2G service against 4G packages

Cell cos cheating customers

Zarif Mahmud with Mahfuz Emran: Smart Bangladesh has recently been announced by the government. Before this there was Digital Bangladesh. But be it digital and smart, Bangladesh should be unique to be the first from the last in terms of mobile internet speed. Some time ago, the results of internet speed for the last one year from November 2021 to November 2022 were published on Okla’s website. Qatar topped the list with an average speed of 176.18 Mbps. Bangladesh’s position is down as usual.
Mobile Internet users in Bangladesh are getting an average speed of 13.95 Mbps. Bangladesh ranks 119th in the world ranking.
The number of mobile internet users in Bangladesh has decreased by 2.8 million in December last year compared to the previous month. Although the exact reason for this is not known, operators and analysts fear that if infrastructure facilities are not increased quickly, there is a danger that the quality of mobile internet service will worsen.
In contrast to mobile internet, broadband internet usage increased in December but it is not getting the desired speed and analysts are blaming the government decision for this.
After the launch of 4G service in Bangladesh in January 2018, the government and mobile companies promoted that the common people will get various services including uninterrupted network, video download, live streaming.
However, telecom expert Abu Saeed Khan says, the reality is that 4G services are not available outside the city due to the government’s failure to build infrastructure.
However, the state-owned mobile phone operator Teletalk has already launched 5G internet service on an experimental basis in some areas of the country. Other operators Grameenphone, Robi and Banglalink are preparing to launch the same service. However, all mobile operators have launched 4G services in most parts of the country.
And accordingly, they have fixed the price of the internet package. But even if customers buy 4G internet, they are getting 2G-3G services in many areas of the country. They have repeatedly complained about this to the operator companies, but it is not being addressed.
It is known that the customers are getting 4G services in the capital and divisional cities. But many times, there is no 4G in these areas, the network comes down to 3G. However, at the district level, there are 3Gs most of the time.
And in poor and rural areas most of the time there is no 3G network, then 2G network is the only one to rely on. As a result, the internet package does not work after it is properly located, buffering occurs. Customers are getting frustrated with it. According to the related sources, this situation has arisen due to the fact that the mobile operator companies are not calculating the business of the whole country but are calculating the business based on the area. They see how many customers there are in an area, how many SIMs have internet.
If found to be satisfactory according to their calculations, then Forge maintains the necessary arrangements to operate the service. Build the required number of towers. But if there is no satisfied customer then there is no necessary action, it is not available forge in that area.
However, even if they do more business in urban areas, it is not considered as such. But calls from rural areas are more business than necessary but it does not sync with internet.
Customers constantly complain on the Facebook pages of mobile phone operator companies. According to the allegations, Teletalk’s network is the weakest among the operators.
In a post on Teletalk’s Facebook page. Faizul Islam writes, ‘Brother, I can’t get network since morning. West side of Basa stadium at Mirpur-2 no.
West side of Basa stadium at Mirpur-2 no. And I left it without talking about my village.
Arafat Ali writes, “If you buy 2 GB net, one and a half GB is lost. I can’t complete the period of 15 days. Then you understand how good the network is.
Curzon Chakma writes, ‘Ensure forge in hilly areas. Our hilly areas have the largest number of Teletalk subscribers, but only limited to 3G-2G.
Russell Ahmed writes, “There is no 3G network in Naldanga village of Sadullapur upazila of Gaibandha. Sometimes there are no twos. Understand the situation. Try our 3G service.’
Teletalk General Manager (System Operation) Nurul Mabud Chowdhury said, “We have already started the 5G readiness project. Which may take a year or more to complete. This will ensure 4G service in our coverage areas. Besides, we have big plans to increase our coverage.
In a post on Banglalink’s page, Mahadi Hasan Talha writes, ‘To use your SIM in my area, you have to tie the phone to a tree branch and talk through a loudspeaker. Why is your network so fast?
Banglalink Chief Corporate Officer Taimur Rahman said, ‘4G service requires spectrum of 2300 MHz. But in 2G it takes only 900 MHz. We have already ensured 4G service in 95 percent coverage area. But we need more sites. If we can share the tower with all the operators, it will be easy to deliver good service to all the customers.
In a post on Robi’s page, Tanveer Ahmed wrote, “If 3G network is not available in Kalapara Thana city, nothing can be sadder than this.”
HMM Ismail writes, “Robi SIM does not have 3G in Champaknagar Union of Brahmanbaria’s Vijaynagar Police Station. But Robi Tower has been installed many years ago. We are unable to run internet with Robi SIM.
Shahed Alam, Robi’s Chief Corporate and Regulatory Officer, said, “Forge services are available in our coverage area. However, many phones do not support 4G. And the farther you go from the coverage area, the smaller the network will be. Besides, we have network work going on in some places. Besides, we are also working on building some new towers.
In a post on Grameen’s page, Rahidul Islam writes, “Brother, when I go to the village, there is a problem with the network.” Saidur Rahman writes, “Will such a service continue?” The call rate, the price of the Internet is more than yours, all the other operators.
On April 28 last year, the telecom operators launched the much-awaited ‘unlimited’ and ‘timeless’ internet data packs. However, it does not benefit customers much. Because of this, the operators have increased the price of the package.
And to get unlimited internet, the same package must be activated before the package expires.
But the customer does not need to take the same internet package all the time. As a result, the internet purchased by the customer remains unused. Apart from this, the customers also have questions about the rationale of the packages that the mobile operators have declared as non-expired.
According to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) sources, the number of active SIMs in the country is 18.261 thousand till last February. Among them, the number of subscribers of Grameenphone is 7 crore 90 lakh 95 thousand, Robi 5 crore 55 lakh 14 thousand, Banglalink 4 crore 85 thousand and Teletalk 6 million 67 thousand. And until last February, the total number of internet users in the country is 12.5 million.
Among them, 11 crore 3 lakh 13 thousand use internet on mobile and 11 lakh 87 thousand customers use internet through internet service provider (ISP and PSTN).