Loy Okezie
Today, MTN Blackberry subscribers all of Nigeria could not access the Blackberry Internet Service (BIS) for a minimum of 12 hours. What that meant was that subscribers could not receive emails, send emails, use the BB chat and perform any other Internet-related activity.
Although the signal service (strength) was displaying ‘EDGE’ which ordinarily would allow you to use the BIS, yet subscribers could neither access the Internet nor read or send emails.
I noticed this trend when I woke up this morning expecting to hear alert tones of emails or BB chat messages to be viewed. Usually, my Blackberry automatically sleeps at 11.55pm and wakes up at 4.55am. It got me wondering when I didn’t get any alerts, so I assumed it was a temporary network problem.
But when this persisted until about 7am when I arrived the office, I knew it was more than a temporary problem. As soon as my phone automatically detected wireless network (WIFI) at the office, tons of emails and BB chat messages started coming in.
When my colleagues came in, I was relieved to know it wasn’t just me and my Blackberry. They too were experiencing the same problem. In fact, one of them said he woke up at about 4am to read some news and respond to some important emails, but couldn’t get access.
MTN’s Message
At 11.25am, I got an SMS from MTN Nigeria which read:
Dear Customer, MTN Blackberry services are currently unavailable. Work ongoing for speedy resolution. We apologize for inconveniences caused.
Later at 1:20pm, another SMS came and said:
Dear Customer, MTN Blackberry services have been restored. Thank you for choosing MTN.
Was MTN Nigeria trying to say that for the last 12 hours or so, work was “ongoing for speedy resolution”?
When I put a call through to Customer Care (it took about 10 minutes to get through to a customer representative), I was told that they are aware of the BIS outage and can confirm that it’s now back up. I asked what was the problem with the outage and what compensation is there for MTN subscribers affected.
The MTN customer care representative named Chika said they were sorry for the inconvenience and that I can direct my questions on the reasons for the BIS outage to their Network Support Group. [I've contacted them and still awaiting their response.] She even thanked me for choosing MTN. Well Chika, thanks, but I might be leaving MTN.
In case you don’t know, MTN Blackberry service in Nigeria cost N5,000 per month to subscribe, so I thought if half a day’s access to the service has been denied, how do I and others affected get compensated?
What do you think of the MTN Blackberry service outage? Are other Blackberry Internet Services from the other operators any better?
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6 Responses to Who Pays for MTN’s BlackBerry Services Outage?
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Maybe the Blackberry service outage isn’t such a bad thing. I took the opportunity to delete a few spammers from my BBM list… when they ask I’ll tell them it probably has something to do with the outage
On a serious note though, this outage wasn’t a huge deal for me since it was first time (I think)…
What I have a major problem with is how MTN wipes out your credit with charges when phone and BB are roaming outside Nigeria. I dont know the actual rates, but it’s way higher than is reasonable. The masses should really be taking to the streets on that issue!
Is there an SLA signed when you got onto the package? If there isnt one stipulating credit payback during an outage, you truly cant tell 'em to pay you anything. However, if there is one and you experience an outage over the minimum required time, then you can hold 'em up to that.
I think since that was the first time of its kind, the act is pardonnable. In truth, mtn gives the best bb service in Nigeria. The access is unlimited, and as at yesterday, I learnt they now have weekly plan known as BBWEEK. Guess this is good.
I can confirm Okezie’s claim and did stop by at the Aromire friendship centre. The manager there promised to compesate my phone. But that was the end of it despite all my e mails. I wonder what the role of NCC is?
I want to get in touch with Ayo awe-joseph. Please give me a phone number or email to contact him. Thank you
The fact of the matter is any complex solution will occasionally experience problems despite the best efforts of the operators. Outages of the BB service on the MTN network are in my experience very rare and certainly occur with considerably less frequency and duration than than MTN’s competitors. We are certainly within our rights to express our displeasure in no uncertain terms when an outage occurs but as I’m not aware of any SLA I’m not sure compensation is available. The strongest sanction we as customers have is to take our business elsewhere and I’m sure MTN as all operators are aware of that and therefore work hard to provide quality service as best as they can.