PESHAWAR, May 23: Cellphone users are finding it increasingly difficult to make calls, especially to those with mobile phone firm subscriptions other than their own. Land line users are facing a similar problem getting through to cellphone numbers.
“Most of the time, we get to hear a pre-recorded voice, saying that all lines are busy at the moment and to try later,” said one Amjad Ali.
According to him, he had got a GSM connection from a multinational cellular phone company for his convenience but his experience of the past four months has not been pleasant.
“The mobile service remained suspended for three days after the recent rainstorm and I had to face great inconvenience,” said the subscriber of a multinational cellular company. Subscribers of the same network are relatively less inconvenienced, as far as connectivity is concerned.
Connectivity between cellphones of the same network is still less of a headache.
There are two kinds of mobile networks, namely, GSM and AMS, which are operating in the country in collaboration with the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL).
All these networks are owned and operated by four different companies. They claim to be providing reliable services, but the picture on the ground is less than favourable.
Many subscribers allege that these companies have failed to provide quality service to them. They pointed out that they were made to pay more than what they were told before getting the connections.
“The hidden charges of the cellular phone companies have become an albatross around the necks of consumers. They cannot change their cellphone every now and then, because in that case they would get new numbers each time, which would be difficult to circulate among friends and relatives,” said one Mushtaq Khan.
Even when the luck is on the side of some callers as they get connected, they find it difficult to communicate because of poor reception.
A cellphone company official told Dawn that their switching system was functioning properly and there could be some problem with the PTCL channel, because the consumers always come through the channel to get connected to any given number of a cellphone company.
A PTCL official, on the other hand, said there was a limit of lines on fibre optic to get connected with mobile phone and the PTCL had enough space to provide the callers with the lines. “If the cellphone companies want to improve their connectivity and facilitate the consumers, they need to hire more lines. And this will require more payment.”
“Sometimes, the caller gets a reply that the number he or she is calling is busy at the moment despite a few rings,” said a subscriber.