Whats the deal with MTN Airtel, Starcomm and the others?!!!
Service is sooo poor, network is bad most times, blackberry services can cease for a whole day (sometimes two), broadband internet is as slow as a slug (i miss dial-up ). and when the subscription expires, they never add those days that you were without service as a bonus (or apology)!!!

BTW, What exactly does the NCC do, what with all this crappy service we get

Ah JayCee, that is the N1 million question that has been battered many times on this forum.

(1) Telecoms companies have a captured market (think of it as being stuck in a building with the doors locked), so it's not like they have to go touting for business (the ads are for a bigger profit, not necessarily to benefit the customers).

(2) With the above, they don't have to bother with customer service because you have no choice but to use their network!

(3) Because the networks have a captured market and therefore don't need to make an effort with customer service, expect them to deprive you of service and never pay a kobo back to you. Or issue an apology. That is because of. . .1 and 2.

(4) Does real broadband exist in Nigeria? Even I miss my dial up from 2000 (and back then I was getting a respectable 37k) So telecoms can make up anything, like they have the fastest "broadband" network all over Nigeria and NO ONE will challenge it. Even if they do, the ads will still run without correction.

(5) The NCC exists as a way for people to chop money, yab and threaten, but really do nothing. It's best to work on the premise that you will never get any satisfaction from them because they do not exist for the likes of people like you and me.

We can not blame them much,what NCC is doing?, recently NCC came out that 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz are licensed bands,and these two bands are free to air all over the world.We don't have competent people at NCC

nah today? NCC they take their own share nah.

Its still the negligence and corrupt nature of NCC.The telecom company take due advantage of 9ja free society and lawlessness to do whatever they fill ok.Their the BB service is total rip off here in 9ja

Yes.

Too many sharp practices going on.

I subscribed to airtel daily plan for the first time with my registered sim, I begged them to allow me see just a page in order not to completely waste my MB,
Etisalat is now the most fustrating internet service,
MTN is still beating them though they are funny most times.
Glo? Worst. I hadly seen EDGE sign ( less than 10 times in a Blue moon ),

For that of airtel? Is there anything i can do or i did'nt do right? Cos it says '' Packet Data not available '' when i connect with the sent configuration, But it connects with any other access point like etisalat, Mtn, or even manual config yet not single byte is received after sending bytes out, I hav 3G signal on the SIM

well accoring to what i saw dis morning on tv, they were like NCC has told them to upgrade or risk being penalized!!!!

@mafia4life, drop your number let me check it for you but if u cant, look at the top right hand side of your bb and tell me if the EDGE/GPRS is in small or capiatal letter and get back to me.i will be available on this forum till 3pm. so even if you dont see me online, just respond cos i will come back and check.

Baawaa:

We can not blame them much,what NCC is doing?, recently NCC came out that 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz are licensed bands,and these two bands are free to air all over the world.We don't have competent people at NCC

I don't know why they bothered. 3g still isn't common throughout Nigeria. Like most agencies in Nigeria they don't have to be competent, just know how to chop well well

abohrandy:

well accoring to what i saw dis morning on tv, they were like NCC has told them to upgrade or risk being penalized!!!!

They also issued a threat that networks need to clean up their act by the end of the month. So far nothing heard from them since (and we KNOW the networks haven't improved in a month). They've been issuing threats about SIM registration for well over a year and keep extending the programme.

Do you seriously think this "threat" will make any difference?

When BIS was N3k, i used to enjoy the package, now that its N1.5k, service not available, Na wa

2goodbobo:

@mafia4life, drop your number let me check it for you but if u cant, look at the top right hand side of your bb and tell me if the EDGE/GPRS is in small or capiatal letter and get back to me.i will be available on this forum till 3pm. so even if you dont see me online, just respond cos i will come back and check.

This is the number 08021273229
Pls help cos airtel is the only 3G network here. I hope using it but experienced its magic, If it require live chat for both of us to communicate, Pls tell me so i drop an IM, I am not BB user

Guys sorry for not sticking to topic, lately i've been seeing this 'H' sign instead of 'E' (EDGE) on my phone and i dont understand what it means though my browsing speed has been faster for some time now so what does the 'H' stand for and any connection to browsing speed?

Yeske!:

Guys sorry for not sticking to topic, lately i've been seeing this 'H' sign instead of 'E' (EDGE) on my phone and i dont understand what it means though my browsing speed has been faster for some time now so what does the 'H' stand for and any connection to browsing speed?

Yeske!:

Guys sorry for not sticking to topic, lately i've been seeing this 'H' sign instead of 'E' (EDGE) on my phone and i dont understand what it means though my browsing speed has been faster for some time now so what does the 'H' stand for and any connection to browsing speed?

H stands for HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access), basically what is called enhance 3G or 3.5G.

It goes (from slowest to fastest) GPRS - EDGE - 3G - HSDPA.

If you can get the "H" on your phone, count yourself lucky. It basically means you're getting faster browsing/download speeds on your phone.

Rip off? The proper term would be REAP-OFF, as that's what they're doing off of us.

Picture this scenario- BIS goes off, I call 200 and after eternity, someone answers and after listening to my litany of complaints, tells me to do "A HARD RESET" which is the new panacea for ALL telecom operators in Nigeria presently.
I patiently tell her i've done the bloody reset twice before calling; she then tells me to hold on, apparently looks at her own BB, and exclaims "Ehen, I don't have BIS here too now", which means I should shut up and wait till they restore service.

The cheekiest part is that they NEVER compensate. I think we should consider a "Class action suit" or something like that and claim substantial damages against this corporate thievery.

JayCee2010:

Whats the deal with MTN Airtel, Starcomm and the others?!!!
Service is sooo poor, network is bad most times, blackberry services can cease for a whole day (sometimes two), broadband internet is as slow as a slug (i miss dial-up ). and when the subscription expires, they never add those days that you were without service as a bonus (or apology)!!!

BTW, What exactly does the NCC do, what with all this crappy service we get

Almost as if you read the Tweet I sent to @MTNNG this morning. I was so annoyed. Since yesterday (and till now), my internet access has been terrible. Spent over 15 minutes to download a 600 k picture. I've confirmed from some other people that I'm not the only one experiencing it. Yet, they wont even apologize or refund money. We are overpaying them and they respond by giving us crappy services. I wonder what our regulating agencies do.

I hav called airtel about my problem, After assuring me that it has been set to work now, I joyfuly thank them then dance back to my phone browser, I got connected by when i check the connection manager, it shows this way '' 0KB/2.99KB '', Which means it is not even receiving a damn byte, I am deprived of making a very important skype call scheduled, Now i hav been calling till tomoro, Maybe he recognized my phone number so he isn't answering,

Most of them could no longer hold the capacity of people using their services but with time they should improve and catch up.

This post is gone.

godman01:

Most of them could no longer hold the capacity of people using their services but with time they should improve and catch up.

You are kidding right - catch up to what? Their repeated level of incompetence?

How hard is it to have basic, reasonable customer service?
If it is obvious that phone credit has been taken for a service not given, it is not that hard to refund the customer is it?
If a network is offering a service, at the least it should be as advertised shouldn't it,?
If the network is down, it isn't a crime to admit it - yet Customer Service Agents typically lie and say there's no problem or - my favourite - their "upgrading" the network.

These "basics" the networks fail on repeatedly. They are not catching up to anything and it won't get any better. That is why many of us have two or more phones in 2011.

By the way, anyone visited the NCC website recently? I think they did their annual update

AND, I discovered a Consumer Portal (slow connection and not enough time to see if it has any useful information):
http://www.ncc.gov.ng/consumer/default.asp

In a country of over 100 million people, only 4,085 have visited the site. Maybe we need to deluge them with complaints. Not that we might get far but it'll be therapeutic for some

N101:

H stands for HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access), basically what is called enhance 3G or 3.5G.

It goes (from slowest to fastest) GPRS - EDGE - 3G - HSDPA.

If you can get the "H" on your phone, count yourself lucky. It basically means you're getting faster browsing/download speeds on your phone.

Wow, thanks man.

NCC is incompetent!!!!

I called MTN to complain that my BIS had been messing up for two days ( after waiting on the line for like 20mins).

Eventually the lady - after responding to my complaint like a robot- said that my complaint had been forwarded to the appropriate department but she had NO IDEA when service would be restored to my phone.
I got irritated and asked her if they would add those two days that I had gone without service to my subscription time- she laughed like I was joking- saying its not her responsibility to do that!!

Long story short after a 3rd day of no BIS and two extra call complaints to custumer care, my service was restored and my account was credited with a whopping N200!!!<Sarcasm>
Dividends of Democracy indeed! Loool.