UK mobile operator O2: iPhone apps are hurting our network

I just entered into my first iPhone contract a few days ago, and call me crazy but I actually plumped for O2 rather than Orange, despite double the texts and minutes offered at the same monthly price, and reputedly better coverage and reliability. I know, I wonder about my sanity too, especially given the recent outages... however the 750Mb data cap worried me (I've read many mixed responses about whether this is enough, and days are too early to see what Orange will do to transgressors, but given the constant evolution of bandwidth-hungry apps and websites, i'm too scared to risk it); plus free unlocking was a major pull factor.
Time, I guess, will tell whether I will live to regret this decision, but fingers crossed as all has been working well so far...

@kmcgrady - O2 were an odd choice when the iPhone was first released having one of the worst 3G networks and no EDGE service at all right up till a few weeks before launch. Even then it was limited to only parts of London.

The Ofcom report last year of 3G service put O2 way down the list still. Three were top followed by Orange and Vodafone. Only t-mobile were worse.

@TUAW - Blaming VoIP for increased data usage is plain wrong. VoIP and SIP is very efficient at data usage and is the basis of the next 4G network standards. We'll all be using it soon (not just Nokia smartphone owners who have built in SIP already) so the network carriers will need to get their data networks in order.

Jajah is not Voip, they call you back on your cell phone or landline. So the call to there servers is handled by your mobile provider (O2 AT&T Rogers, etc) and you pay for your airtime as well.

The iPhone is causing a lot of excess signalling (the bits you don't see), which makes it a bandwidth hog. The same applies to RIM's Blackberries. No wonder the network operators want them to clean up their act.
However, Jajah can't be blamed for hogging bandwidth as its VoIP is network-to-network only. Calls to/from mobiles are still normal (local) calls.
The claimed inefficiencies of VoIP-over-cellular are mostly the result of poorly implemented 3rd-party apps, which support only the most basic codecs. Embedded VoIP clients utilise efficient codecs, but you won't see many around, since most network operators discourage handsets manufacturers from embedding VoIP.
It would be both in O2's and the iPhone subscribers' interest to switch to WiFi whenever available. The technology exist to make the switch from cellular to/fro WLAN seamless, so the user can't even tell which he/she is on.

I find it somewhat amusing to hear O2 were gobsmacked at making this, er, discovery.

I've not really noticed anything bad about O2's network. I've been on them for about a year now, after switching from Orange because I couldn't get free texts (I get unlimited on O2 with my £10 a month topup, awesome no?). After I bought my iPhone, the only problem I've ever had is my data settings being wrong after a restore because it puts the contract settings in by default. The only coverage problem I ever get is not being able to get 3G around my neighbourhood, which is fine because I'm either at home or at my friends houses, and we all have WiFi.

tl;dr? I love Apple for picking O2 as the iPhone provider. Best network I've been on, has excellent Pay as you Go deals and pretty decent coverage (Near Manchester anyway).

"...and VoIP services are notorious devourers of bandwidth."

Really?? I disagree. Voice bandwidth utilization is orders of magnitude less than say video or web. Yes it is all digital data at the time of transmission, but voice is usually clipped to a 10-15kHz range resulting in a much smaller data payload. I don't think VoIP apps are killing O2's network.

"...to learn more about which applications are causing the heavy demands on the O2 network."

YouTube.

Don't blame the applications, blame the provider of the network.

All that government-mandated spying in the UK must add some additional overhead, too...

Boohoo. O2 (and all the other mobile operators) are making obscene amounts of money from their customers.

They need to start investing in their infrastructure.