I use Mobinil for both my cell phone and USB modem. As far as their cell service goes, it’s not too bad. There have been times when the line is inexplicably down and with no warning, but it could be worse. Their internet service is extremely poor, though.
I have used Mobinil for about two months now. I switched from etisalat because etisalat took down the lines for about a week with no notice. They also couldn’t explain what was happening when we called customer service, and we had no idea when it would come back.
The first month with Mobinil we had problems. The service cut off one day with no warning. We hadn’t received a bill yet or even a text message through the USB. We went to the store to see what’s up and immediately noticed that the customer service was lacking. The young man we spoke to had no idea why the phone stopped and assured us it had nothing to do with our bill or our payment. He also couldn’t help us with our bill cycle. We are supposed to pay on the 15th of the month, but our internet does not reset until the 19th. According to him, the only way to fix this so that the internet resets when we pay is to end our contract and start it again.
This past month we used our “unlimited” 7GB quite quickly because I was home a lot and online quite a bit. We ended up buying extra until our internet reset itself on the 19th. Even buying extra GBs was a problem. With etisalat, there is a number you can text from the USB modem to add extra. We called Mobinil to ask if they did the same thing and were left hanging on hold. The customer service rep never came back to tell if that was possible and what the number was.
Yesterday I came home from work and went to go online to check on my family in the States because of the hurricane. I found that Mobinil had once again cut off the internet. And again with no warning. That is the most irritating thing to me. They send us countless texts on our phones and through the USB with stupid contests and other info, but they don’t say anything about our actual service or any warning that it is about to be cut.
My husband called Mobinil to figure out what happened and we were not happy with the response. First the customer service rep told us it had nothing to do with our bill, but that we had reached some limit. We had used the internet too much. Seriously.
We asked how can we make it work now? She said pay this past bill and part of the next month’s bill. Even though the bill isn’t actually due until September 7th. We talked in circles with the customer service rep and we still have no idea what policy she is talking about and I bet she didn’t either. Bottom line is our bill is 311, we must pay 322 to get the internet back. We have now lost a day in this new cycle and I bet that they won’t reimburse us for it.
At my sister’s suggestion, I took to Twitter to complain. I was surprised to receive a response. Even this seemed like a half-hearted attempt to ward off bad publicity. I have yet to receive another reply from them and I look forward to changing companies. We never had these kinds of problems with etisalat, well before they did work on their lines without telling anyone. Maybe it’s time to try Vodafone after all.