The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has given some tips that would help the over 174 million telecom subscribers in the country constantly monitor their data usage and ultimately, authenticate their consumption level.
The Commission said it is giving the tips as a result of the concerns being raised by telecoms consumers about the rapidity of data depletion on their devices. Also, as part of its commitment to protect and appropriately inform and educate the telecom consumer on industry issues.
Specifically, NCC enjoined the consumers to always contact their service providers to make requests for cases of discrepancies noted in their data usage, as it is within the right of the subscribers to request for their usage history/statement where inconsistency exists in their data usage.
The consumer may escalate the issue through NCC’s toll-free Number 622 and social media platforms, especially if their requests are not satisfactorily handled.
Meanwhile, the Commission has made some clarifications regarding the concerns being raised by the consumers around data usage. It explained that given the spread of Internet services and the immense investment in the sector, data rates have continued to increase and users may be unaware of how to measure data speed.
“The higher the data speed, the quicker pages load-downloads and uploads-occur and expectedly, the quicker data bundles are exhausted. So, as telecom consumers are able to do more on devices in less time, some consumers’ devices & network service providers make it possible to limit data speed to help users manage data usage better.
“In any case, most devices now include functions to measure data used by devices and it is imperative that users monitor same to authenticate data usage, such as applications left running on devices. Therefore, where discrepancies occur, users may contact their service provider to request for their usage history/statement. If request is not dealt with satisfactorily then, users can contact NCC by calling 622 or engage the Commission via its social media platforms,” it said in a Facebook post.
The telecoms regulator explained further that websites such as www.fast.com also provide an easy way for consumers to measure Internet speed on any device at any location.