traffic Management Customer Service Conclusion Alternatives

Coverage

O2 Coverage

Network Type	Coverage by population
5G	Now available in over 3,200 locations
4G	99%
3G	99%
2G	99%
Check O2 Coverage

5G coverage

O2 launched its 5G service on October 17th, 2019. It initially launched in six cities but its 5G service is now available in many more locations. At the time of writing you can get O2 5G in parts of over 3,200 places, accounting for around 65% of the UK population outdoors.

If you don’t have O2 5G where you are yet, it should be worth waiting for, as it is far faster than 4G, so you can download and upload files faster and stream in higher quality. More excitingly, 5G could open up whole new use cases, such as truly smart cities and things we haven’t even envisaged yet.

To take advantage of its power though you’ll need a 5G phone. A number of these are now available, and O2 stocks many of them, such as the Samsung Galaxy S24, Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus, Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6, iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 15 Plus, and iPhone SE (2022).

4G coverage

O2’s 4G coverage currently rivals Vodafone's at around 99% of the UK population, but is seemingly slightly behind EE's and Three’s, based on the latest available information at the time of writing. The difference is small though – we’re talking a percent at most, so you can be confident that across the UK as a whole you’ll get competitive coverage on O2, though it’s always worth checking what coverage is like in your area before signing up to a network.

4G from O2 is now available in thousands of UK towns, cities, and villages, so if you live in a remotely urban area then you’ll more likely than not be able to get O2 4G, and many rural areas will have access too.

3G coverage

O2 has around 99% population coverage with 3G, so it’s a similar situation to its 4G. Note that O2 will begin switching 3G off in 2025, so it can repurpose the spectrum for 4G and 5G.

You can use O2’s coverage checker above to find out more about O2 coverage in your area, including signal strengths and details on both indoor and outdoor coverage.

Plans

O2 offers Pay Monthly phones, along with SIM Only plans and Data Only plans, all of which you can see details of below. The network also offers Pay As You Go (detailed further down), and mobile broadband plans.

SIM Only Deals

	1 GB data 500 mins Unlimited texts 12 Month Contract	£5.00 a month View Deal
	3 GB data Unlimited mins Unlimited texts 24 Month Contract	£15.00 a month View Deal
	6 GB data Unlimited mins Unlimited texts 24 Month Contract	£17.00 a month View Deal
	1 GB data Unlimited mins Unlimited texts 12 Month Contract	£18.00 a month View Deal
	20 GB data Unlimited mins Unlimited texts 24 Month Contract	£19.00 a month View Deal
View All O2 Sim Only Deals

O2 has a range of Pay Monthly, SIM Only and Pay As You Go plans available. 5G is also available at no extra cost.

O2’s Pay Monthly plans are flexible, as while they default to 36 months in duration you can also edit them, choosing anything from as little as 3 months, with prices changing accordingly. You can also adjust how much you’re prepared to pay upfront and how much data you want (up to a maximum of unlimited data). They also allow tethering, and you can use as much of your data allowance for that as you want.

O2’s SIM Only plans come in at 24 months, 12 months or just 1 month long. They also come with a lot of data, topping out at unlimited. As with Pay Monthly, they also allow tethering, and you can use as much of your data allowance for that as you want.

Both phone and SIM plans also include VoLTE and Wi-Fi Calling, which we’ll dig into further down in this article.

O2 also offers Data Only plans for tablets, MiFi devices and dongles. These are designed to give you data, without minutes or texts.

They are available on 1, 12 or 24-month contracts with up to unlimited data.

Pay As You Go

O2 Pay As You Go Plans

	Mobile Phones
Plans Available	✔
Add-ons available	✔
Max Data Allowance	150GB
Add-on expiry	30 days
Data Rollover	1 month
Top Up Expiry	6 months inactivity
Tethering	✔
EU Roaming	✔

O2 has a number of Pay As You Go bundles available, giving you an allowance of minutes, texts and data that last for 30 days. They top out at 150GB of data, and they let you roll over up to 1 month of data, giving you extra time to use it.

They also come with tethering and European roaming as standard.

O2 Perks

				Mobile Phones				SIM Only				Data only SIM
5G				✔				✔				✔
Roaming				✔				✔				✔
Tethering				✔				✔				✔
Wi-Fi Calling				✔				✔				✖
VoLTE				✔				✔				✖
Data Rollover				✖				✖				✖
Spending Caps				✔				✔				✔
Unlimited Data				✔				✔				✔
Family Plans				✔				✔				✔
Credit Check				✔				✔				✔
eSIMs				✔				✔				✔
O2 Priority				✔				✔				✔

O2’s plans come with many perks and additional features, as you can see in the table above. We’ve detailed these in full below.

5G

O2 offers 5G as standard on Pay Monthly plans (with a 5G phone), SIM Only and Data Only plans, so you won’t have to pay any extra to get it, and you can get it on a wider range of plan types than some networks.

Roaming Destinations

You can roam (up to a fair usage allowance of 25GB) at no extra cost in the following locations:

Austria, Azores, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canary Islands, Croatia, Cyprus*, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, French Guiana, Germany Gibraltar, Greece, Guadeloupe, Guernsey, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Jersey, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madeira, Malta, Martinique, Mayotte, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Reunion, Romania, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Martin, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Vatican City.

The vast majority of those also offer 5G roaming (at least, in the parts of those locations where 5G is available). Specifically, this is advertised in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, French Guiana, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guadeloupe, Guernsey, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Jersey, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madeira, Malta, Monaco, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Vatican City.

O2 stands out here as it’s the only major UK network that isn’t currently charging or planning to charge for European roaming.

Select plans also let you roam for free in the following 27 destinations: Argentina, Australia, Botswana, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Greenland, Guatemala, Guinea, Guyana, Honduras, Madagascar, Mexico, Myanmar, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Rwanda, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela and Yemen, with unlimited data, minutes, and texts. Though note that while there’s no limit on data, your speeds might vary.

But to roam further afield you'll have to pay at least £6 per day, with that money getting you unlimited data, minutes, and texts in: Albania, Anguilla, Argentina, Aruba, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Belarus, Bermuda, Botswana, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Greenland, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guyana, Honduras, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Jamaica, Japan, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Montserrat, Myanmar, Netherlands Antilles, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Turks & Caicos, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, USA, Venezuela, Yemen, and Zambia.

Tethering

O2 offers tethering as standard on all of its plans, allowing you to use any or all of your data allowance towards it – though the network doesn’t recommend this use and warns that this can use up your data quickly.

Fortunately, O2 also has plans with high data allowances, currently topping out at unlimited, so you can have a lot of data to play with.

However, there is a fair usage policy saying not to use more than 650GB of data per month, and not to tether more than 11 devices.

Wi-Fi Calling

Wi-Fi Calling means making calls over Wi-Fi with your normal number and calling apps – so you can stay in touch as normal when there’s no signal, as long as you’re connected to Wi-Fi.

O2 offers this at no extra cost on Pay Monthly and SIM Only plans, and it works with all the 4G and 5G devices the network currently stocks.

In the case of some Android devices, your phone will also need to be running O2 firmware for Wi-Fi Calling to work.

VoLTE

VoLTE is also known as Voice Over LTE or 4G Calling, and it means you can call and text using 4G, rather than your phone having to switch to a 2G or 3G signal. This in turn means you can call and text in places that only have a 4G signal, and can potentially get superior call quality.

VoLTE works on the same selection of handsets as Wi-Fi Calling, including all of the 4G and 5G smartphones currently sold by O2.

As with Wi-Fi Calling, you also need to be running O2 firmware if using certain Android devices.

Data rollover

O2 doesn’t offer data rollover on Pay Monthly or SIM Only plans, but you can get it on Pay As You Go, meaning that you can roll over any unused data to a second month, so that you have a second chance to use it.

Not many networks offer data rollover at all, though it being restricted to Pay As You Go here is quite limiting.

Spending caps

O2 lets you add a spending cap to your account, of between £0 and £200. That refers to how much you can spend outside of your standard monthly price, for example on premium rate or international calls, or when you’ve used up your allowances. You can also choose not to have a cap if you’d prefer.

Unlimited data

O2 offers unlimited data on most plan types other than Pay As You Go, so if you don’t want to worry about using up all your data, you don’t have to. There is however a fair usage policy of 650GB per month, and no more than 11 tethered devices.

Family plans

O2 lets you add multiple plans to your account, and these can be used by different people. It doesn’t frame this as a ‘family plan’, but you can have up to 20 connections on one account, and you’ll get a 20% discount on the airtime portion of the costs for any extra device or SIM that you add, so it’s cheaper than having multiple O2 accounts.

Credit checks

Like most networks, O2 carries out credit checks. However you can avoid these by opting for a Pay As You Go plan.

eSIMs

O2 offers eSIMs on its pay monthly plans, including both plans that come with a new phone and SIM Only plans. However, at the time of writing you can’t get an eSIM on Pay As You Go. If you’d like an eSIM on a compatible plan, just select one at checkout, or switch to eSIM through the My O2 app or your My O2 account on the web.

Unique perks

All Pay Monthly and SIM Only plans come with access to O2 Priority – so you can grab exclusive offers and early gig tickets. O2’s plans also allow you to automatically connect to many of the network’s Wi-Fi hotspots across the UK. Plus, you can roam across much of Europe at no extra cost – and in some cases even further afield. We’ve got more details on roaming above.

Some plans also chuck in additional freebies. At the time of writing for example, you can get a 6-month subscription to your choice of Disney Plus, Amazon Prime, Amazon Music Unlimited, Audible, McAfee, and others thrown in on select plans.

Some O2 handset plans also let you switch to a new device at any point in your contract, so you don’t have to wait for the typical two years.

Awards

O2 has won a lot of awards, including being hailed as the Most Popular Mobile Network and the Best Network for Roaming at the Uswitch Telecoms Awards 2023, as well as getting the Global Wireless Solutions (GWS) Most Reliable Network award for three years in a row, from 2018 to 2021.

O2 also won the Network of the Year award at the Mobile Industry Awards 2021, and the Best Network Performance award at the Mobile News Awards in 2020 and 2019. That’s a decent selection of awards, even by major network standards.

Network

Network speeds

Opensignal – Mobile Network Experience, September 2024 and April 2020

Network	Download/upload speeds	4G latency (ms)
EE	45.9/9.8Mbps	36.0ms
Three	38.0/7.1Mbps	48.3ms
Vodafone	31.1/7.8Mbps	39.0ms
O2	23.1/5.3Mbps	38.1ms

O2’s average download speed is 23.1Mbps according to Opensignal, while its average upload speed is 5.3Mbps, and its average latency (the time in which it takes for the network to respond to a request) is 38.1ms.

Those results aren’t great – as you can see in the table above O2 comes out slower than any major rival, with EE in particular storming ahead at almost double the speed, though O2’s latency is better than Three’s or Vodafone’s.

Note that these speed results are from September 2024 and combine all available network types (so 5G, 4G and 3G), while the latency is from April 2020, as recent reports don’t include that.

As for 5G on its own, that same September 2024 report from Opensignal found that O2 managed average 5G download speeds of 80.1Mbps. That’s a lot faster than 4G, but slower than rivals in the same test, with Three leading at 208.9Mbps, followed by Vodafone with 138.7Mbps, and then EE with 96.8Mbps.

There’s also a RootMetrics report from the first half of 2024, which found that O2’s median 5G download speed was 79.7Mbps and that its 95th percentile 5G download speed (meaning close to its highest) was 298.9Mbps, again putting it behind Three, EE, and Vodafone in both cases.

Finally, a Speedtest report from 2024 put O2’s median 5G download speed at 75.96Mbps, its median 5G upload speed at 8.97Mbps, and its median 5G latency at 34ms. All of which were also worse than Three, EE, or Vodafone’s results.

Traffic management

O2’s traffic management policy allows you to use your full data allowance without any restriction in the UK (within fair usage limits), even during peak hours, and once you’ve run out your data service will cease until you purchase more or reach your next month of allowances.

However, the network adds that it will always prioritize emergency voice traffic (which shouldn’t noticeably affect you and is a good thing if you ever need to call emergency services).

O2 will also warn users whose use is excessive enough that it detrimentally affects other customers, and if these excessive users don’t change their usage they risk being disconnected.

When roaming, data speeds may be slower than at home.

Network frequencies

O2 Network Frequencies

Frequency	Frequency Band	Network
700MHz	n29	4G & 5G
800MHz	Band 20	4G
900MHz	Band 8	2G & 3G
1800MHz	Band 3	2G & 4G
2100MHz	Band 1	3G & 4G
2300MHz	Band 40	4G
3400MHz	n78	5G
3600MHz	n77	5G

O2 uses both the 800MHz band and 2300MHz band for 4G. It’s got a decent amount of spectrum and the 800MHz band is well suited to delivering coverage across the UK. It’s long range, so it can travel a long way between base stations, making it suited to rural environments.

But it’s also good at penetrating walls and other solid objects, making it a good fit for towns and cities too, and ensuring strong coverage both indoors and out. The 2300MHz band on the other hand is more suited to busy areas, but it's shorter range and not as good at passing through obstacles. O2 also uses the 1800MHz and 2100MHz bands, which sit in between.

O2 also has some 3400MHz and 3600MHz spectrum, which is higher frequency and shorter range than even the 2300MHz band. This is used for 5G. Right at the other end of the scale the network also has some 700MHz spectrum, which is likely to be deployed for both 4G and 5G.

You can find in depth details of these bands and others in our 4G and 5G frequencies guide.

Customer Service

Customer service can be hard to judge, but in a 2023 Ofcom customer service report, O2 was found to have a 85% satisfaction rate from customers, with 9% finding reason to complain, 53% being happy with the way their complaint was handled, and 10 out of every 100,000 subscribers making a complaint to Ofcom. Those numbers are all middling compared to rivals, making O2 appear fairly average here.

Then there’s Trustpilot, which based on 16,884 user reviews at the time of writing gives it 1.2 stars out of 5. That’s considered a ‘bad’ rating – though note that many networks are poorly rated there.

Conclusion

O2 combines a sturdy network with high data limits and special offers through O2 Priority. Roaming on O2 is also included, and there are a range of flexible tariffs to choose from whether you Pay Monthly, go SIM Only or Pay As You Go.

O2’s main issue is simply that its speeds don’t appear as high as rivals, but if you have 5G then the available speeds should still be plenty fast enough for most people.

Alternatives

If you want a network with the same coverage as O2 then there are a number of options, including Giffgaff, Sky Mobile, and Tesco Mobile. These all use O2’s infrastructure and spectrum, so their coverage is identical.

They’re typically cheaper too, however they don’t have as many plan types and extras as O2, though they do all offer 5G at least.

Alternatively, you might just want another big-name network, in which case your options are EE, Three or Vodafone. These are arguably O2’s main competitors, since like O2 they have their own infrastructure and spectrum, but that means coverage differs, so it’s worth checking what coverage is like near you on each network before choosing one.