O2 shot to prominence by sponsoring various high profile organisations like Arsenal Football Club and the England Rugby, high profile events like the annual O2 Wireless Festivals in Hyde Park, and they’ve recently won the right to sponsor the entertainment complex that is being planed for the Millennium Dome, sorry, that’s the O2!

The company was bought in 2006 by the Spanish telecomms giant Telefonica, but retains a distinctly English heartbeat, and its no surprise they have such a loyal customer base.

For a start there’s the deals.

O2 recently upgraded their flagship 35 tariff, by adding an extra 400 texts. Which means that for 35 you’re now looking at an enormous 600 mins and 500 text, surely more than anyone has call to use.
You don’t need to be a mathmatical genius to see that is the best value of all the networks. For the same money on 3 you get 400 mins and 250 texts, on Orange you get 400 mins and 50 texts, and for an extra 5 omn Virgin you get 250 mins and 500 texts.

Then there’s the service itself.

02 has a fine reputation as the network with the best coverage in the UK. They look after their customers as well. They’re currently running a five-a-side competition for O2 customers to play the Arsenal stadium and there are special “early bird” two-for-one ticket offer for O2 customers for the Wireless Festivals in Hyde Park this summer.

O2 also reward their loyal customers with O2 Treats. If you’ve been with them for over 6 months you can call up and select from a number of free incentives, such as extra texts, extra minutes or cheap calls abroad.

Finally there’s i-mode, the mobile Internet service and rival to WAP that is exclusive to O2. Its big in Japan, so it must be good!

There you have it, the most popular network in the UK. 19 million and counting!

mobile phone shop

Ian Ball is an employee of dialaphone, the mobile phone shop and specialist in O2 mobile phones. Click here for the latest 02 deals.