The Communications and Multimedia Consumer Forum of Malaysia (CFM) as a forum that prioritizes consumer interest lauds the government’s collaboration with service providers (Telco) to offer free internet special packages to all postpaid and prepaid users beginning April 1, 2020 until the end of the Movement Control Order (MCO). Following this effort, CFM hopes that service providers can ensure that the quality of the free internet package service provided to consumers is at the highest level in order to help consumers stay in touch and get the latest information.
The RM600 million special package was announced by the Prime Minister, Tan Sri Dato’ Muhyiddin Mohd Yassin through the People-Centric Economic Stimulus Package 2020. CFM advises all users to stay updated on the details of the special offer from their service provider’s official website and social media channels.
Prior to the announcement, there were several special packages that the service providers offered to their subscribers, such as providing additional data, free data for the latest news and special portals, rebates for online top-ups, top-up assistance (SOS top-ups), discounts for unlimited data, unlimited access to free apps, free calls to health services and the National CPRC, including free viewing offers for selected television shows. The initiatives of these service providers are to help consumers stay home throughout the MCO in an effort to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
“Through these initiatives, it shows the commitment of the service providers in understanding the challenges and situations faced by the consumers in this difficult situation. We would like to extend our thanks to the service providers for the effort to help our customers to stay connected while staying home. Through the free internet offerings, CFM hopes that consumers will continue to enjoy the best quality of service,” said CFM Chairman Datin Mohana Mohariff.
At the same time, CFM also understands that network problems experienced by the consumers at the moment is partly due to network congestion caused by many users using the same network simultaneously. Consumers need to understand the cause of this problem where more and more mobile devices are competing to connect to the same network. This results in the network becoming increasingly loaded when multiple devices are running applications that use heavy data such as photo and video sharing/streaming.
Datin Mohana added, “During network congestion, consumers might experience a decrease in data speed as well as difficulties in making phone calls or even dropped calls because the network does not have enough capacity at that time to connect the call although the phone is connected to the network.”
Therefore, CFM recommends consumers to do self-troubleshooting if they are facing network congestion problems as in the tips provided below and they may also refer to the short video to understand more about unlimited internet usage at the link below:
| NO | TIPS TO OVERCOME NETWORK CONGESTION |
| 1 | Switch your mobile data to support the 3G or 2G networks other than just over 4G LTE. Consumers will experience slower data when using 2G or 3G networks but is a viable alternative when the 4G network is congested. |
| 2 | Limit phone calls if there is no emergency, and try to send text messages only because sometimes this is easier to access compared than phone calls. |
| 3 | If you fail to make a phone call, wait for 10 seconds before trying to make the call again. |
| 4 | Avoid using apps that have heavy data usage such as photo and video sharing, especially uploading HD videos or video streaming. |
| 5 | Change the setting to watch videos to a lower quality than selecting HD quality. |
| 6 | Close any applications running in the background (data usage behind the scenes) and monitor the amount of data used. |
| 7 | Deactivate auto-update or data sync on other applications. For example, an e-mail app is always automatically synced with a user account that may slow down other apps from accessing the network. |
| 8 | Use applications such as Internet Speed Master, Internet Booster & Optimizer to increase internet speed. |
| 9 | Restart your phone if you are experiencing the same problem. |
| 10 | Follow CFM tips on how to save mobile data usage: http://www.consumerinfo.my/tips-jimatkan-jumlah-penggunaan-mobile-data-pada-ios-android/?lang=ms |
| 11 | Watch CFM animation video to understand why your mobile internet becomes slow: http://www.consumerinfo.my/cfmanimatch-fair-usage-policy-84/ |
Follow CFM’s social media page for the latest updates and to know more about the tips for users in the communications and multimedia services.
CFM advises consumers to use telecommunications services wisely and to be considerate users so that we can all stay connected.