Using a mobile phone has turned to be a part of our lives. Mobile network service providers offer premium plans from time to time, to attract consumers to port their mobile numbers to other service providers, once their contract term is up. The Consumer Council reminds consumers that, when choosing a new service provider, in addition to comparing carefully service plans, charges, terms and conditions offered by different service providers, they should also take network quality and reliability into consideration. Meanwhile, consumers should be well aware that the highest network speed claimed by service providers might not be able to materialise in real life situations. In addition, before terminating their existing network contracts, consumers should pay attention to the contract expiry date and billing date, to determine an appropriate cut-over date, to avoid incurring termination charges or service fee for an extra month.
The Council reviewed 41 3G or 4G mobile number porting service plans offered by 7 network service providers. Data usage limits ranged between 1GB and 10GB, and some plans claimed to offer unlimited network service. Their contract terms last between 1 year and 2 years and basic monthly fees ranged from $88 to $497.
Currently, the fees for many network service plans are charged based on the amount of data usage, network speed is also featured. Some service plans labelled Ultra 450, 4.5G, 4G or 4G Advance are plans of the highest speed offered by the respective service providers. The basic monthly fee for a 6GB local data usage plan ranged between $238 and $357, a price differential of 50%.
Although these plans boast about high speed, among the 7 network service providers, 3 did not provide any information of their highest network speed, while 2 claimed that their network's maximum download speed could reach 450Mbps, 1 claimed to be over 300 Mbps while another 1, only 100Mbps. An expert commented that the 450Mbps network speed promoted by service providers should be the theoretical peak rate only. The actual speed could be influenced by numerous factors including the best signal reception at the user's location, whether the network is simultaneously used by other subscribers and the settings of the user's phone. In order to achieve 450Mbps, the entire network spectrum signal might need to be assigned to that specific user.
On the other hand, 5 service providers offer basic monthly plans at $88. However, consumers should take note that these plans, no matter whether they claim to offer 3G or 4G networks, have maximum network speed at 384kbps. The 5G and 3G data usage plans by 2 operators will limit the network speed to 128kbps once the data usage threshold is reached, which could make it rather hard to browse or transmit messages containing images.
The process of mobile numbers porting involves change over from the existing to the new network service provider. Termination penalty may be applied for early cancellation of existing service contract. If the contract is cancelled too late, consumers could risk paying an advanced monthly fee at the regular rate after the contract expiry date.
Consumers should note that the billing date for the monthly plan is often not the same as the contract expiry date. If porting is to take place on the expiry date, only 2 providers offer refund on the pre-paid but unused services. The remaining 5 would not refund, but would exercise discretion on a case-by-case basis. Consumers planning to exhaust the paid fee should arrange for porting to take place before the first billing date within one month after the expiry of the contract. It is noteworthy that porting generally takes 24 to 40 hours to complete.
At present, every service provider has different ways for consumers to enquire about their contract expiry date. 1 network service provider provides enquiry service through the customer service hotline only, while another 2 limit access to the enquiries to hotline or at retail shops. The remainders permit enquiries through other means, such as mobile phone apps, websites or online chat portals. The Council recommends that network service providers broaden their scope of customer service, so that customers can access about contract expiry date and related information through convenient online means.
In addition to the need of understanding a service plan's monthly fee and network speed, consumers are advised to find out about coverage and reliability of the network when selecting a new network service provider. According to information disclosed on the Office of the Communications Authority website, there were 7 serious mobile system failures over the past 5 years that needed to be announced publicly. All network providers do not disclose information on network failures on their own, but some reveal percentages of uptime of their core network, this information however will not enable consumers to grasp the frequency and duration of network failures in different territories.
The Council suggests network service providers to follow practices adopted in places like Japan and Canada, where websites present interactive maps that show network coverage in different areas to allow consumers to check easily and to choose a mobile network service provider best fit their travel patterns.
Before porting, consumers may take the following tips into consideration:
- Network service providers very often have premium offers such as monthly fee discounts, monthly rebates or gifts for consumers registered online or at booths on the streets. Make comparisons before determining on the channel to register.
- Before filling the application form for porting mobile number to another service provider, consumers should enquire about expiry date for the existing contract and the billing date, and take note of the cut-over date and time (0100-0400 or 1200-1400), otherwise consumers could risk paying termination penalty or service fee for an extra month;
- Every network service provider has different network coverage, if consumers need to get online through mobile phones at particular locations, it is wise to consult family members and friends who are using different service providers beforehand, to find out if the new service provider will be able to provide a stable network at those locations, before determining to opt for it
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