O2 Webtext Delay - Intentional?

kasintahan

O2 webtext has been suffering a huge delay in delivering recently.

This has been apparent for some weeks now.

The service used to be reliable and quick, but now the delays are in the order of several hours or more.

I don't suppose O2 would be intentionally weakening their webtext in order to boost their text sales via handset?

eth0_

I noticed this started happening last Friday I was arranging to meet people and sent texts at 7pm, they didn't get them til after 11pm that night!

o2.ie site is just crap full stop.

kasintahan

OK.

Now I know the delay is systematic.

Sent a sucession of messages at timed intervals - they arrived as equally spaced as they were sent.

Bastards.

fatherdougalmag

What intervals did you send them at? It might be that there is a back-log and yours all got queued in turn.

The real test would be to monitor the performance over a few days and see if there is any variation in the delay. That would then suggest a back-log of some sort. But if the messages consistently take the same time then they're up to something.

Mind you, they probably saw that the web text service was overloading and phone texters were suffering so they've shifted the priorities towards them. In that case, that's probably only fair.

Ph3n0m

there is no variation in delay - I texted people at varying times over the past few weeks and each and everyone of them arrived several hours after I sent them - no one person got their messages any quicker

Standard Toaster

Your not alone lads....already a thread here about it.
I've emailed them already....no reply as of yet.

eclectichoney

i had the delay, but now it seems no text msgs i send are getting through AT ALL. Grrrrr

Kevin_rc_ie

i have found this issue terribly annoying also. it's not that i hugely mind paying for texts, but would just prefer to type them. well, the freeness was good.

Standard Toaster

I sent a test sms to myself from webtxt over an hour ago....no sign of it!

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

Sponge Bob

kasintahan wrote:

O2 webtext has been suffering a huge delay in delivering recently. This has been apparent for some weeks now.

The service used to be reliable and quick, but now the delays are in the order of several hours or more.

Correct, they are aggregating them through a virtual operator in Kazakhstan I hear which is why the service is now totally kak to 'other O2 customers' as much as to everyone else.

Cheapskates

Sully

Iv already emailed them about it..

- Sully

embraer170

Very very frustrating.

Seems messages to international are getting through right away.

Mercury_Tilt

This post has been deleted.

wheresmybeaver

Is there a difference between webtext for billpay customers and webtext for pay as you go? I'm on billpay and I've had no delays (mostly) for webtext. Just sent a rake of them there, they were received immediately.

Anyway I'm sure its just a network congestion issue. More people sending webtext at a certain time = slower service?

Ph3n0m

well the delay is nover 6 hours - sent a text yesterday at 1:34 pm - it arrived at 7:52pm that night

marshmallow

i got that problem aswel. sent txts at about 7 or 8pm one day last week and they didnt arrive until some time during the night and my friends gave out that i woke them up! woops but not my fault!

eclectichoney

lads, sent a msg just now and the problem seems resolved ???

whiskeyman

I know for a fact O2 know there's problems with their webtext software thats affecting many users.
Their IT section are working on the problem and customer care have been told to advise any person with complaints that this is the case.
O2 need to watch themselves... jut wait til 3 enter the market later this year.
Hopefully that'll shake things up

Poz3D

Yeah it seems OK for me as well now, and I'm a prepay (Speakeasy) customer. I did have a problem of a 4-hour or so delay earlier this week.

Standard Toaster

Same here...seems to be back to normal (Billpay)

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

Sully

Responce from O2:
Dear Kevin

Thank you for your query regarding web text. We are aware of delays occurring with our free webtext service at present. The issue surrounds the delivery of a message sent via webtext. It may arrive late to the o2.ie users designated recipient or in a unique number of cases it may be sent through the system in duplicate to the users designated recipient. This issue, whilst not causing a problem for all customers is being treated very seriously and o2 hope to have an update on a final fix date over the next few days. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

I hope this is of assistance to you.

Thank you for using O2.ie. If you should require further assistance, please call O2.ie Internet Support on 1740 from your o2 mobile (EUR0.19c per call) or 1850 60 1740(Please contact your network provider to query the charges to this number). We are available from 8.00am to 10.00pm seven days a week.

Kind regards,

O2.ie Customer Care
1784

- Sully

That's got nothin new in it! Basically it just says that they're aware of the problem.

Lenny

Got the same messsage skully,
webtxtxs seem to be ok now for me

jimbob

Seems to have slowed down again.

eclectichoney

yes it's slow again

Vok

I've sent timestamped test messages to my own phone over the past couple of days. One today sent at 13:16 arrived at 15:14. Others were of the order of 3 hours or more.

Let me just point out to anyone from the O2 morkeshing team that if people find out this is due to some greedy attempt to get people to use text on their phone, instead of on the web, like we want to, you guys will have shot yourselves in the foot, and we are talking totally, here.

Anyone have pointers to working, free SMS gateways out there? There's always someone else hungrier for the business.

soiaf

AFAIK, years ago there wasn't proper (network) interconnect charges for text messages, nowadays I think its pretty much standard. So, anyone (by this I mean a network operator) sending a message to o2, vodafone, meteor etc. would be charged for the 'privilege'.
Thats why theres far less sites offering free messages, the ones that do are basically trying to sell you something, or use it as an enticement for other things etc.

It would be very strange for this to be intentional - maybe if you're sending to someone they're not getting money for you sending the message, but its probably fair to say that person will probably respond (money for them).
Ok so if you're sending to vodafone/meteor/a.n.other theres a charge (interconnect), but if the person responds they basically get that back (roughly speaking). If its to an 02 customer, then its basically free to send, and if that person responds it all money for them.
Not saying that they're not, just it seems (to me anyway) a very unlikely situation.

otron

Vok wrote:

Anyone have pointers to working, free SMS gateways out there? There's always someone else hungrier for the business.

er ... What business?? It's hardly like your paying for a free SMS gateway!

jimbob

We should all write to a newsaper. they would see so many of us are writing in and print it......

Then i'm sure there would be a fix..pronto....

smokingman

jimbob wrote:

We should all write to a newsaper. they would see so many of us are writing in and print it......

Then i'm sure there would be a fix..pronto....

You guys are hilarious....while we're at it, can I write to a newspaper about the lack of porn on childrens tv?

My point is....you have none.

Does anyone here actually work in a big company? I'm sure they've got engineers on the problem and didn't introduce delays on purpose.
I know for a fact that when Voda overcharged people, it was a genuine system error, not some sinister x-file nerd wannabie conspiricy...

oh how I chuckle at thee....

The Corinthian

smokingman wrote:

Does anyone here actually work in a big company? I'm sure they've got engineers on the problem and didn't introduce delays on purpose.
I know for a fact that when Voda overcharged people, it was a genuine system error, not some sinister x-file nerd wannabie conspiricy...

I would tend to agree with this. I've worked with all of the operators to one degree or other over the years and would have to say that at worst it may be down to the SMSC being under pressure from high volume and the Web-based SMS being of a lower priority to subscriber SMS. Of course it may be intentional, but then again, the Moon landings may have been faked too...

And that’s the reality of it - you get what you pay for and so if the SMS is free you expect the warranty that comes with a free good, i.e. none. And the free Web SMS that is offered on all three operator Web sites is exactly that and not covered by any paid subscriptions or contracts. AFAIK they are all the responsibility of their various marketing departments too.

Now, I’ll leave this thread open for now, but if it continues with the tripe that I’ve seen then I’ll close it.

jimbob

How long does it take to fix a problem.

An Effing month.. Yes thats how long its been.

:rolleyes:

Boggles

smokingman wrote:

You guys are hilarious....while we're at it, can I write to a newspaper about the lack of porn on childrens tv?

My point is....you have none.

Does anyone here actually work in a big company? I'm sure they've got engineers on the problem and didn't introduce delays on purpose.
I know for a fact that when Voda overcharged people, it was a genuine system error, not some sinister x-file nerd wannabie conspiricy...

oh how I chuckle at thee....

Vodafone, O2 & Eircom plus a couple of big banks all have admitted overcharging or been forced to admit overcharging in the past 12 months, conspiricy or dodgy software, whatever it is, it's completely unacceptable.

In relation to O2's web txt service working only sometimes, just because its free doesn't mean it shouldn't work, it's ridiculess to offer a service which may or may not work. I've been an O2 customer in Britain and Germany and there is a reason they don't offer a service they can't guarantee, only the Irish would put up with it and then try defend the company that is not providing decent service

The Corinthian

jimbob wrote:

How long does it take to fix a problem.

I've seen it take six months.

Boggles wrote:

Vodafone, O2 & Eircom plus a couple of big banks all have admitted overcharging or been forced to admit overcharging in the past 12 months, conspiricy or dodgy software, whatever it is, it's completely unacceptable.

I don't think anyone would disagree with that.

In relation to O2's web txt service working only sometimes, just because its free doesn't mean it shouldn't work, it's ridiculess to offer a service which may or may not work. I've been an O2 customer in Britain and Germany and there is a reason they don't offer a service they can't guarantee, only the Irish would put up with it and then try defend the company that is not providing decent service

I’ve seen numerous cases of shoddy work in both the UK and Germany in the past, so it is hardly an ‘Irish’ issue. Such an accusation borders on being offensive.

Additionally, I would agree that while, free or not, one should not offer a service that is of poor quality, I was simply reminding some of the posters here that there ultimately is no such thing as a free lunch.

Boggles

The Corinthian wrote:

I’ve seen numerous cases of shoddy work in both the UK and Germany in the past, so it is hardly an ‘Irish’ issue. Such an accusation borders on being offensive.

Additionally, I would agree that while, free or not, one should not offer a service that is of poor quality, I was simply reminding some of the posters here that there ultimately is no such thing as a free lunch.

You were being understanding and forgiving, this is the Irish way, don't see it as being offensive.

Vok

otron wrote:

er ... What business?? It's hardly like your paying for a free SMS gateway!

Jeez, tough crowd in here. Can't a guy just pop in, throw a few random, un-founded allegations around the place to vent his frustration and leave?

I was looking for gateways that are ad-supported or use some other spurious business model to finance my SMSs. I know there's no such thing as a free lunch but as long as someone else is picking up the tab, hey, I'm happy.

Anyone who uses the O2 site on a regular basis knows that it's probably the single most flaky site on the whole interweb in terms of logging in etc. but, taking that into account, their web texts have always been prompt once you were able to reach the web text page. This delay is a new development and makes the site's previous crappiness look like an old friend's lovable idiosyncrasies in comparison.

As it stands, I'm already paying O2 (very handsomely) for the privilege of using web text. It's one of the only things that's kept me with them after they sold me a complete pig-in-a-poke of a usage plan that ended up costing me hundreds more than I would have paid if I'd stayed with my original plan.

Along with the convenience of being able to write these things about 10X faster, every free web text I send is a satisfying two fingers of cost avoidance on my part. Meanwhile, they get the revenue from the calls and texts I can't avoid making through their regular network. Everybody's happy.

I've just received another diagnostic text on my phone that was a full 5 hours and 10 minutes late. If this isn't sorted, I have zero reason to stay with them and will switch to Vodafone or Meteor. They then lose the revenue from all of my calls and texts - well over a grand a year. Small potatoes, maybe, but I imagine others would be feeling the same way.

Bottom line, if you're providing a service, free or not, to a customer base that has a definite performance expectation, then you are compelled to meet that expectation or it ends up costing you the goodwill you hoped to accrue.

And no lunch, even a free one, is worth waiting 5 hours for.

cormie

There should at least be a notice on the page. Before I copped it that there was a delay I was trying to arrange things with people and they never got my messages until a few hours later. I still use it for messages that are not urgent. But it would be handy to have it back to the way it was. To avoid all the hassle of broken links on the o2 site, I have this link bookmarked in my favorites:

http://web.o2.ie/personal/my_o2/messaging/freetext.jsp

fatherdougalmag

And there's always dear old TextBuddy.

The Corinthian

Boggles wrote:

You were being understanding and forgiving, this is the Irish way, don't see it as being offensive.

Fair enough, although I’ve recently been reminded that I’m not entirely Irish.

cormie wrote:

There should at least be a notice on the page.

With the amount of red tape that you get in these companies, you’d be faster to fix the problem. As I’ve said before, from change request to code going live I’ve seen it take six months on one operator Web site.

Vok wrote:

Jeez, tough crowd in here. Can't a guy just pop in, throw a few random, un-founded allegations around the place to vent his frustration and leave?

No, because as I’m sure you’re aware this is called libel in the Real World and Boards Ltd has received numerous solicitors letters in the past on things posted here or on other boards.

Additionally, I don’t want to have some marketing bunny who monitors this board whine at me.

As it stands, I'm already paying O2 (very handsomely) for the privilege of using web text.

Actually you’re not. Read your contract. Same goes for the other networks.

Web-text is treated in much the same way as hotels treat complimentary mints on the pillows of fresh rooms. Sloppy not to have them, but they’re a complimentary extra rather than part of the paid service.

And no lunch, even a free one, is worth waiting 5 hours for.

If Web-text is enough of a feature to make people switch operators then people should let this be known. I certainly do not object to that as I know enough of the operators monitor this board for some good to come from it (eventually) and that Web-text actually becomes part of their packages rather than simply a marketing gimmick (which is all they presently see it as).

However unfounded conspiracy theories are out of order as are pointless whines about not getting your free lunch on time. There have been numerous threads about all three Web-text services being down at this stage (and O2 seems to be the worst offender) and 95% of these threads are just noise.

cormie

Speaking of lunch, hehe, in some places you order a coffee and you get a biscuit with it (not what you ordered but it's complimentary). If you order a coffee and the waiter/waitress says "I'll get your biscuit now" and your waiting to have your biscuit while your coffee is getting cold, you will get slightly upset. Especially coming to the 5th hour :rolleyes:

smokingman

If it's the ability to type texts on a keyboard you're after you could use the other sms thing they have.

http://web.o2.ie/business/services/mobile_tools/desktop.jsp

Think you have to pay for this at whatever rate your sms is at and it's a plugin for outlook so no mozilla goodness here I'm afraid...

I've been using this for about 6 months now and there's no delays on it, even in the last while - my company pays my phone bills though so I'm probably not a good advertisment for it seeing as we seem to have nothing but sponging students on this thread

ah I remember the days...kookai noodles before they had the redesigned cover and they cost 24p....7 per week was my grocery shopping back then.

eth0_

It's gone screwy again. 5 hour delays. Was ok over the weekend.

cormie

fatherdougalmag wrote:

And there's always dear old TextBuddy.

That's a pretty cool programme. Only 700k, sits in system tray, easy to login/out and the best thing is you don't have to send 160 characters at a time, you can keep typing and however many messages it takes you to say what you want. Although when you hit 293 chars, your on your third and when you send a text with less than 160 chars, it says (Sent with text buddy) at the end, when you send 2 it also says (Linked 1/2) in 1st and (Linked 2/2) in second part. Messages send instantly.

I think I'll be using this from now on. And it's also allot easier to add contacts:)

Thanks Dougal!

Boggles

fatherdougalmag wrote:

And there's always dear old TextBuddy.

Never heard of this, is it any good?

smokingman

I'm guessing it get's busy around ten to the hour lunchtime with all the students coming out of classes...

Going to send a few timed txts meself in 10 minute intervals to see what the delay is and I'll post the results up - yeah, boring "not a lot to do in work" day today for me....

Been playing Mario rpg on snes emulator all morning - very not busy indeed but having fun nonetheless!

smokingman

text sent 11:15
received 11:16

good so far - let's hope it lasts...

Damn you Bowser!!

er..

smokingman

text sent 11:26
received 11:28

The Corinthian

We get the picture. Desist.

smokingman

no worries....any suggestions on what to do on a boring work day so?

maybe I'll head over to after hours....