Maxis and other telcos has to be reined in
There is nothing to shout about when Malaysia reaches 85 percent coverage for its 5G network.
Digital Ministry secretary-general Rodzi Md Saad should instead address the issue where people are complaining that they have been "hoodwinked" to subscribe to the 5G network with "just an additional RM10 plus" on top of the old Postpaid Plan 98.
Digital Ministry secretary-general Rodzi Md Saad should instead address the issue where people are complaining that they have been "hoodwinked" to subscribe to the 5G network with "just an additional RM10 plus" on top of the old Postpaid Plan 98.
Allow me to elaborate. I received an SMS from Maxis to say that I could upgrade my old dataplan Postpaid Plan (RM98) on my mobile phone to 5G with just an additional RM10.
Of course, I was initially delighted thinking that I could at least use it as a hotspot for my work, whenever the broadband at home is slow.
However, after upgrading it, I noticed that I am mostly on the 4G network when I am at home. I am told that 5G is unable to support certain terrains; therefore, a lot of places may not get the support of the 5G network.
Since I spend most of my time working from home, there is really no reason why I should even be on 5G, especially when I am on a fibre network that is supposed to have a speed of 300 mbps.
I therefore asked Maxis to revert back to my old plan, but despite bringing this to the Malaysia Commission for Multimedia Communications (MCMC), I am told that Maxis no longer supports the Postpaid Plan 98. Therefore, it is so-called "impossible" to revert to the old plan and pay the lower rate.
What is worse is the telcos will "lock" you onto their plans and not allow you to switch telcos when you purchase their iPhone package. Such deals are, in my opinion, lopsided especially in situations like this where the telcos can continue to ignore complaints since customers cannot port into other telcos.
I therefore asked Maxis to revert back to my old plan, but despite bringing this to the Malaysia Commission for Multimedia Communications (MCMC), I am told that Maxis no longer supports the Postpaid Plan 98. Therefore, it is so-called "impossible" to revert to the old plan and pay the lower rate.
What is worse is the telcos will "lock" you onto their plans and not allow you to switch telcos when you purchase their iPhone package. Such deals are, in my opinion, lopsided especially in situations like this where the telcos can continue to ignore complaints since customers cannot port into other telcos.
After some exchanges in MCMC complaints portal, I see that MCMC as a regulatory body, is hardly concerned that I am paying what I do not need. The fact that it is closing its eyes and allowing Maxis and the telcos to continue with their plan, as in other complaints I had with another telco, is simply appalling. There is simply no protecftion for customers.
And now, with two ministers, it is not clear which minister -- Gobind Singh Deo or Fahmi Fadzil -- is in charge of 5G network. Complaints to Gobind Singh as usual bounces back like a ball on a solid brickwall.
See for yourself why I am fed up with Gobind as Damansara MP. Will this my turning point in terms of my support for the Madani government is yet to be seen, but I have also brought up the matter to Fahmi. Hopefully, and I have more hope in Fahmi, he will solve the problem since Gobind is not solving the problems. I will write more about it once the problem is solved.
If I am confused myself, I am sure many thousands of people are equally confused with the question, Fahmi or Gobind? I believe many other people encounter the same problem that I face, and they just complain about it without doing something to solve the problem. I happen to be persistent -- and very persistent, too -- until the problems are solved, not only for myself, but for thousands of people.
MCMC as a regulatory body has to be more firm with telcos, and ensure consumer rights are being protected.
According the statistics provided by Statistics Research Department, Jan 30, 2024, Maxis Bhd has 9.1 million mobile subscribers in 2022, earning a total revenue amounted to approximately 9.7 billion Malaysia ringgit.
It has already overtaken Celcom as the leading telco in the country, but the way they are now behaving is exactly the same as Celcom in the past.
This was the reason why I ditched Celcom to subscribe to Maxis, but the scenario has changed. It has become just like Pakatan Harapan in Selangor in 2008 and now. There is no difference between DAP in Selangor now, for example, and MCA before 2008.
Pick up your calculator and punch some figures into it. With just RM10 per subscriber, this would mean if 10 percent of all its subscribers have "upgraded" to 5G data plan, Maxis would have boosted its coffers by an additional RM9.1 million per month (or RM109.2 million a year).
It is understandable that they would not budge but where does the ordinary Malaysian stand when he or she feels the deals are unfair to them?
If the government does not even care, we will only be at the losing end. I am sure we did not vote for ministers who cannot solve people's problems or play deaf. For example, there is not even a cooling off period after subscribing to the new plan. All they want is to abandon the old plan and raise the fees by another RM10 which amounts to a huge sum of money to its profit.
The minister should look into the plight of the people, not just focussed on supporting telcos with its rollout of 5G network.
My Fibre Broadband Experience Slow Speed
At the same time, if the fibre network in my area is experiencing fluctuations in Internet speed, something has to be done. In fact, I would not have tried to upgrade my data plan to 5G if the broadband speed is consistent at 300mbps.
At times, the speed drops to as low as below 20mbps. Once in a while, it goes to as low as below 1mbps even though the speedtest is done on the same level within less than 10 m from the modem and router.
For over six months, this complaint has been raised with Maxis, but why is the problem still persisting?
If you do not believe the screenshot, please enlarge the video below and watch the speedtest one morning when I wanted to check my Whatsapp Messages only to find that the speed appeared to be very slow. Lo and behold, the speedtest shows....
Click on this [ ] to enlarge
