PESHAWAR, Dec 20: Cell phone subscribers are facing problems in connectivity, especially those wanting to get connected with someone having subscription of a company different from their own.

And it is no less a Herculean task, either, to get connected to any type of cellphone from a land line.

“Most of the time, we get to hear the pre-recorded voice, regretting that ‘all lines are busy at the moment, please try latter’” said one Amjad Ali.

According to him, he had got a GSM connection of a multinational cellular phone company for his convenience but his four months’ experience with the cellphone had disappointed him a great deal.

Those having the connection of same networks are relatively less inconvenienced, as far as the connectivity was concerned.

Connectivity between two cell phones having 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-enviable.

Many subscribers allege that these companies have terribly failed to provide quality service to them. They point out that they are made to pay more than what is told to them, when getting connections.

“The hidden charges of the cellular phone companies have become albatross around the necks of the 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 with the person down the line 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 wanted to improve their connectivity and facilitate the consumers, they need to hire more lines. And this will require more payment.