o2 and Be

I had the firm impression from here that o2 and Be use the same equipment and is the reason for the problems of late.

However, after a call today to o2 to get some compensation for the problems. I said there had been severe problems reported in both Be and o2 but that their Network Status page tends not to list many issues and most of those local and temporary, whereas Be are much more forthcoming and honest. They said that Be and o2 are not the same. o2 bought some Be servers and use those and they (Be) continue to use what they have left. This didn't seem to square with my (maybe faulty) understanding. They were essentially saying that o2 problems were short lived and fixed quickly. I said at the outset that February was a problem, then fixed the very bad again last week and before and intermittently in between those times. They seemed to suggest it was my connection (well ok maybe part of it is) and that as I had only reported to an o2 Guru on 22 April the problem was only then as it was fixed the day after.

He said that strictly speaking I was only entitled to 2 days of compensation (but I was given a month free as goodwill as a long time customer). So I said are you saying that it is incumbent on me to report problems as they occur for them to recognise it? Yes. I pointed out I thought there was no point while I knew there was a Be/o2 problem. Anyway I accepted the month free.

So a question (or three) if you please:

Is Be and o2 one and the same? And is this the reason why problems with Be are also with o2 and vice versa?

Or are they right and they are separate?

If I look at http://whatismyipaddress.com/ I see the actual address and ISP: Be Internet. In more detail I see
Hostname: xx.xx.xx.xx.zone4.bethere.co.uk

Sorry for long post.

Edited by rob54 (Wed 02-May-12 23:03:05)

Is Be and o2 one and the same? And is this the reason why problems with Be are also with o2 and vice versa?

O2 bought BE and use the BE network infrastructure to provide O2 LLU packages. DNS servers, SMTP relay servers and even some of the web servers are the same. I'd even guess the account management systems on the bank-end are the same. The billing systems and logos are different - not much else. O2 also provide broadband via BT IPStream i.e. O2 Access. BE don't do this

Or are they right and they are separate?

They are wrong but then again it's was probably on Tier1 support

If I look at http://whatismyipaddress.com/ I see the actual address and ISP: Be Internet. In more detail I see
Hostname: xx.xx.xx.xx.zone4.bethere.co.uk

See above - O2 use BE's network

Anything that affects BE Retail will also affect O2 LLU - BE to tend to be a bit better with status update - I like to think it's because it's BE's network

Bovine excrement.

Try tracerts to bbc.co.uk and jolt.co.uk

What do they show? They may or may not help - just ideas.

I would suggest the misleading, erroneous inferences that you received, mirror the quality of the network status system..........O2 haven't a clue as to what is happening until they are told by their (mainly) knowledgeable customers.

Effectively and probably unknowingly, O2 admitted that to you :

it is incumbent on me to report problems as they occur for them to recognise it? Yes.

tracert www.bbc.co.uk

Tracing route to www.bbc.net.uk [212.58.246.92]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 56 ms 99 ms 99 ms dsldevice.lan [192.168.1.254]
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 18 ms 17 ms 18 ms 10.1.3.178
4 17 ms 16 ms 17 ms bbc-gw0-linx.prt0.thdoe.bbc.co.uk [195.66.224.10
3]
5 * * * Request timed out.
6 17 ms 18 ms 17 ms ae0.er01.cwwtf.bbc.co.uk [132.185.254.93]
7 18 ms 18 ms 19 ms 132.185.255.165
8 18 ms 16 ms 17 ms bbc-vip013.cwwtf.bbc.co.uk [212.58.246.92]

Trace complete.

tracert jolt.co.uk

Tracing route to jolt.co.uk [75.101.152.37]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 101 ms 99 ms 99 ms dsldevice.lan [192.168.1.254]
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 * * * Request timed out.
4 * * * Request timed out.
5 19 ms 17 ms 16 ms 206.165.73.37
6 90 ms 89 ms 90 ms po2-20G.ar6.DCA3.gblx.net [67.16.136.238]
7 90 ms 113 ms 90 ms 64.211.194.154
8 91 ms 91 ms 92 ms 205.251.245.11
9 90 ms 90 ms 90 ms 205.251.245.47
10 91 ms 98 ms 91 ms 216.182.224.205
11 * * * Request timed out.
12 * * * Request timed out.
13 * * * Request timed out.
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 * * * Request timed out.
16 * * * Request timed out.
17 * * * Request timed out.
18 * * * Request timed out.
19 * * * Request timed out.
20 * * * Request timed out.
21 * * * Request timed out.
22 * * * Request timed out.
23 * * * Request timed out.
24 * * * Request timed out.
25 * * * Request timed out.
26 * * * Request timed out.
27 * * * Request timed out.
28 * * * Request timed out.
29 * * * Request timed out.
30 * * * Request timed out.

Trace complete.

Does that help?

Does that help?

Not really, I'm afraid.

I was hoping one of them would show you going through the Be network, but that would be hop 2 on the Beeb one, and hop 5 on the jolt one is Level 3.

I wondered what that would show to bethere.co.uk - so...

Tracing route to www.bethere.co.uk [94.236.39.6]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 11 ms 99 ms 99 ms dsldevice.lan [192.168.1.254]
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 * * * Request timed out.
4 18 ms 17 ms 16 ms Xe0-0-1-0-grtlontl3.red.telefonica-wholesale.net
.7.16.84.in-addr.arpa [84.16.7.217]
5 23 ms 17 ms 17 ms Xe4-2-0-0-grtlontc1.red.telefonica-wholesale.net
[84.16.15.237]
6 20 ms 17 ms 20 ms xe-10-1-0.edge4.London1.Level3.net [212.187.160.
229]
7 21 ms 21 ms 19 ms 195.50.122.42
8 19 ms 18 ms 23 ms corea-edge1.lon3.rackspace.net [164.177.137.26]

9 18 ms 23 ms 18 ms core5a-corea.lon3.rackspace.net [164.177.137.7]

10 19 ms 35 ms 21 ms aggr301a-core5a.lon3.rackspace.net [92.52.76.75]

11 19 ms 18 ms 19 ms 94.236.39.6

Trace complete.

Clearly through telefonica!