O2 sells HTC One X Plus without charger to save environment

Last year in October, O2 launched a no-charger trial (Charger out of the Box), in a bid to cut down on environmental waste. The results of that trial are in and they look promising.

In a blog post, O2 says, “Since the “Charger out of the Box” pilot was launched in October, 82% of those who bought the charger-free handset did not buy a separate charger for it – exceeding O2’s target of 70%.

“The pilot, the first of its kind in the world, offers the HTC One X+ handset with just the USB-to-micro-USB connection lead with the phone (although if customers do want a charger with their new handset, they are able to purchase one at cost price).

“There are 30 million new phones sold in the UK each year. If the results of this pilot were repeated with all handsets, there would be 24 million chargers fewer sold annually in the UK – a huge environmental saving.”

Ronan Dune, O2 CEO, says, “More than four-in-five of our smartphone customers who have participated in the trial are willing to buy a new phone from us and to use an existing charging device to attach it to the mains.

“The results of the trial demonstrate a clear willingness among consumers to consider and respond to the environmental argument for taking a phone charger-free.  I now hope that as a result of this study the rest of the industry will now consider joining us in our campaign to take chargers out of the box for good.”

Phil Roberson, HTC’s Regional Director of the UK, says, “Along with O2, we’ve been encouraged by the numbers of people who have taken our flagship handset without a USB charger. This pilot demonstrates that, if we inform our customers about the environmental impact of wasted phone chargers and the benefits of using the chargers and mains adapters that they already own, they respond positively to the message.”

Dunne concludes, “These trial results offer powerful evidence that customers are prepared to amend their purchasing decisions if they have more choice and more information.  The lesson for the industry from this pilot is that consumers are very receptive to the message that they can benefit the environment by avoiding the needless purchase of chargers.  I would now like to see others taking similar steps, working with us as we aim to ensure all our handsets are sold charger-free by 2015.”

Does O2’s Trial inspire you to do more to save the environment? Let us know through a comment on our Facebook page.

Tags: charger, Charger out of the Box, environment, HTC, HTC One X Plus, o2, One X Plus
Category Network News |

O2 increases prices – you can’t cancel your contract

Network operator O2 has increased its prices. The network will be adding 3.2% to every customer’s monthly bill starting in February of 2013. Unfortunately, you can’t cancel your contract. This is bad news if you’ve signed up for a contract with the network to get your hands on devices such as the iPhone 5 or the Samsung Galaxy S3.

O2 says on their website, “We’ve always done everything possible to give you great value. And keep your bills down.

“To date, we’ve held off putting our tariff prices up for as long as possible. Even when our competitors raised theirs.

“But now, because of inflation, we need to change the price of your tariff.

“From 28 February 2013, your line rental will go up by 3.2%. That’s in line with the current rate of inflation as at December 2012 when we made the announcement.

“You’ll see the increase on the first bill you get after 28 February 2013.”

Apparently, the price hike is due to inflation. This means that the rates for making calls, sending text messages, and data will remain unchanged.

O2 says, “What you pay for making calls, sending texts and using data isn’t affected by this increase. It’s just the mobile line rental for your Pay Monthly tariff.

“You don’t need to do anything. But if you want to work out what the price increase means for you and your mobile tariff, use our calculator.”

O2 suffered from two issues that resulted in outages this year. With a 3.2% increase in your monthly bill starting in February of 2013, you must be fuming. You may even be considering cancelling your contract. According to O2, you can take this course of action, but it will cost you.

O2 says on its frequently asked questions section, “You can. But as our terms and conditions allow us to put our prices up once every 12 months due to inflation, there would be a fee if you wanted to end your contract early.”

This means that you’re better off paying the additional 3.2%per month rather spending an arm and a leg for cancelling your contract early.

Will you be sticking with O2, or will you saying sayonara the first chance you get? Share your thoughts through a comment on our Facebook page.

Tags: Network Operator, o2, phone network, price hike, price increase, rates
Category Network News |

O2 promises to fix its network after last week’s outages – plans to spend £10 million

If you’ve signed up with O2, you must have been extremely annoyed that your iPhone 5 or Samsung Galaxy S3 had no service last week. Due to last week’s outage, the network operator has promised to spend £10 million on the repairs of its phone network.

Last week’s outage affected 10% of O2’s 16.3 million customers in the UK. The network operator seems to be fed up providing unreliable service, which has prompted it to fix its network.

In O2’s blog post titled “Rebuilding your trust in our leading network”, Derek McManus, O2’s CEO, says that they are “removing the Central User Database provided by one of our suppliers”. He adds that his company will switch to a “proven alternative system”.

He then says that O2 will be spending £10 million to fix their network. He writes, “We recognise that we have dented the confidence and trust of some of our customers. We will not rest until we have cemented the stability of our network and can deliver the level of service customers have come to expect of us over the last ten years.”

O2’s problems couldn’t have come at a more convenient time. It’s rival EE is preparing to launch its 4GEE network, which will be the first 4G network in the UK. It will be enjoying a huge head start over Vodafone and O2. Due to O2’s network woes, many of its customers may be contemplating making the switch over to EE. Judging from the comments of outraged customers, we’re guessing a lot will be making the switch to faster and more reliable 4G services.

Will you be staying with O2 since it vowed to fix its phone network, or are you planning to make the switch to EE’s 4GEE network? Let us know through a comment on our Facebook page.

Tags: Derek McManus, o2, O2 apology, O2 outage, O2 outages, outages
Category Network News |