Big Tech offers you up to 15 GB of free cloud storage. O2 Cloud makes them look ridiculous and gives 10 TB to its customers

O2 customers are in luck. The operator communicated yesterday a fantastic change in your offer – so far O2 Cloud offered 1 TB of cloud storage included in that plan. Now that capacity is expanded dramatically, with customers now able to access 10TB of cloud storage. It is something amazing if we compare this offer with the space offered by default by Google, Microsoft or Apple, but there are some drawbacks.

10 TB “free”. Years ago, Movistar created Movistar Cloud as an option to create backup copies of your files, and that was striking from the first moment because it also the service’s storage space was theoretically unlimited. O2 Cloud joined that offer some time later, and did so initially with 1 TB of free space (included in the plan) which is now multiplied by ten.

If you only have an O2 mobile, you also have 10 TB. Until now this offer was valid for fiber users (whether they also had mobile lines or not), but now O2 offers O2 Cloud with 10 TB of storage included to any user of its services: if you have an O2 mobile line, with or without fiber, you have 10 TB of O2 Cloud for free, included in the plan.

Apps for Android and iOS. The service is intended to be a “Dropbox” or “iCloud” that constantly backs up your photos and videos to O2’s cloud storage space. Just install the android app or that of iOSconfigure it by registering for the service and that’s it: we will have those copies for free as we are O2 customers.

In the image, the O2 Cloud interface from the web browser. We can view the photos directly there, and the operation is surprisingly fluid.

Also on Windows or Mac desktop. It is also possible to use O2 Cloud to save images, videos or documents from a personal computer. I have tested it on my Mac, and it is possible to download the desktop client so that it works in the background: everything you put in the “O2 Cloud” folder will automatically be synchronized with the operator’s cloud storage space.

Integrated image editor. This service seems especially designed to safeguard the photos on our mobile phone so that if we lose it or it is stolen, they will remain safe. But it is also a great service for viewing them (it runs very smoothly) and even editing them: the integrated editor offers some basic filters (Sepia, Gray, etc.) and also a few editing tools that give more added value to the solution.

The integrated editor is limited, but it can get us out of a quick fix.

Customize folders or albums. From there, it is possible to access and download content from our devices, and in O2 Cloud we can also create personalized folders or albums to organize photos and documents based on their theme, location, etc.

O2 makes Big Tech look ridiculous. The O2 Cloud service is surprisingly generous, especially when compared to what big technology companies offer. Google offers 15 GB of free storage when you create an account, while Apple and Microsoft offer 5 GB. If you want more, you have to pay, and that’s where subscriptions to paid plans like Google One/Workspace come in, Apple iCloud+or Microsoft 365/Family. We have made a small comparative table, and it is clear that those 10 TB of O2 Cloud are a true gift for the operator’s customers.

But Big Tech offers other things. It is important to note that it is understandable that big technology companies are so stingy with the free space they offer to users: with hundreds (or thousands) of millions of customers, offering more capacity would force them to grow extraordinarily in resources in their data centers. But in addition, payment services such as Google One, iCloud+ or Microsoft 365 are rather “multiservice” because mix storage with productivity tools, security and, in some cases, AI plans.

But if you only had iCloud for photos… However, many users are forced to contract Apple iCloud+ or Google One to maintain that backup of your photos in the clouds of these companies and “everything just works.” The O2 Cloud proposal presents a fantastic alternative for these users, because they get the same thing without paying extra: the plan they have with O2 would already serve to enjoy this service. The integration of those services will always be superior to that of O2 Cloud, of course, but for that basic backup use, the alternative seems extraordinary.

What happens if I leave O2?. There is no permanence in O2, but logically if we go to another operator, we will lose access to O2 Cloud. The company gives 30 days to download the files if you unsubscribe before deleting them, which of course gives the option to recover all that data and save it, for example, on an external hard drive and then move it to another cloud service if we wish: there are no (unfortunately) tools or services that allow this “migration” from one cloud to another.

Common Terms of Use. O2 Cloud has some terms of use and of privacy which are already common in this type of services. In O2 they explain for example that:

“To manage some of the functions necessary to provide the service, we have contracted trusted suppliers who may have access to personal data, who will act as data processors and who will be contractually obliged to comply with their legal obligations as data processor, to maintain the confidentiality and secrecy of the information.”

They also clarify that “some of the functions necessary to provide the service are contracted to data processors located outside the European Economic Area”, although they guarantee “an adequate level of protection of personal data”. The personal data processed may include location or usage statistics, so a priori the service is practically identical in this to other similar services.

They also explain in these particular conditions that “O2 informs that it will not have access to the Content included in the O2 Cloud Service and has no obligation to control or review the Content hosted or made available through the Service.”

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