With such poor customer service from Singapore telcos, just choose the cheapest

With prices for mobile services in Singapore under S$10 a month, consumers have never had things better, it seems. Being able to swap operators and keep your phone number means you can jump from one non-contract plan to another easily.

The intense competition, begun about a decade ago when the government pushed for a fourth telecom operator and more virtual operators, has led to lower prices for everyone. Yet, this has not come without a price.

The biggest drawback is the lack of customer service, as anyone who has recently tried calling their telco – be it for mobile or fibre broadband – will attest to.

Until last year, I had signed up my family’s phone lines with M1 for a long time. My connection began when the telco opened shop in the late 1990s.

Last year, I moved four mobile lines out after being frustrated by its mobile coverage. I was forced to speak to an AI bot when I called up to ask for help. No, this isn’t the “Walking on Sunshine” M1 any more.

Using Singtel in the past year, I’ve been much happier with the connection because the country’s top operator does put in the effort in its mobile network. I didn’t mind paying more – about S$30 a month for each mobile line in a three-line bundle for a year-long contract.

Then came the need to recontract last month. There was nobody to call to get help – as I did the first time round – and recontracting was not as simple as clicking on a button. No, this is not the demo shown by the digital transformation gurus.

Endless chats over WhatsApp were frustrating and went nowhere because the helpdesk could not even offer the same deal I was paying. I wasn’t even asking for a discount!

At one point, the operator on WhatsApp said “just a moment” and never returned. The next morning, I asked again and someone else on shift answered.

In the end, I gave up. The thought of having to go through the same hassle to recontract each year stopped me in my tracks. I was paying more but had little help, even to stay with the telco.

I moved out my multiple mobile lines to Zero1, a virtual operator that uses the Singtel network (same coverage!) at a fraction of the price – S$15 a month gives me a 5G plan with hundreds of gigabytes of roaming in parts of Asia-Pacific. I went to Bangkok recently with my family and nobody paid extra roaming fees.

With thin margins, it is understandable that telcos can’t offer the same service as before. Through self-service apps, they are hoping they could keep customers from calling in as much as possible.

Well, truth is, most people don’t want to call a telco today unless they have to. Unfortunately, they are being pushed to an AI chatbot – one telco chatbot apparently passes you to a human operator if you keep telling it (four times) to bring in a human operator – or overcrowded physical service centres.

Perhaps these telcos’ leaders see a mobile or broadband service as a utility like power or water, where you just pay the bill each month with little support. Unfortunately, we’re not there yet.

After all, how many times have you turned on the tap and the water has not flowed? Or flipped a light switch and the lamps didn’t power on?

Compare that to how often the Internet goes down and how much configuration is involved to get a phone or a network working together. Users still need support, especially when the technology evolves so fast.

Until recently, I had still advised some friends to stay with the traditional telcos – Singtel, StarHub, M1 or Simba – because they offered easier roaming arrangements.

That’s not quite true now, as virtual operators also provide great roaming deals and support voice calls overseas, say, when you get an urgent call from your bank.

The only thing missing, it seems, is a service called NumberShare, which lets you have the same number on your 4G-enabled smartwatch as your phone.

This is important to get your WhatsApp messages sync’d on both devices as they rely on the same phone number. So far, I’ve not found this offering from virtual operators.

This is why I still have one mobile line with StarHub. But guess what – since I have had trouble signing up my Numbershare service, I have been in touch with the telco. Its representatives have promised to call back a few weeks back but I’ve not heard from them.

My expectations are so low now because I don’t even get any help when I try to sign up for an add-on service to pay a telco more money each month!

Now, with the M1-Simba merger, a sign of how tight the market is, you can expect even more “efficiencies” to be eked out in the new combined telco. As a guide, Simba already sells its mobile services for S$10 a month and 10Gbps fibre broadband for under S$30 a month.

Perhaps by paying so little, consumers should not expect great service. There is some truth in that, which is why I have gone for the cheapest virtual operators out there.

Without any real customer service today to differentiate one offering from another, the best choice is to simply pick the virtual operator with the best coverage and the cheapest plans.

Soon, I’m going to switch that very last StarHub line to Zero1 too. Altogether, I will have six lines – some 4G (at S$10 a month), some 5G – for my family and I would pay under S$80 a month.

Good news is, Zero1’s 5G connection is going to be upgraded from a Non-standalone network to a Standalone version before the year’s end. It promises faster uploads, something I don’t think will drastically impact most end-users but it’s still nice to have something similar to what Singtel users have.

Surprisingly, Zero1’s customer service over e-mail is pretty prompt when I have a question. You may not need a human to talk to immediately but at least, a telco should help its customers solve problems promptly, especially when it involves signing up for its services.

I can say I also had a good experience with Circles.Life, another virtual operator I signed up with a few years ago.

I had asked about NumberShare and the e-mail response came within hours. Well, at least there was a response, which is more than what you can say about some telcos today. Such is the low bar.