Yeah. I was just pointing out how poor the indoor penetration of Mobilink is as compared to Zong (Atleast where I live).
Sent from my Galaxy S5 (G900F)
Mobilink has begun using 900Mhz for 3G* so depending on where you live, you could or wouldn't get better indoor penetration with Mobilink.
* I spoke to their tech agents - at different times. Each time I ask about VoLTE, one said "yeah, they're doing homework but haven't done much, and that it's expected Telenor will launch with it first because they've done more research" (as of now, they haven't, and given how Telenor's "4G speed" ads are ringing in my ears, their network hasn't upgraded nor have they implemented CA or even VoLTE).
Then, at another time, I had complained that 900Mhz signals are there, but are completely (yes, completely) unusable - no data, no calls, no SMS, NOTHING. They escalated the complaint, and a guy told me that there's some disturbances in the airwaves from 4km away and other factors (he didn't want to exclusively blame it on one piece of info, but he did say Adiala jail's jammers began giving problems a day or two before Eid). I told him that this issue only began (one or two weeks relative to that date) ago and he said "there can be other things, but it's also interference from the jammer and the antenna you're receiving signals from isn't able to give you usable signal despite giving you signals". He also said that the only way out is for Mobilink to set up another antenna (trivia: in Bahria Phase 8, he said they only have two sites covering the whole phase - I have NO clue how on earth that works, but yeah...). And turning off that specific 900Mhz antenna was not possible since "other areas don't face this issue except for your site".
So after this call, I got another guy getting in touch with me - and that guy said "oh, poor signals in the area and I can only note down your complaint", didn't mention that a new antenna is needed, and that they can't do anything.
I said "so basically you're saying I don't have a choice and that I'm completely out of luck and have to live with a service that offers zero usability?". I put the poor guy in a corner since he whimpered at first and didn't reply clearly, but eventually said "sorry you're having this issue". No remediation offered. I asked them if they offer home cells, he checked and said no on the phone. I said if they will offer VoLTE (which is the main reason for this asterisk...) and he said "we want to get our 4G coverage bolstered first, then we can offer VoLTE".
Now - not only are these guys slow in covering the city with 4G, but these guys seem to prefer offering services via 3G (and not with DC HSPA+ speeds) despite saying "we aren't focusing on 3G and are trying to get all of our customers on 4G"... contradictory statements? If they had focus on 4G deployment, the guys should have deployed 4G on 900Mhz, on 5Mhz, and CA'd it with 1800Mhz. Boom! 20Mhz instantly with much better coverage!
Zong - I tested them yesterday, and some days prior. Whenever I recharge and subscribe to a data package to test, the both the data balance and credit gets gobbled up. Had to do it a few times and then it stopped gobbling. I wanted to test how well they perform indoors (I couldn't test it extensively, but they still can't really catch up with Mobilink's speeds on poor signals).
At the end of the day,
- Mobilink's 4G is way more reliable than Zong's in terms of speeds, however,
- Zong has more 4G masts (but then, there are several places where Mobilink's signals are stronger) but that doesn't necessarily translate to faster speeds (I'd like to test this more though since they've apparently upgraded their network).
- SMS on Mobilink's 4G seemed to send faster than on Zong. Maybe by half a second.
- Mobilink DC-HSPA+ speeds are no longer 20+Mbps - but are instead, at most, 10Mbps in most places I've tested lately. I don't remember when I last witnessed 20+Mbps speeds. And their 4G speeds don't want to exceed 30Mbps in most places (they aren't lower than 15Mbps in weaker areas though, unlike Zong which can be as low as 1Mbps).
- Mobilink has 900Mhz on 3G - what a waste! Sure, I get signals inside Giga Mall (Zong is literally blacked out in there - not joking!) but it's a wasted opportunity since they could have raced towards implementing VoLTE.
- Mobilink's e-care? lol. I don't know if postpaid customers get to use it, but those on the employee package can't.
- Customer service? Barring physical infrastructural changes, I can't complain. Only issue is that Mobilink's info isn't consistent (conference calling, for postpaid users, is free as per their site, but their system charges you - and this was an issue I raised two years back). But both operators seem to offer a similar level of follow-up - and I'm happy with that.
Before, I would have said "had I not been on the employee package, I would have switched" - but given my usage patterns, honestly, I don't know which operator I would have opted for since they both would cost me similar amounts (monthly).
Necrokiller:
SolitarySoldier:
XPremiuM:
faraany3k:
