Latest news with #O2
The Sun
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Netflix, Disney & Amazon subscription hacks for at-home film days this summer that'll save you £850 on TV & cinema trips
WHO can afford full-price trips to the cinema these days? You need a mortgage just for the popcorn – never mind posh seat upgrades for the whole family. Thankfully there are loads of ways to slash the cost of at-home movie days this summer, potentially saving you hundreds on bills and trips to the cinema. The other bonus is: you can make your own snacks! 9 9 TV TRICK #1 – GET YOURSELF FREE DISNEY+ If you're looking for family-friendly flicks, you can't go wrong with Disney+. It's crammed with Disney originals, plus Star Wars and Marvel goodness too. This is Hollywood in app form. You needn't pay the full £8.99 a month (that's £108 a year!) either. Trim those Disney+ bills right now. If you're a Lloyds Bank customer with a Club Lloyds current account, you can get free Disney+ for a full year. The account is £5 a month (or free if you put at least £2,000 a month into it). And you can claim a Disney+ Standard with Ads membership, getting you Full HD viewing and two streams at once. Tesco shoppers with Clubcards can get a tempting Disney+ perk that doubles the value of your vouchers if you spend them on the streaming service. So you can swap £7.50 in Clubcard vouchers for a three-month Disney+ Standard With Ads subscription (usually £14.97) – or trade £13.50 in vouchers for a £26.97 Standard three-month plan. You'll find it in the My Rewards section of your Clubcard. And if you're on the O2 network, you can get a free six-month membership to Disney+ Standard – and once that's over, you can add it to your plan as a paid extra and get £2 a month back as a discount on your airtime bill. Potential Saving: £107.88 a year TV TRICK #2 – SLASH YOUR AMAZON VIDEO BILL Amazon Prime Video is chock full of quality movies – and it's home to the wildly popular Clarkson's Farm too. You're throwing away money on Netflix – I found three common mistakes sending your bill soaring but the fixes are easy But if you're paying the £8.99 fee for Amazon Prime just to watch Amazon Video, there are some clever ways to bag a discount. The most obvious discount is paying upfront for an annual £95 membership, versus the monthly option that ends up costing you £107.88. Alternatively, you could simply pay for Amazon Video on its own. You'll lose the other Prime benefits, but it shrinks your bill to £5.99 a month – that's £71.88 over a year. If you've got a student or young person in the house, you're in luck. There's a cheap membership called Prime for Students and 18-22 Year Olds. That covers a massive chunk of Brits, so you might have someone who fits the bill at home. It'll get you Amazon Prime for £4.49 a month (£53.88 a year), or just £47.49 if you pay the annual membership instead. And if that wasn't enough, this discounted Amazon Prime also comes with a mammoth six-month free trial. That's far longer than the usual 30-day option. So in your first year, you'd only be paying £23.75. Potential Saving: £84.13 a year 9 TV TRICK #3 – CHECK IF YOU'RE OVERPAYING FOR NETFLIX Can you believe that when Netflix launched in the UK in 2012, it only cost £5.99 a month? Now a Standard plan is more than double that – and Premium is over three times the price. But these layers of membership create an opportunity: you might actually be overpaying for Netflix. The first common mistake is paying for a 4K plan when you don't need it. The Premium plan costs £18.99 in the UK, and its big perk is 4K telly (of which Netflix has plenty). But there's every chance you're not watching Netflix on a 4K Ultra HD TV. Many televisions don't have 4K screens, which makes a 4K plan fairly pointless. And if you're using an Amazon Fire Stick, Roku box, or some other streaming gadget, that ALSO needs to be 4K too – or you won't get a 4K picture. Sadly, many aren't, especially if you bought a cheaper model. On top of that, most tablets and phones don't have 4K screens, and on the tiny displays, 4K is even less important. So consider downgrading to Standard at £10.99, saving you £96 a year. It's the same library of content, but your streaming drops to Full HD – which is fine for most people. Secondly, don't ignore the newer and far cheaper Standard with Ads plan, which is only £5.99 a month. You still get Full HD resolution just like Standard, but your viewing will be interrupted by ads. Compared to a Premium plan, you'll save a massive £156 a year this way. Potential Saving: £156 a year Mission Unaffordable! The blockbuster cost of family cinema trips It used to be a go-to activity during the school summer holidays but the rising cost of cinema tickets has priced many families out. A typical 2D adult ticket can range from £8 to £12, with children's tickets often slightly cheaper. Special screenings for 3D or IMAX movies cost more. Some cinemas also add on a booking fee, which can see the price soar. Cinema snacks and drinks can easily set you back £15 to £20. With film-branded, limited-edition food (as seen at recent Minecraft screenings) potentially costing more. Add on a few pounds for parking or transport and you've easily spent between £60 and £100 on a couple of hours out. TV TRICK #4 – SWAP YOUR SUBSCRIPTIONS One of the biggest telly mistakes we all make is paying for every subscription under the sun. If you're a TV fan, you might be forking out for Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Video, Apple TV+, Now TV, and who knows what else. Stop it now – and try subscription swapping instead. Cancel everything but just keep one subscription, and then binge on that for a month. Now kill it off and move onto a second plan, and enjoy that app's library for another month. Do this with two more apps and then repeat the process. Now you're back at the first app with some fresh content to watch. 9 You'll get to enjoy each of the app's content all through the year, but without paying out a fortune. Let's say you paid for Netflix Premium (£18.99), Disney+ Standard (£8.99), Amazon Video without Prime (£5.99), and Apple TV+ (£8.99). With all four of those running for a year, your bill would come to £515.52 over the course of a year. If you used subscription swapping, that would drop to just £128.88. That's a saving of £386.64. You're paying exactly a quarter of what you would've spent. And you don't miss out on any top movies or shows either. Potential Saving: £386.64 a year Subscription swapping saved me a fortune and the kids loved it Fabulous' Associate Editor Sarah Barns tested subscription swapping with her two sons, aged three and five. Unsurprisingly, asking my two sons to binge watch Netflix for a month was a task they took to with gusto. We made our way through all the Hotel Transylvania, Paddington and Minions films before I cancelled the subscription (£5.99 a month with ads) and we moved on to Disney+ (£8.99, no ads). Then, we watched the classics - Frozen, Moana and Toy Story - as well as family favourite TV shows, Bluey and Spidey and His Amazing Friends. Finally, we ditched that and moved onto Amazon Prime (£5.99 a month, just for Prime Video). Here, we watched The Lorax, Secret Life of Pets and Sing. This streamer was probably our least favourite and I found that shows the kids wanted to watch, including the Julia Donaldson adaptions, were already available for free on BBC iPlayer. I'd definitely keep rotating Netflix and Disney+, and would be up for giving Apple TV a go. It was fairly faff-free to cancel and rejoin the services and we found that new shows and films had been added while we weren't members. TV TRICK #5 – CUT YOUR APPLE TV+ COST It may be a newer option, but Apple TV+ is now a streaming titan, with hit shows like Severance and Ted Lasso – plus a load of top movies too. The regular free trial is only seven days and then you'll pay £8.99 a month. But there are four other ways to bring the cost of Apple TV+ down. Firstly, if you've bought an Apple device recently – specifically a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, or Mac computer – then you can claim three months of free Apple TV+. Just head into the Apple TV app on the device itself and you'll see the offer just waiting for you there. It needs to be on that device, and signed into your Apple ID. Second, students can get Apple TV+ via a separate promotion. If you're enrolled at a "degree-granting" uni then you can get Apple Music Student, which gets you the Spotify rival for £5.99 (instead of £10.99) for up to 48 months. And this subscription also includes a free membership to Apple TV+ for the same time. Just go to Apple Music > Home > Trial Offer > Student > Verify Eligiblity. A third option is to go through Apple One, which wraps up iPhone services as a bundle and then discounts them. All of the Apple One plans boost your iCloud storage (for backing up your iPhone media), plus give you access to perks like hiding your email and using Apple Invites. 9 The cheapest Apple One plan is £18.95 and includes Apple TV+, Apple Music, and Apple Arcade, saving you £9 a month overall. You can also bundle in Apple Fitness+, Apple News+, and add 2TB of cloud storage (plus sharing with five family members) for £36.95 a month. This saves you £27.99 a month. The last option is to try Family Sharing, which means only one person in your home needs to pay for Apple TV+. "One adult in your household – the family organiser – invites your family members," Apple explains. "When family members join, they get instant access to the group's content and subscriptions that are eligible to be shared. "Each family member uses their own account, so everyone's experience stays personalised and private." That'll save you money at home if you've got multiple family members splashing out on the subscription. And don't worry: they all get their own profiles. Potential Saving: £107.88 a year TV TRICK #6 – DON'T PAY FOR TELLY! 9 What's better than cheap telly? Free telly! One of the best things you can do for your bank balance is download a load of free TV apps. There are some amazing options out there with hundreds of thousands of hours of movies and TV up for grabs. Many of them even offer live TV channels too. Usually the only downside is that you'll need to sit through ads. But most TV apps and regular telly show you ads anyway. Try some of these out: The Roku Channel Tubi Pluto TV Plex TV Amazon Freevee And if you don't like one, who cares? It was free to download – and it doesn't cost a penny to delete it. Potential Saving: As much as you like! TV TRICK #7 – CLAIM YOUR FREE MOVIES Last but not least: Sky customers, go check out the MySky app right now. When you joined Sky, you will have automatically become eligible to claim a free movie. It's part of the Sky VIP offering, earning you a "Welcome Gift". You can take your pick from the Sky Store, and then it's yours to keep. Just go into the app, sign in with your Sky account, and then visit the VIP section to claim it. Once you've redeemed the movie, you'll be able to watch it on the big screen through your Sky box. Potential Saving: £5 to £10 AND IF YOU MUST GO TO THE CINEMA... ...then don't pay full price! There are loads of ways to slash the cost of a trip to the movies... Amazon Prime customers can claim two movie tickets at Odeon for a tenner each month. Or you can get a pair of posh recliner seats at Odeon Luxe for £15 – that's £7.50 each. They're only available between Mondays and Thursdays – just claim the code from Amazon's Prime Odeon deal page here and then plug it into your cinema ticket purchase at checkout. Sky TV customers with a Sky Cinema package can get a pair of free tickets to use at Vue between Sunday and Thursday. Just download the MySky app, go to Sky VIP, and then select Your Vue Tickets for a code. Vodafone offers discounted cinema tickets through the VeryMe Rewards app. One of the current perks gets you a pair of Odeon tickets for £4 per person. And Three customers can use Three+ (the free rewards program) to get trips to the cinema for £3. They're only available between Sunday and Friday – just log onto Three+ to claim your code. Picture Credit: Sky
The Citizen
2 days ago
- Business
- The Citizen
Rand Water wraps up O2 pipeline repairs
Water supply is expected to gradually recover in affected parts of Tshwane, after Rand Water completed critical maintenance work on its O2 pipeline in the early hours of Friday. Rand Water spokesperson Makenosi Maroo confirmed that the leak repair was completed at 02:00 on Friday and that the Palmiet Pumping Station has begun pumping water into the pipeline. 'We are pleased to report that work on the O2 pipeline leak repair was successfully completed in the early hours of this morning,' said Maroo. 🚨 Maintenance Update 🚨⁰O2 Pipeline Leak Repair – Completion Notice 1/2 We are pleased to report that work on the O2 pipeline leak repair was successfully completed in the early hours of this morning, Friday, 18 July 2025, at 02:00. — Rand Water (@Rand_Water) July 18, 2025 She explained that while the pipeline has been recharged and pumping resumed, water supply to affected areas will not be restored immediately. 'It's important to remember that once maintenance is completed, the water supply system takes time to recover and build capacity,' she said. 'Low-lying areas will recover first, while high-lying areas may experience longer delays.' This update follows a major water supply shutdown, which began on July 15. 2/2 Please remember that once maintenance is completed, the water supply system will take time to recover and build capacity. Water supply will not be restored immediately. Low-lying areas will recover first, while high-lying areas may experience longer delays. — Rand Water (@Rand_Water) July 18, 2025 The Tshwane metro had previously advised residents that water supply disruptions would occur for about three days to allow Rand Water to conduct permanent repairs on the O2 pipeline, which had been temporarily patched in the past. Metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo confirmed earlier that the shutdown was part of the water utility's strategic preparations for the upcoming higher demand period starting in August. 'This essential work will affect those of Tshwane's reservoirs and meters supplied by the Klipfontein, Brakfontein, and Haartebeeshoek Reservoirs,' Mashigo said. The shutdown saw widespread disruptions across numerous regions and suburbs supplied by these reservoirs. Affected areas experienced either low pressure or a complete water outage. The following reservoirs and meters supplied by the Haartebeeshoek Reservoir were affected: LISTEN: Do you have more information about the story? Please send us an email to [email protected] or phone us on 083 625 4114. For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord's websites: Rekord East For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram or TikTok. At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mirror
Three Mobile rivals EE, O2 and Sky with a cheaper Unlimited Data SIM-only plan
Three Mobile has a string of SIM-only packages on offer Three Mobile has rolled out a string of SIM-only plans with priced from £22 for unlimited data. The network's low-cost deals rival SIM-only deals from the likes of EE, O2 and Sky. Three Mobile's ' Unlimited 24-month Lite' includes extras such as 5G-ready at no extra cost, unlimited calls and texts and Three+ rewards. It costs £22 monthly, increasing to £23.50 from April 2026, and to £25 in April 2027. Phone owners who are willing to pay a little extra can opt for the £24 a month package. It includes all the extras listed above, as well as roaming data and Paramount+ (prices increase to £25.50 from April 2026, £27 from April 2027). In comparison, Sky Mobile's unlimited SIM-only plan is £29 monthly. Consumers can also opt to go for an e-SIM, which means they can activate thier plan immediately, without having to wait for a physical SIM to arrive. Over at EE, the Unlimited Essential SIM-only plan is on offer for £22, down from £35. It includes unlimited minutes, texts and data, gift data to family and friends, and max speeds of 100Mbps. For an upgraded package, shoppers can pick the Unlimited Full Works for iPhone SIM-only contract (£31 a month, was £48). This includes no-charge roaming in the EU and further, unlimited data for a watch, and priority coverage in busy areas. Uncapped speeds and inclusive extras, like Apple One or TNT Sports, are also included. Meanwhile, O2's 24-month Unlimited Data SIM-only contract also begins at £22, per month. Consumers who opt for this can enjoy roaming freely in the EU (up to 25GB), choose three months of Disney+ Standard, Amazon Prime, or more. They also have an option to upgrade to a new phone and plan after three months. Consumers can find general reviews and ratings of Three Mobile's service and reliability on Trustpilot. One person left a review of their in-store experience, saying: "I needed to replace a lost iPhone quickly - Lisa in the Wigan store was really helpful and sorted me out very efficiently. "This store staff has always delivered excellent service." Another network user said: "Their network is okay, but then you can't even send any Whatsapp messages when you're in Glasgow city centre. "Please work on your internet connectivity in city centre." Another user noted the broadband, writing: "Great service and cheap. "Very easy to plug in the Broadband modem and use. Internet is quick. Also, Sonu was great at problem solving when I needed to call customer service."
Evening Standard
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Evening Standard
Leigh-Anne Pinnock joins star-studded crowd at intimate Burna Boy gig after teasing music comeback
'Big thanks to O2 for bringing us together in London to celebrate the new album,' the singer said. 'It's an honour to share No Sign of Weakness with the world and feel this kind of energy from my people.'
The Irish Sun
3 days ago
- The Irish Sun
Major mobile provider reveals FREE upgrade for thousands of customers hours after major service is shut down
THOUSANDS of mobile customers are set to benefit from a free network boost – just hours after a major service was switched off. O2 (Virgin Media) revealed it has upgraded its 4G and 5G coverage across more than 2,000 postcodes in Advertisement 2 O2 says the upgrades will give users better connectivity and faster mobile data at no extra cost Credit: Getty The improvements are part of the company's £700million Mobile Transformation Plan, aimed at future-proofing the network and keeping pace with soaring demand. O2 says the upgrades will give users better connectivity and faster mobile data at no extra cost. Free boost A spokesperson said the plan ensures the network is 'fit for the future and can keep up with increasing customer demand.' The free upgrade comes as mobile providers, including O2, continue to phase out older Advertisement Read more on Technology The switch-off is making way for more advanced and efficient 4G and 5G services. Mobile usage has skyrocketed in recent years, with data traffic more than doubling over the past five years – making upgrades like this increasingly essential. And O2 isn't the only one dishing out freebies. Earlier this year, EE handed thousands of customers a free 5G upgrade, even for those on older 4G plans. Advertisement Most read in Tech Vodafone also rolled out CHECK YOUR SPEED: Broadband Meanwhile, Three UK recently gave select customers free roaming perks across Europe and upgraded network speeds in several major cities – all without charging a penny more. These giveaways come as mobile giants try to stay ahead in an increasingly competitive market – and soften the blow of 3G shutdowns and rising bills for millions. So if you're with one of the big networks, it's worth checking if a free upgrade is already waiting for you. Advertisement Is the 3G switch off that big of a deal? Analysis by Jamie Harris, Assistant Technology and Science Editor at The Sun It's unclear exactly how many people will be affected by the 3G switch off. There wasn't much noise after Three, EE and Vodafone ended 3G. So, there will undoubtedly be some still using 3G-only phones but the numbers are probably very small. Just because it may be a small figure doesn't mean those people should be cast aside, especially if they're not very tech-savvy or vulnerable. So definitely get in contact with O2 (or GiffGaff and Tesco Mobile) if you need support. 2 The free upgrade comes as mobile providers, including O2, continue to phase out older 3G services across the UK Credit: SWNS
