Internet subscribers on the network of Spectranet, one of the data services providers in the country, are having a rough time and grinding ordeal in the hands of the operator.  Recently, the service provider announced it was migrating its operations to the LTE platform which guarantees high speed.

It even sent out messages through phone calls and other channels to existing subscribers to trade in their old boxes (modem) for the new Spectranet LTE modem. October 11, 2013 was the deadline given to subscribers to trade in their modems at no cost to the subscribers.

According to Wikipedia, LTE, is initial for Long Term Evolution, marketed as 4G LTE. It is a standard for wireless communication of high-speed data for mobile phones and data terminals. It is based on the GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSPA network technologies, increasing the capacity and speed using a different radio interface together with core network improvements.

The world’s first publicly available LTE service was launched by TeliaSonera in Stockholm and Oslo on December 14, 2009. LTE is the natural upgrade path for carriers with both GSM/UMTS networks and CDMA networks such as Verizon Wireless, who launched the first large-scale LTE network in North America in 2010. In Nigeria, Airtel was the first telco to successfully carry out a demo on LTE.

However, what appears a simple exercise has ran into early storm as most of the subscribers who heeded the call to trade in their modems are now stuck in the mud. Some could not connect to the internet weeks after they had traded in their old modems. At the Suite 45 Ogba Shopping Complex Ogba, Lagos office of Spectranet, a huge crowd of angry subscribers was on hand to vent their anger on the Spectranet staff who appeared overwhelmed by the exercise.

Staff of Spectranet kept mum when our reporter inquired why they were ill at ease with the migration exercise. But some of the angry customers told our reporter that Spectranet has been scamming them with monthly subscriptions that do not really add up to one month.

“Spectranet is fraudulent. Most times you are not able to use your internet due to their own technical inadequacy and this may run into days yet when they bill you they do not take into cognizance the days you did not use your modem for no fault of yours. They simply disconnect you after 30 days”, a subscriber at the Ogba office told our reporter.

Staff of Political Economist are familiar with this swindle. Before the migration to LTE, Spectranet has never offered services for 30 days in a month, in some cases the modem goes blank unable to connect to Spectranet base station but in spite of this, Spectranet terminates  service after 30 days not minding that for about three or four days within those 30 days they could not offer service for technical reasons.

At the Ogba office, our reporter accosted customers who migrated over two weeks ago but who were yet to enjoy internet services. On Saturday October 12 when our reporter visited the Ogba office of Spectranet, a huge crowd of frustrated customers poked fun at the Spectranet staff on duty who from the looks on their faces were not happy with the manner subscribers were being treated. Tired of confronting the angry crowd and pacifying them, a technical staff on duty simply disappeared when the barrage of umbrage from subscribers became unbearable.

“I think it is time the relevant authorities look into the activities of Spectranet and other service providers in Nigeria. It is obvious they are doing in Nigeria what they cannot do in their parent countries or any other nation where they operate”, a subscriber who said he had traded in his modem for over one week fumed.