If you work for O2 UK customer service or in a retail shop then you might reconsider going into work today, as they have yet another problem with their network. Over the years there have been a huge number of O2 UK call problems, but learning that some spying has taking place will be the last straw for some customers.

We have now learned that many of our phone calls have been spied on, and have now been warned that they should refrain from discussing any financial information while making a call.

The latest problems with the O2 UK network is that people can listen into your conversation without you even knowing about it, as their lines have been crossed – this will make you think back to all those conversations you have when the line goes dead for a while, then comes back on again.

It seems strange that some of us are only learning about this latest O2 problem today, while it actually came to light on Monday. According to the report the issue was said to have only affected O2 UK customers in Birmingham, England, but customers from the surrounding areas have also experienced the same issues.

O2 has since said that the issue has now been fixed, although some of their customers are still complaining that this issue is still ongoing. It’s not a good time for O2, as a couple of weeks ago they were having several network issues, and many of our readers thought that by turning their 3G off their iPhone 5 and 4S would resolve the issue like it has done in the past.

It does seem that if you are an O2 customer in the UK, then you have to accept that you will be more susceptible to such issues.

Over the years the one mobile network in the UK to have the most issues seems to be O2, and yet myself like millions of others seems to accept this. In the past it hasn’t taken long for engineers to rectify this issue, but not his time. Yes there are O2 problems again today, although my signal has been intermittent all weekend.

It’s not just me but many people I know in my area, along with several readers as well. Having done the usual check on the O2 Status Page it had stated all over the weekend that there was an issue with a mast, and while today it shows that there are no such issues – why does my signal keep going and are unable to make calls?

When the signal did return and I was able to make calls, the quality of those calls was not that great. As I write this my iPhone 5 still shows no signal. Now could this be a more widespread issue or just in the one area of Kent, please share your comments with us below?

While this might not be as big an issue as we have seen in the past, it does highlight the poor service O2 customers get. Last November there was a huge outage that led to millions unable to use their phones, which led to thousands of people jumping ship and going over to rival networks.

I’ve considered this many times because another issue that O2 has is the fact that their 3G coverage is pretty bad to say the least. There are many occasions when I am unable to connect to 3G, while friends with me have no such issue with their Vodafone or Orange network. Is it now time that I moved on to pastures new?

Yesterday O2 had been hit with a massive outage that hit millions of UK phone users, which some of these people might remember a similar O2 outage a few months ago, and these latest problems might be the final straw for some users. Reports from O2 explain the UK October 12 outage is over, although this hasn’t stopped a few people leaving comments on technology blogs explaining they’re having network issues still in different parts of the UK.

There is now an investigation taking place into why this latest O2 outage took place, and when Sky News questioned O2 about any compensation they quickly replied that their first priority is to look for the cause of these problems.

It is interesting to hear that a few people are still seeing the O2 outage and have no service, especially considering O2 said certain areas in the UK had problems still late yesterday but the service is now “fully restored“. This isn’t something every user would agree on, but our tests show the service is working just fine although we’d love to hear from PR readers about their experiences yesterday, and if all is fixed today.

Is O2 UK still down for you, or are you back up and running? We personally own three O2 mobile phones in our office and none of them experienced problems yesterday, which is strange considering these problems hit the headlines, and were acknowledged by O2, so we’d love to know if yesterdays outage hit you as well and if all is better now?

At the time of writing we only know that the O2 outage started on Friday after one of the network nodes failed at lunchtime, although we’ll update you when O2 deliver a full report into the problems and also any compensation that might be offered. Some people have stated to PR that they are seriously considering a move to another network after the recent issues at O2, do you find this a little extreme or justified? Are you looking for some sort of compensation?

It is now pretty clear how widespread the O2 signal issues are, and following our earlier article we saw a massive amount of feedback about O2′s networking being down, which shows this is a major problem that has even slowed the O2 network service status page to a halt. Loading times for the website are pretty fast, but if you try to get a status update you’ll find this area of O2 is much slower.

When you head over to the live status checker page for O2 you have a few options, which includes the ability to search your area by postcode. This allows you to see how the service is in your area, although this search facility is extremely slow at loading considering the demand O2 are under right now. At the time of writing everything is working fine on the O2 website, even if a bit slow, and you can see that the latest update had been within the last 30 minutes.

O2 has restored their 2G network service – a few moments ago it had been confirmed via the status update page that O2′s 2G network is restored, so if you need to make an urgent text or phone call feel free to switch to 2G only and turn 3G off, although we do expect this part of their service to be restored shortly.

You can see all the stats updates below up to 8am UK time, so have a read a let us know if you’ve managed to use the 2G network since that time.

It’s worth noting that the spelling errors seen in the image above are even on the official O2 website, so they are obviously in a rush to pump out these service updates. We also heard from our users that the O2 problems are affecting all phone brands, not just Apple, but also not every O2 user has been hit by this.

Millions of UK phone owners have woke up this morning and turned on their phones as normal, but thousands of O2 users are finding signal strength problems on a range of devices. We have two iPhone 4S phones running O2 in our UK office, and both have problems gaining more than one signal bar and cannot send or receive text messages or make phone calls, which shows either the O2 network has crashed or there is an issue with cell towers.

Some of our readers might have seen a few people complain about O2′s network over the last few days, but thought nothing of it until this morning when a much wider issue has taken place. Conspiracy theorists will point out the Sun erupted with its biggest solar flare yet (X1.1-class) for 2012, which happened on Friday and could have caused problems with satellites O2 are using, although we think there is a much more logical conclusion.

You can see an iPhone screenshot taken just a few moments ago running on O2 in the UK, and as you can see there are no bars. This is the first time we’ve seen this from O2, especially considering the phone had been restarted several times over the last hour and still nothing. The second phone we tested also has this problem, and we managed to speak with one other business contact in the UK and they too have problems with O2.

Online reports suggest that the O2 network crashed yesterday, and O2 has responded by explaining the issue is not related to hackers. Officials have also stated that not all of O2′s 23m users are affected, but considering how widespread we’ve found the issue to be it would be good to hear from our UK readers.

How is your phone this morning if you are on O2, can you send text messages and receive phone calls? Is this an issue just related to iPhone users, if not what phone are you using? In the last few moments we heard from O2, and they said engineering teams are trying to fix the issue right now.

The announcement came after the company signed an agreement with Tragus that promises their free Wi-Fi service which will also be available to non-O2 mobile customers. As Fresh Business Thinking reports, it marks the first deal that O2 has struck with a restaurant chain and will see over 120 restaurants receiving Wi-Fi hotspots to begin with.

O2 had previously only offered exclusive discount for the participating Tragus restaurants with their O2 Priority Moments service and will continue to do so, meaning this new deal simply builds on an already successful partnership. The offers that are currently available include two courses and wine for just £12 and they are available in all three participating Tragus restaurants.

Tragus will now be able to offer a service that shows consideration toward a large group of customers who appreciate the Wi-Fi options by partnering O2. As this kind of service is still non-existent in other restaurants, despite demand, it gives their restaurants an extra element of preference when consumers consider where to dine out. It also opens up an area of marketing and publication they didn’t have before meaning new offers and exposure is possible, loyalty rewards are also said to be on the way.

Are you pleased to see free Wi-Fi services hitting these restaurants? Will it persuade you to eat there more often than other restaurants?

The issue meant that user’s phone numbers were displayed when users visited websites from their smartphone, which has led to the apology. O2 finally responded after a massive amount of users took to Twitter to voice their anger about the issue.

The company did stop short though with their apology and only commented on the concern caused according to TechRadar. The company said that it saw the reports from this morning, and after investigating they fixed the problem this afternoon. They finished off by saying “we would like to apologize for the concern we have caused”.

When the company was asked how long the problem had been running for, O2 replied by saying that it was between January 10th and 1400 hours this afternoon. O2 added that besides the usual trusted partners other website owners may have had access to user’s phone numbers.

The carrier blamed the problem on “technical changes we implemented as part of routine maintenance”, and added it had the “unintended effect of making it possible in certain circumstances for website owners to see the mobile numbers of those browsing their site”

Even though the problem has now been fixed it will have caused a lot of embarrassment of the carrier, without even mentioning the worry it would have caused for users. Are you an O2 customer?

O2 customers reacted furiously this morning after it emerged that when they visit a website via their smartphone, the carrier sends the site their phone number. This serious security flaw means that any malicious website can get hold of your number and use it with a phishing attack or other scam.

According to an article at Mobile News the operator is putting in a customer’s number via header information when they visit a website. The security flaw was first found by user Lewis Peckover, and the number appears in the header information so the website can display the page to suit the user’s smartphone an OS.

This data is not usually recorded by a website, but could be spotted by an administrator of the site, and can then be easily be used for malicious purposes. A similar problem is also affecting GiffGaff and Tesco Mobile, but it hasn’t been found on Everything Everywhere, Three, and Vodafone.

O2 has said they are looking into the matter and added that “security is our top most priority“, but will come as little comfort to affected users. The problem was still found to be happening this morning when using a Nokia Lumia 800 on the carrier. Update: It appears that O2 has now closed the loop hole.

Are you concerned about this problem?

According to the report at ZDNET the company has signed agreements with other network companies as well as local authorities which bind them to their promise of priceless internet in London during the event. Those set to benefit from the deal are residents in areas including Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster as well as visitors that are here to see the Olympics.

The agreement has been put in place so as to ‘ensure that the millions of visitors that come to the city have the best experience possible and can ,make the most of what London has to offer’ according to Cabinet Member for Strategic Finance at Westminster City Council, Councilor Phillippa Roe.

As a means of making up for the lack of profit O2 will be making from the deal, users of the free service will find their devices riddled with adverts. A one-off registration process will also need to have been undertaken in order to access the service. The service will also be limitless to a certain extent although the company has stated that ‘inappropriate use of the service’ will not be permitted. Check out the full report by clicking the link above.

Are you looking forward to the 2012 Olympic Games? Will you be taking advantage of this generous offer from O2?

The carrier is claiming to be the first carrier in the country to offer such a service as they will now lease smartphones to small businesses. The Register is reporting that the new O2 Lease service can be used to get hold of an iPhone 4S or other tech that staff may be demanding.

For £55 per month you will be provided with an iPhone 4S with 750 minutes of talk time, unlimited texts, and 500MB of data. This is a twelve month contract that also provides free insurance but you don’t get to keep the handset at the end of the contract.

You have to keep in mind though that many companies will want the latest handsets at not last year’s model, and in the long run could save such businesses some cash in these tough times. O2 will also allow you to simply stick the handset in the post instead of it just sitting around gathering dust once it has been replaced with the latest model.

The price for the iPhone on the O2 Lease program compares with what the carrier offers ordinary consumers via a two year contract. Currently it is not known what other smartphones O2 will be offering for lease, but with the added insurance it may persuade some consumers to ditch the traditional 18 or 24 month contracts to get the latest smartphone for their business needs.

Do you think leasing a smartphone is a good idea?