Worry about network congestion during Tet

Although Tet has not yet arrived, many customers have reported difficulties in making calls. Meanwhile, mobile network operators said they are rushing to prepare plans to prevent network congestion during Tet.

Mobile Internet services are expected to increase sharply during Tet holiday -
Photo: Duc Thien

Major network operators have announced that they have completed plans to combat network congestion during the upcoming Lunar New Year, but no one is 100% sure that communication will always be smooth during the holidays.

Not yet Tet but already wavering

Notably, in the month before Tet, we received many complaints from readers about signal loss and unstable network in many areas in Ho Chi Minh City.

Although there have been no major network congestion or signal loss cases, there have been many intermittent problems. The situation many users have encountered is that calls sometimes work and sometimes don't, or the phone is on but still beeps, messages cannot be sent, calls are disconnected in the middle...

In recent days, many MobiFone subscribers have lost signal and cannot contact. Mr. Phong (in Ward 2, Vu Tung Street, Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City) reported that from the afternoon of January 16 to the morning of January 17, this area lost MobiFone signal, causing many subscribers to be unable to make phone calls and send messages. Mr. Lam (Tan Phu District, Ho Chi Minh City) also said that "the phone is always on but when other people call, it is "hello". Mr. Sang (District 3, Ho Chi Minh City) reported that since the New Year, many calls have been intermittent, suddenly lost connection while talking... He was even more upset when he contacted the switchboard and was informed by the staff that the network was still normal.

Ready... for congestion!

This is not the first time that the network has been unstable before Tet. Similar situations have occurred in previous years, when network operators blamed the upgrade process to prevent network congestion during the official Tet holiday. However, when Tet comes, network congestion still occurs, so every year network operators announce plans to prevent network congestion that are more grandiose than previous years.

Vinaphone announced that it has completed upgrading and expanding its network, adding base transceiver stations (BTS), optimizing its switchboards, and is ready to meet the sudden increase in demand for mobile information services during the Lunar New Year. The network operator said that its current capacity can meet 200-300% of the daily demand for mobile information services. The switchboard system has also been upgraded to be ready to meet the needs of about 50 million active subscribers. The messaging system can transmit 30 million SMS/hour.

Viettel Networks also said it has made the most spectacular preparations ever to strengthen its network for the Year of the Dragon. According to the company's estimates, Viettel's network system is capable of handling about 200 million calls and more than 500 million incoming and outgoing messages per hour.

Meanwhile, MobiFone said it has invested in a new switchboard system with an additional 36Gbps port capacity, meeting the needs of subscribers in areas with a large number of subscribers. At the same time, MobiFone also increased its international Internet connection bandwidth to 1.6Gbps to serve customers using the Internet during the Tet holiday.

Beeline representatives also said that the network operator has “prepared both human and material resources” to deal with network congestion. Specifically, Beeline has made plans to identify key areas to increase capacity, and at the same time, arranged a technical team to be on duty 24/7 to observe and forecast areas where network congestion may occur in order to change traffic in a timely manner, ensuring smooth network operation...

In addition, network operators also said that they have prepared mobile information rescue vehicles to overcome local network congestion due to large crowds at festival and fair locations... in major cities such as Hoan Kiem Lake (Hanoi), District 1 (HCMC)... However, users are still constantly worried that network congestion will still occur.

According to Tuoi Tre