Why MTN dislikes WhatsApp

diabolus said:
I'm still not over the BS ads they play before you make an outgoing call, and that is on a contract phone too, the bloody cheek. I'm seriously moving next year, MTN is clearly run by morons.
Click to expand...

Adds before an outgoing call? Please, tell me more? I'm not on MTN.
 
Gezza said:
Adds before an outgoing call? Please, tell me more? I'm not on MTN.
Click to expand...

Randomly, when you dial a number, before the call connects, they play a freaking advert to you, kinda like when you play a youtube video and it plays an advert before you can see the real video? Like that. It is similar to the ads you hear when you phone their helpdesk while you are "on hold" .

Fortunately you can however cancel the call midway in the advert, and try again, usually the 2nd time the advert isn't there. So it is not everytime you dial, it is probably every n-th call or randomly, not sure what the calculation is.

It is just crazy stuff i tell you., i don't think MTN realizes how much it makes people's blood boil when you are phoning and this happens. It is 10x worse than a call dropping, when i hear the ad i just want to strangle MTN and cancel my contract right there.


EDIT: Irony, Whatsapp voice-calling don't have adverts ..... MTN is killing their own core business with these shenanigans, it's BETTER to use VOIP to make calls than voice calls.
 
Last edited:
Tech company complains new tech is disrupting its old tech. Which industry does it think its been competing in all the time?
 
To cut a long story short, they just complaining because their SMS Revenue is falling.

They charge a lot for data. How customers make use of the data and services they have paid for shouldn't be a concern to MTN.

#MTNMustFall
 
Fudzy said:
Just checked my WhatsApp stats and it says I've sent 872 messages. Doesn't give a timeframe which makes it a bit useless.
Click to expand...

I would venture a guess....

Most sms revenue for MTN/VC etc(world over) is derived by selling bulk sms packages to companies wishing to spam/advertise. Then a portion goes to bank and other notification sms's . Laatly a few sms's by those who cannot afford smartphones.
If corporates cut back or stop buying bulk sms's the cell operators core model will start falling apart.

I think it is time these operators learn that supply and demand are dependent...
They need to listen to the voice(usage) of their clients.
But instead they want to be fat cats milking us.

The whole sytem is an unbalanced house of cards attempting to stay balanced in a hurricane.
 
The worst of all is that SMS is sent via a redundant space on messages the towers send to and from your phone to check comms and so on. It costs them nothing extra to send it, it is simply tagged onto something that was already there, which is why there was a character limit before, I suppose they spread it across multiples of these now.

It was free money. I can see why they are having a titty fit...
 
diabolus said:
I'm still not over the BS ads they play before you make an outgoing call, and that is on a contract phone too, the bloody cheek. I'm seriously moving next year, MTN is clearly run by morons.
Click to expand...

look at added subscribed services.
I have a contract, and a prepaid sim,
I get adds on neither before calling.
(unless it is related to your package?)
 
diabolus said:
Randomly, when you dial a number, before the call connects, they play a freaking advert to you, kinda like when you play a youtube video and it plays an advert before you can see the real video? Like that. It is similar to the ads you hear when you phone their helpdesk while you are "on hold" .

Fortunately you can however cancel the call midway in the advert, and try again, usually the 2nd time the advert isn't there. So it is not everytime you dial, it is probably every n-th call or randomly, not sure what the calculation is.

It is just crazy stuff i tell you., i don't think MTN realizes how much it makes people's blood boil when you are phoning and this happens. It is 10x worse than a call dropping, when i hear the ad i just want to strangle MTN and cancel my contract right there.


EDIT: Irony, Whatsapp voice-calling don't have adverts ..... MTN is killing their own core business with these shenanigans, it's BETTER to use VOIP to make calls than voice calls.
Click to expand...

That is really odd. Never heard of this before? I wonder if someone (Not MTN) is paying to listen to those adds before a call.

Oeh...someone is about to break in to my house, better phone the police. But FIRST...Lets listen to this awesome deal from MTN.
 
Ockie said:
I can imagine. Especially with being able to send pics and vids. With WhatsApp perhaps not so much because from what I understand it compresses the pics and vids and sends it in low quality. Telegram on the otherhand sends the original file. Be it 500kb or 5meg or 600meg.
Click to expand...

+1 for Telegram
 
Venomous said:
look at added subscribed services.
I have a contract, and a prepaid sim,
I get adds on neither before calling.
(unless it is related to your package?)
Click to expand...

I know there is a way to get it turned off, Hellopeter has a long list of complaints about this and some of the MTN responses there were hints that it is something that can be removed.

I also don't think it's a constant thing, it looks like it's more related to any big promotions, so for a few months you won't hear anything about this and then suddenly in a given month it is all over the show.

Regardless , this is just one of the many things MTN is doing to erode client goodwill. I mean it's not like i'm getting any discount, they should make the phone call FREE if i listen to the ad or something.
 
Gezza said:
That is really odd. Never heard of this before? I wonder if someone (Not MTN) is paying to listen to those adds before a call.

Oeh...someone is about to break in to my house, better phone the police. But FIRST...Lets listen to this awesome deal from MTN.
Click to expand...

Well, the other day I had to listen to an ad advising me that my contract in near expiry and I can contact MTN for great deals blah blah blah.
 
supersunbird said:
Well, the other day I had to listen to an ad advising me that my contract in near expiry and I can contact MTN for great deals blah blah blah.
Click to expand...


Speaking of which, MTN just phoned me (i'm feeling rather suspicious now) that my contract can be upgraded from 1 Nov ....it only expires in March 2016 ..so looks like i can upgrade 5 months in advance now , normally it was only 3 months....is MTN getting desperate?
 
diabolus said:
Speaking of which, MTN just phoned me (i'm feeling rather suspicious now) that my contract can be upgraded from 1 Nov ....it only expires in March 2016 ..so looks like i can upgrade 5 months in advance now , normally it was only 3 months....is MTN getting desperate?
Click to expand...

Daar is 'n slang in die gras... I would stay away from an early upgrade if I were you...
 
Boksie said:
The worst of all is that SMS is sent via a redundant space on messages the towers send to and from your phone to check comms and so on. It costs them nothing extra to send it, it is simply tagged onto something that was already there, which is why there was a character limit before, I suppose they spread it across multiples of these now.

It was free money. I can see why they are having a titty fit...
Click to expand...

Not true. There are more than just the radio spectrum involved. A proper SMSC can costs many millions to integrate, test and deploy, and quite a pretty penny in license fees. Also, SMS messages are store-and-forward, so if your phone is off, the network has to store your SMS until it expires or until you come online again, which can require a lot of storage space in large operators.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X