​In Vietnam, mobile users unknowingly charged for cellular data, again and again

At a time when 3G and 4G mobile connectivity is widely adopted by mobile users in Vietnam, some have reported being charged for the outdated GPRS data plans without them knowing.

Many readers have complained to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that they still had to lose money to the GPRS, or 2G, data plan even though they had switched to using 3G and 4G for years and never registered for the obsolete service.

It turns out that local mobile network carriers have registered 2G data plans for all the new SIM cards without the subscribers knowing.

Users who use up their registered 3G or 4G data plans can still access the Internet, this time with the 2G connectivity ‘secretly available’ on their devices.

The problem is that GPRS data is extremely costly.

A case in point

Nguyen Thi Do Quyen, a subscriber of Mobifone, one of Vietnam’s largest mobile operators, expressed her anger with the ‘GPRS ghost’ in a piece sent to Tuoi Tre in early September.

Quyen said that she started using smartphones ten years ago. And she usually paid VND300,000-400,000 (US$12.9-17.2) per month for normal services such as calling and texting.

However, the mobile phone bill rose to VND1 million ($43), a whopping amount for a Vietnamese regular mobile user, when she started using an iPhone 3.

Quyen contacted Mobifone and was told that GPRS data accounted for almost the whole charage.

“This just did not make sense as at that time,” Quyen wrote. “Neither did I know what Facebook was, nor was email app installed in my phone. Generally, I was not using apps on my phone that incurred Wi-Fi or Internet data.”

MobiFone then explained to the subscriber that GPRS was automatically activated in default applications on smartphones, such as stocks or newsstands. As the apps updated their content, Quyen was charged for using GPRS without a slightest idea of the charge.

“I immediately requested to cancel GPRS,” she said.

Quyen then switched into using MIU70, a 3G data plan that costs her VND70,000 ($3.01) a month.

But whenever she runs out of the data plan, MobiFone would send her a text message, encouraging her to use other mobile data packages.

“I was convinced and switched to HDP100 package, which costs me approximately VND100,000 [$4.3] per month for 3GB data at 4G connectivity,” she said.

The new data plan was cool until August 2018, when Quyen received yet another notification from MobiFone, saying she had used up her 3GB for that month.

As Quyen mostly gets online using Wi-Fi at home and her office, she was unconvinced that her data plan could drain so fast, and decided to cancel the HDP100 package on August 13, five days before it was due to reset.

Quyen then received a message from MobiFone, confirming her successful cancellation.

Despite this, Quyen still found the 3G and 4G signs on her smartphone, so she decided to double check if her data plan was really canceled on the network operator’s website.

After going through some checking steps, Quyen was told that she does not register to any data packages.

Quyen thus tried to use Wi-Fi anywhere available, and stopped getting online using cellular data.

But to her surprise, she was still charged nearly VND1 million for GPRS fee generated from August 13 to September 5, 2018.

It turns out that the GPRS, which she asked to cancel years ago, has somehow “returned to my phone as a ghost” and earning her the unwanted charges.

“As I asked the customer service agent how come I was still charged for GPRS while I had asked to cancel the service a few years ago, I got to know that when I registered the 3G HDP100 package, GPRS would be automatically activated at the same time,” Quyen said.

“And GPRS keeps silently working and incurring charge based on the amount of data used even though I canceled the HDP100 package.”

“Is the network operator transparent to customers or not? How many people out there are suffering from the preposterous fees like me?” she questioned.

Why letting 2G ‘alive’?

Huyen Phuong, another victim in Ho Chi Minh City, also told Tuoi Tre that she was really angry with MobiFone suddenly charging her nearly VND1 million for GPRS service.

Due to the large amount of Internet usage, Phuong usually buys data plan and resets it when it is used up.

Recently, Phuong changed into a new package called QT, which allows her to use top-up card to buy additional 3G data.

It was satisfying for the first ten days, after which Phuong could not believe her eyes as she received a monthly fee notice telling that she used nearly VND1.3 million ($55.9) worth of data, four times more than the previous month.

She called MobiFone only to know that the surprisingly abnormal data fee she was charged was generated from GPRS service from August 24 to September 5, which the network operator automatically activated after she used up the QT plan.

“But what makes me angrier is that the network provider did not send me any notification [about the automatic GPRS subscription],” Phuong complained.

Addressing these recurring complaints, network operators blame mobile users for not cancelling GPRS service at the same time with unsubscribing from 3G and 4G data plans.

The excuse was criticized as nonsense by mobile data subscribers as not every smartphone owners know that GPRS service is activated in their devices by default.

On the other hand, people also wonder why 2G service is kept alive at a time when Vietnam already has a wide 3G and 4G coverage.

Specifically, Viettel has 67,000 3G and 4G stations, and VinaPhone has more than 80,000 stations, including 2G, 3G, 4G broadcast bases.

MobiFone has fewer 3G and 4G stations than their peers, 40,000, while Vietnamobile is currently covering 4G networks in ten northern provinces, in addition to nationwide 3G stations.

These figures have cast a question on the network providers - why they still refuse to ditch GPRS when 3G and 4G have already covered nationwide?

A Viettel representative answered to Tuoi Tre that its data showed that there are about 20 million of its mobile customers still using cell phones that only support GPRS network for access to the Internet.

“Although the speed of GPRS is limited, but if the needs of customers still exist, Viettel will keep providing the services,” the representative said.

A leader of another network operator also admitted to Tuoi Tre that all Vietnamese network operators have announced the provision of 3G and 4G services nationwide.

“But in fact, 3G and 4G are not available in all locations across Vietnam, especially in remote areas, where mobile users have no choice but use 2G,” the leader said.