Sales, Social and Tech

(Update: M1 has shared they have submitted the app and waiting for approval. The PR person is also checking the need why M1 needs to close the app for maintenance.  ) Apple announced the new iOS 8 two weeks ago and most companies have been rushing to update their new app to meet with the new iOS. M1, which describes itself as Singapore’s most vibrant and dynamic communications company, providing mobile and fixed services to over 2 million customers, still has not updated its "My M1" app for the new iOS 8. After logging in to check My Usage, the page just hangs there. Clicking on the categories results in response. The other frustrating thing is that from 10pm to 12 am every night, the app will show a pop up to tell me that it is under maintenance. But after 12 am, the app comes back but the categories still do not work.  As a customer of M1, it is extremely disappointing that the telco is taking so long to update this app. What happened to its "vibrancy"...

Channel NewsAsia wrote about a M1 Facebook Fan who have highlighted a bug in the iPhone 6 registration website. It was reported that the person who found the bug was able to access forms of previous submission and is able to get these users phone number, IC number and even home address. However, what is interesting is that it seems M1 took about 18 hours to respond the comment. Image from Channel NewsAsia . 18 hours is a very long time to react to a security bug like this as any data would have be "hacked" in minutes. Probably M1 Social Media do not work on weekends so this was given a missed. One of the issues here is that when a security bug is found by a user, the user had to go through the long process of submitting the screenshot at M1 Feedback Site. In cases like this, a direct message would have been better to expedite the issue. Oh wait.. M1 disabled the Messaging function on their Page.

(Update: I have been updated that the list price now for a full page full color for Straits Times is now SGD49k.) One of my journalist friend at Telecom Asia updated his status that he was seeking comments from both the PR of M1 and Starhub over an advertisement. His eagle sharp eye noticed that in the M1 ad, to promote the Fibre Broadband Bundle at COMEX 2012, had a hotline number that was not to M1's 1627. Pay attention to the last line - For more information, visit m1.com.sg/msquard or call 1633. Dial 1633 and the first thing you will is "Welcome to Starhub customer care.." A quick Google search showed that a full page full colour ad might cost up to SGD33,206,04  before GST and other discounts.  An expensive lesson for the person who approved this ad. 

Now that I have both a Starhub line and a M1 line (for the wife), it makes it easier to compare the two telcos side by side. And customer satisfaction doesn't just end at having a good network but also down to their apps. I noticed that both Starhub and M1 have their own native iPhone apps which allows you to track your current bill and data usage. I tried both, but I stopped at the registration process for the Starhub app and have since removed it from the iPhonoe. Here's why. After you install both apps, it will ask you for your mobile and password. For M1, the process was rather simple and fast as the registration only required your mobile number, IC number and password. These three are usually remembered by any Singaporeans. In order to register a user id and password for the Starhub app, you need to enter, not three, but four unique IDs. There are your mobile number, IC number, account number and password. Who actually remembers their account number? Even when you...

I was sitting next to a friend for lunch and noticed that he had an iPhone 4s, just like me. Only difference was that he was on Starhub and I was on M1. I asked him to try Siri and he was getting slow respond, and so we decided to do a speed test. The above picture showed that M1 was giving shorter ping time (38ms) and had faster upload speed of 1.77Mbps. Starhub had faster download speed (8.58Mbps) than M1s (5.51Mbps). Starhub ping time was at 131ms. However, Starhub download speed was at 0.07Mbps which was 25 times slower than M1. That explains the slow Siri respond. A difference in upload speeds of 25 times is something that should be of concern to Starhub users. However, do not that this test was only done at one location, Marina Square Link, but it could be a concern because upload speeds are now as important as download speeds average due to the content creation tools that are now easily available on iPhones. The ping times are also a concern because it shows tha...