Are mobile phone companies taking on too many customers?
By Koalemos
@Asylum (47893)
Manchester, England
December 31, 2006 7:16pm CST
This may appear to be a strange question, but every year the networks are unable to cope with the demand at midnight on New Year’s Eve when everyone wishes to phone or text someone. I realise that the demand is above average, but surely the mobile phone companies should provide for the number of subscribers that they have. It appears that they have a network that will not support all their subscribers and they depend on us all not wanting to use the service at the same time. I thought that they may have improved by now, but it took me 20 minutes to contact my brother and wish him Happy New Year.
The ISPs were criticised for this some years ago and had to improve the service or lose customers. I pay a monthly fee for the service and expect it to be available. Am I wrong to feel that I should not have to rely on others not using the service in order for me to be able to do so?
4 people like this
26 responses
@harsh1985 (593)
• India
2 Jan 07
yes i agree with you..nut now a days due to great decrament in call rates as welll different attractive calling plans every person can afford a cellphone..some person keep 2-3 cellphones with them..
according to demand the cellphone companies unable to give networj to them..specially when their is special event like new year their network get jammed.
in case of accident like flood problem happen in mumbai last year or local blast in 2006. network get failed to sustain. due large no. of users!!
i think network companies must have to take some serious action against this jamming problem!!
@KrauseHome (36447)
• United States
6 Jan 07
Well, I found my Cell Phone service to be overloaded around a month ago when we lost Power for a couple of days. The day after the Power outage, since everyone practically all over the Seattle-Tacoma area was without Power, it was almost impossible to get out to anyone. It was taking forever just to get a hold of my husband. But really, it is getting Bad where everyone has to have one anymore to Survive, so what can we expect, unless they keep on Adding new Towers everywhere to help with the increase in supply and demand.
@Lydia1901 (16351)
• United States
5 Jan 07
I think that is the case, they'll take as many as they can get. It's good business for them.
@vishal2800 (34)
• India
1 Jan 07
u r v.true about the increasing no of users in a single area unable for a company to cope up with theincreasing demand. but there is also considerable inmprovement in technology in which more no of subscribers r accommodated compared to previous ratios..
2 people like this
@limcyjain (3516)
• India
1 Jan 07
yes i agree the service level is low among most of the mobile companies. My sms sent around 4 hrs before new year were never delivered. You will also see a much lower internet speed during 10 to 12 at night.
@KrauseHome (36447)
• United States
27 Jan 07
Well, especially when it comes to Cell phones, I feel they charge too much for the service you sometimes get from them. Especially since if you do not use all of the minutes they give you then you are really giving them Free money back as they are hoping you will do this. And then the high Charges besides the bill. Like for instance when does a Bill go from being $69.99 before Taxes to $86? Seems like I am being taken somehow.
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
28 Jan 07
The included talk time is a real issue. I have 240 minutes of call time per month included in my contract, but they disappear at the end of the month if I have not used them all. This means that I can use 10 minutes one month then 250 minutes the next month and end up paying for the extra 10 minutes on month two.
@sbeauty (5865)
• United States
1 Jan 07
I think that since we pay quite a bit more for mobile phones than for landlines, we deserve all the service we pay for. I'm sure the phone companies take on everyone they can gambling that most will not be using their phones a lot leaving the airway open for more and more customers. However, at times when people would need the phones most, like you last night or during some kind of a disaster, they would be blocked with everyone trying to use their phone at once. I know the more customers means the more money for the phone companies, and that's where everything's at these days. Customer service is a long way down the priority list any more.
@madgirl (210)
• India
1 Jan 07
Exactly.. we may even be able to live with not being able to call during some festive time or during new year.. but what happens if you need to call because of an emergency at that time and you can't because the network is busy? Considering how much and how regularly we pay, we surely deserve better. And sadly, its not just any one service. Most - if not all - services are bad during New Year and similar festive times.
@eternalskyes (273)
• United States
1 Jan 07
Actually when everyone on one service provider trys to either call or send a txt mesage at exactly midnight or minutes there after, you really expect to get through. I used to work for a Nextel store and it is true that when everyone does that, you have a really good chance of having everyone overload the circut boards and then it give a network busy signal
1 person likes this
@spitfire147 (468)
• India
1 Jan 07
Yes this is the problem everywhere. But we cannot blame the phone companies for it as they cannot reject user requests for their number! And such problems are not regular and are just once or twice a year. So it is of no use expanding their netword for a day or two of extra usage.I know it can be frustrating but for these companies the ultimate goal is profit isn't it?
@babray06 (1787)
• India
1 Jan 07
I think yes they have too many customers. At my city till now it is difficult to get someone on mobile from 31st December midnight to 1st morning. This year the situation improved somewhat. I tried few SMS which went. But calls were not going even in the morning. I read somewhere few months back that Mobile companies need more bandwidth to cope up more customers. They need space. May be that is the reason the problem is still there.
@kgwat70 (13387)
• United States
1 Jan 07
I think that your question is very legitimate. Cell phone usage is always increasing and I wonder myself if their networks can handle all the cell phones that are being used. Almost everyone has a cell phone these days, including children. These companies will need to upgrade their network to be able to handle higher volume. I agree with your feelings very much. Mobile phone companies need to improve their service, especially to their existing customers.
@anjuscor (1266)
• India
1 Jan 07
I do understand your feelings. Its like an internet connection. When you have an internet connection at home, if you connect multiple computers to one, the speed will get slowed down, so you cant blame Internet service provider for that. If you use a single computer it will give you the high speed. So it is same when you compare the mobile service provider. When each and every person is trying to use the same connection at the same time, the servers will not be able to connect networks properly, so it gets jammed.
I really do not think, it is their fault. We make a payment, so it works fine all the time except new year day especially 00:01 AM. So i think one day is acceptable. And we know Mobile technology is not yet improved on this, still takes a long time to implement ideas on network not getting jammed.
@jaiganeshe2007 (134)
• India
1 Jan 07
Yes, I too agree your comments. I also tried to call my uncle at the midninght to wish him a happy new year, but the call doesn't reach him. At the same time i tried to call another number, but even at that time also it was not reached. Just I was irritated and slept without wishing him. The network provider has to take steps to give better worthy connection.
