VietNamNet Bridge – A lot of 3G service subscribers have decided to stop using service after mobile network operators increased the service fee by 40 percent. However, they complain that it is very difficult to cancel the service.

The subscribers have stopped 3G service because they believe that the new high service fees do not correspond to the low service quality. Others said they have stopped using the service because their demand is not high, while their income is modest. The fee increases have forced them to reconsider their budgets.

Tuan Anh, an office worker in Hanoi, said he decided to cancel the service package on November 5, two days before the deadline (if Anh does not cancel the service before the deadline, the subscription would be automatically extended).

“I have to work with 3G regularly, but I still have decided to cut the service,” he said. “You will have no reason to keep a 3G subscription if you cannot use the service when you need,” he said.

“The 3G service quality is so bad that I sometimes could not send emails,” he complained, adding that the Internet disconnection happens regularly.

“I would rather go to a café and use the free wi-fi there than spending money every month on a bad service,” Tuan Anh said.

Anh’s wife has also stopped using 3G service. She said women mostly use 3G service to read online newspapers or access to social networks, however, even the simple requirements cannot be met.

Nevertheless, Anh complained that it is not simple to cut the service. He spent a morning sending messages to the network operator to inform the service cut, but he did not succeed.

“I thought I made mistakes during the operation. But I later realized that my friends also could not do this,” he said.

Trieu Duong, a subscriber in HCM City, who decided to cancel the service after two years of using, also complained it was so hard to cancel the service.

“After I sent a message, I got a report that I did not succeed. After I send another message, I received a report that systematic error occurred,” he said.

Three hours later, Duong tried to send another message and this time he received a notice that he has not registered the Internet service for his mobile phone.

“This meant that I successfully sent the message, but I was told that the message could not be sent,” he said.

Duong had to pay VND200 for every message, the sum of money, according to him, is not big for him. However, Duong felt inconvenienced when he had to waste time on such a simple thing.

“If all of the millions of subscribers send a message, mobile network operators would pocket big money,” he commented.

The representative of the mobile network operator of which Tuan Anh is a subscriber, when answering the press’ inquiries, said the system checking did not find the signs of the subscriber canceling 3G service.

“There might be some errors, but it’s still very difficult to find them,” he said.

In the case of Trieu Duong, the mobile network operator has not replied to the complaint yet.

There are about 19 million 3G subscribers now in Vietnam, while 60 percent of them use the service daily.

Chi Mai