# o2 s new web text not working?



## landlord (9 Nov 2008)

As of this morning Sunday 9th of November o2s should have set up a new web text service, with extra features such as syncing your mobile phone numbers to your o2 web address book. I can access the site, but I cant send any webtexts and every time i try to sync it fails ( I will be very annoyed if I am being charged for each time i try to sync ) !!!!
Is it just me or is anyone else having this problem?


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## Brendan Burgess (9 Nov 2008)

Hi - it's not working properly for me either. 

It is so slow, that I cannot be bothered with it.

Brendan


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## Guest124 (9 Nov 2008)

Same here -let's hope they get it sorted soon and it seem's to have lost my list of contacts?


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## gipimann (9 Nov 2008)

I used the new system successfully earlier this afternoon - sent a couple of webtexts (the increased no of characters is very useful!).   However I found it very slow, the contact list didn't appear to be in any order, it failed to send a message the first time, and I find the colour of the print (pale grey) very difficult to see.

Tried to use it again about 15 mins ago, and the page won't load.

I tried the synch too, but the instructions given on the screen didn't work for me, so I didn't complete it - as I'm not interested in paying for it, I didn't proceed!

Another upgrade a la Ryanair, perhaps?


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## danole (9 Nov 2008)

Same here.....sent a couple of texts earlier & then NOTHING!'Seems like they don't want you to use the service....


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## Complainer (9 Nov 2008)

What a terrible, terrible user interface. The opening of pop-up windows to select names from the address book and to confirm that a text has been sent is a terrible idea. This causes lots of problems for blind/vision impaired users who have screen readers. It also makes the damn thing effectively unusable, as it takes so long to open the address book (over 3 Mbps broadband) that I just lose interest. 

The archive of sent texts with delivery status is a good idea. How does the synching work - is there a network charge for this, or can it be done via wifi/bluetooth/cable connection to phone? Why is E51 not listed in the Nokia device list, and will my E51 explode if I choose E50 instead?

Meteor used to have a poor user interface that required you to click into a separate page to see the address book, but they sorted this out a couple of years back. O2 have gone back a number of years in functionality.


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## Guest124 (9 Nov 2008)

Very poor show from 02 yet again -can we have the old one back if your not going to fix this? I have to say compaired to say last year the website is getting worse not better.


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## allthedoyles (10 Nov 2008)

O2 website ( webtext ) appears to be out of order most weekends . Also I find that I am automatically logged out after around 5 minutes online . It looks like O2 do not want us to use this free text service .

The webpage seems to be all over the place  lately.


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## cinders (10 Nov 2008)

the webmail is a bit slow alright.  

Have any of you paid O2 online using the 'pay my bill' function?  I was about to use it but noticed that there is no security icon on the page.  Think i might wait & find an alternate payment method...


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## ClubMan (10 Nov 2008)

BroadbandKen said:


> Very poor show from 02 yet again


Maybe they're just trying to keep up with _Vodafone _whose website very regularly fails in my experience.


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## landlord (10 Nov 2008)

I phoned o2 and spoke to someone there who went into my account and managed to send me a message, but I still cant send any messages from my computer at home. Very frustrating !!!


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## gipimann (10 Nov 2008)

Complainer said:


> The opening of pop-up windows to select names from the address book and to confirm that a text has been sent is a terrible idea.


 
I found (by trial and error - the site didn't tell me!) that if you type the first few characters of the person you wish to send a text to in the box, a list is displayed below and you can select the appropriate one.  It's a bit like the feature in eircom webmail.

So at least you don't have to open (and sort!) the address book every time you send a text!

Thought it a bit of a swizz though to find that they're advertising the ability to send texts in foreign languages, but if you use non-standard text characters (e.g. ó), it "costs" extra!  (presumably because it takes 2 characters to send ó, you get fewer characters per message?)


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## Complainer (10 Nov 2008)

gipimann said:


> I found (by trial and error - the site didn't tell me!) that if you type the first few characters of the person you wish to send a text to in the box, a list is displayed below and you can select the appropriate one.  It's a bit like the feature in eircom webmail.
> 
> So at least you don't have to open (and sort!) the address book every time you send a text!


Thanks for the tip. I tried logging in from work today, but I wasn't getting anywhere. We have a pretty restrictive environment (no ActiveX, tight firewall), but I used to be able to use the old site without any problems, but not the new one. Looks like O2 are working really hard to push me back over to Meteor.


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## danole (12 Nov 2008)

Tried the webtext last 2 mornings & worked fine,albeit being a LOT more cumbersome than before! Tried it again later in the day & it's crashed!! I wonder do they know/care whether it's working or not.Seems to me there's not a lot the humble user can do,except move to Meteor,which isn't an option for me at the mo'.....


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## aircobra19 (13 Nov 2008)

I've two tips for ye. 

1) Its a lot faster using Safari on Windows instead of IE7

2) Use Cabbage instead. http://www.cabaal.org/cabbage/ (routes via another server)


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## tosullivan (13 Nov 2008)

I've been using it the last few days and think its much better.

I like the idea of being able to send texts up to 1000 characters now

It took about half an hour to get my address book in order but now its much better.

Plus you don't have to click the button for the pop up window for the address book.  Just type inside the box the first few letters of the name and the list of names will apear with those letters in it


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## landlord (13 Nov 2008)

aircobra19 said:


> I've two tips for ye.
> 
> 1) Its a lot faster using Safari on Windows instead of IE7
> 
> 2) Use Cabbage instead. http://www.cabaal.org/cabbage/ (routes via another server)


 
I have to say that is fantastic (the cabbage website).  It makes texting online so so easy.


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## Brendan Burgess (14 Nov 2008)

I used the new O2 now and it's much better. It will take a lot of gettng used to. But being able to send 1000 character texts is  a great advance.

Brendan


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## aircobra19 (14 Nov 2008)

Just be aware the Cabbage can use a 3rd party server. Doesn't bother me but some may not want to use it because of that. 

How do other phones recieve the 1000 long text? Some phones recieve texts like that in 160 length chumks but in reverse order.


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## Complainer (14 Nov 2008)

Has anyone tried the phone synch option? Is there a charge for this? Can I connect via bluetooth or cable for this?


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## tosullivan (14 Nov 2008)

the phone sync option is billable

the best thing to do is sync your phone using bluetooth/cable/IR to your PC into Outlook, the export the Address book to a csv file, edit the file and import the file into your Online O2 address book...for free


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## Wizardo (16 Nov 2008)

aircobra19 said:


> Just be aware the Cabbage can use a 3rd party server. Doesn't bother me but some may not want to use it because of that.



True - that is something that concerned me about cabbage... If you use JSMS http://jsmsirl.sf.net instead, they interact directly with the O2 website. Thus, you don't have to worry about any issues with a 3rd party server being compromised. 

Plus - JSMS has a spell checker too - I like that - helps a lot with my typlexia!


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## Complainer (16 Nov 2008)

Wizardo said:


> True - that is something that concerned me about cabbage... If you use JSMS http://jsmsirl.sf.net instead, they interact directly with the O2 website. Thus, you don't have to worry about any issues with a 3rd party server being compromised.
> 
> Plus - JSMS has a spell checker too - I like that - helps a lot with my typlexia!


The JSMS tool is great, and the guys offer better support than most commercial providers. The only thing it doesn't give me is the option to pre-schedule texts for delivery.


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## aircobra19 (16 Nov 2008)

I prefer cabbage myself, though people (on boards) kinda rubbished anyone asking about the use of a 3rd party server. I didn't like that. What do you use the pre-schedule texts for?


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## rmelly (16 Nov 2008)

Complainer said:


> The JSMS tool is great, and the guys offer better support than most commercial providers. The only thing it doesn't give me is the option to pre-schedule texts for delivery.


 
You could very easily integrate your own scheduler with Quartz or similar - JSMS basically boils down to a few very simple java classes (MessageSender and its sub classes) when you strip out the spell checker & GUI.


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## Complainer (16 Nov 2008)

aircobra19 said:


> What do you use the pre-schedule texts for?


Sending out club/association reminder notices, making people think I'm working when I'm not, sending texts when I know I'm going to be cycling in traffic, etc tec


rmelly said:


> You could very easily integrate your own scheduler with Quartz or similar - JSMS basically boils down to a few very simple java classes (MessageSender and its sub classes) when you strip out the spell checker & GUI.


You seem to be assuming some basic competency in the underlying technology. I wouldn't know a java class if I fell over one.


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## Pope John 11 (18 Jan 2009)

I two find O2 webtext a nitemare. I just sent 3 messages & guess what the 3 were not delievered. I could not access the webtext site yesterday due the O2 working on the site until 07:30am this morning....this message appeared. 

Sure enough they work on the site at the weekends, the busiest time you would think.

Any more updates on this.

How much is the cabbage website/text to send to another mobile or does it vary


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## AlbacoreA (18 Jan 2009)

Complainer said:


> The JSMS tool is great, and the guys offer better support than most commercial providers. The only thing it doesn't give me is the option to pre-schedule texts for delivery.


 
Cabbage does I think.



Complainer said:


> Sending out club/association reminder notices, making people think I'm working when I'm not, sending texts when I know I'm going to be cycling in traffic, etc tec


 
Ummm


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## AlbacoreA (18 Jan 2009)

Pope John 11 said:


> ...
> How much is the cabbage website/text to send to another mobile or does it vary


 
Its not a website. Its an application you download, that accesses your O2 free texts. its just a million lightyears faster and useful  than using the O2 website.


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## Complainer (28 May 2009)

O2 are looking for feedback on their proposed new website - see 

It looks like they are proposing to drop the ability to select contacts within the existing window, which is one of the few advantages of the o2 webtext over meteor.


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## Complainer (9 Mar 2010)

Looks like they have implemented their planned reworking of the webtext facility, nearly a year later. 

[broken link removed]

At first glance, it is a decent improvement, and cuts out the very annoying popups from the old version.


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## theresa1 (6 Jun 2010)

Anybody else having trouble using web text to send free text's to a u.s. mobile? I've just noticed my last few text's say Not Delivered -never had trouble before.


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## Complainer (15 Dec 2010)

The 'sent text' section today is telling me that every text I've ever sent is 'not delivered', even those that I know were actually delivered.


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## theresa1 (15 Dec 2010)

Mine seem's ok.


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## Boyd (15 Dec 2010)

Delivery status working fine for me


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## Complainer (15 Dec 2010)

Yep, they seem to be back working fine now.


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