Bad sign? Is the plan too expensive? How to Choose and Switch to the Most Convenient Phone Company

It’s hard to think of utility companies competing more voraciously than telephone companies. In their spots, they are directly accused of false advertising and when it comes to attracting new customers, they have no problem calling people on their very personal numbers to suggest that they change companies.

Thanks to number portability, i.e. the right to keep one’s telephone number in the event of a change of company, which has existed since 2012, the table is more than useful for moving from one company to another. at the slightest bad moment.

In February of this year, the Under-Secretariat of Telecommunications (Subtel) presented a classification of complaints users in this industry. The main finding is that the number of allegations increased by 6% compared to what was recorded in 2021, with a total of 59,879.

In the distribution of the cahuín, and without intention to offend anyone, Movistar (with 39%) and Entel (with 22%) concentrated 61% of the complaints received. However, the others don’t have much to celebrate either: WOM, for example, increased complaints by 89% over the previous period, while Claro by 27% and Entel by 29%.

Now, regarding the reasons, the technical quality is strong in 54% of the reasons. Next comes “customer service” with 29%, “billing” with 10% and finally “portability” with 7%. It must also be said that 85% of these complaints were resolved “to the satisfaction of users”, according to the report. That’s more than 8 out of 10.

But if you’re one of those 59,870 people who complained about your company’s service and got blood in their eyes, or if you’re one of those thousands (impossible to know if more or less) who don’t have complained only to themselves or you have complained to your partner, but you still want to change companies, here we provide you with a complete guide on how to do it and, above all, what to do research to get a service and plan that’s right for you.

First of all, if you have decided to change, know that it is a simple process. As indicated by the senac The most important thing to know is:

1. You can change companies as many times as you want. Of course, you have to wait at least 60 days between each change. For carriers, this allows “only” six business migrations per year.
2. Portability can be requested directly from the commercial offices of the company to which the person wishes to evolve, where he will sign a portability request. This will suffice as a resignation from your current company, without needing to go there.
3. The cost of a portability request is 377 pesos (yes, only 377 pesos). However, most companies in the market have announced that they will not charge this cost to their new customers. If the company offered it like that, you must comply.

And ready. Of course, you cannot change if you maintain a debt with the current company. “Unless the company has an agreement with the company to which it wants to change, and can continue to pay what is due to it”, specifies the portal. Although it may seem obvious, when changing phones, it cannot be blocked due to theft or loss.

Is it practical to change company from time to time? Go try from here to there, walk around and get to know the different companies? Max Valdés, journalist expert in personal finance and editor-in-chief of hit it outlet of the consumer economy, think so.

“For users looking for a better price, it’s convenient,” he says. “In general, mobile phone companies have good offers on portability plans for the first 6 or 12 months of the contract, depending on the case, with rates that can reach up to 50% reduction.” In addition, many operators offer family promotions, such as two packages for the price of one, “so with your partner, your children or someone very close you can split the price of the package pro rata and it will be much less Dear”.

Although this technique, like almost everything in life, has a but.

“The complexity of this strategy is that it requires time and energy: contact via the web or by call center to the new company, receive the chip, wait a day—which delays portability—put on the new chip and adjust to the mismatch that will occur with billing dates”.

Antonio Olivares, lawyer for the National Corporation of Consumers and Users (Conadecus ), explains that number portability aims to encourage competition. And as such, you should take advantage of it if it suits you.

“Now no one is tied to his business,” he says. “This leads to better terms, prices and benefits offered today. For this reason, what is convenient for consumers is to negotiate,” he suggests.

“Having a regular behavior can be a good strategy to keep prices low”, estimates Héctor Osorio, economist at pfk . “An active, mobile user can always find better rates.” He warns, yes, “to be careful and to make sure that this lower cost does not imply a lower quality”.

In the end, as much as it is in our interest not to spend too much, we must not forget that the quality of service is essential. This means, explains Osorio, “a guaranteed ability to stay in communication at all times, and that whenever we need to contact someone, we can do so”.

“It is not homogeneous between companies in the sector”, he underlines. “Not all of them have the same level of quality, whether because of the coverage or the durability of their signals,” he warns.

In this sense, for Max Valdés, it is essential “to choose a company that offers better coverage where you live or where you usually travel. You can ask the experience to those who live nearby, or even try the experience with a prepaid chip,” he recommends.

One way to know the coverage levels of each company according to the region, the municipality or even the sector or the district, is to review this mobile phone coverage map developed by Subtel, in which you can also identify where the antennas of each company are located. Another alternative, less detailed but easier to review, is this other map generated by Nperf.

The scenario is different if what you are looking for, in addition to changing companies, is to renew the mobile phone. Especially if the idea is to switch to 5G networks. “In addition to the equipment, you have to choose an operator who offers this technology”, explains Valdés, who for the moment are WOM, Entel and Movistar. “The others still don’t commercially offer this service to the public.”

In summary, underlines the editor of hit it, “Coverage, access to 5G, quality of service and price are in my opinion the keys to choosing a new company.” According to his estimates, a plan with 100 or 150 gigabytes of data downloads, and around a thousand minutes of calls — “even if many now offer free minutes” —, and without applying a discount, “is marketed from order of 10 thousand or 12 thousand months”.

“It’s also good to look at the quality of their customer service, general plan prices, features, and whether there will be any barriers to using certain services or benefits.”

Hector Osorio offers a perspective that applies just as much to choosing a telephone company as it does to life: “You have to know yourself”. Why so deep? “Because you have to understand how you use your phone,” he replies: if you use it mainly to make calls, if you use a lot of data, if you only check it from time to time, if it’s is our work tool or if we are addicted to social networks. “The type of diet that suits us best will depend on all of this. You have to make sure you understand the need and look for the plan that fits that”.

To avoid problems with the confidentiality of our data, telecommunications companies can also make differences. “A lot of people who have banking apps on their smartphones, for example, use a third key that gets to the cellphone,” says Conadecus’ lawyer. “For this, a company that provides security in this regard is important, because most of the complaints we receive relate to fraud in relation to the same telephone companies.”

It is essential, adds Olivares, “to ensure that the company we choose is not involved in a fraud where third parties impersonate this consumer and manage to transfer their number”. Lately, many such scams have been seen, even on WhatsApp.

“WOM customers regularly have problems receiving text messages with security codes to access web platforms,” says Valdés, “which ends up being a disastrous situation for personal cybersecurity.”

However, balances the journalist, the overall outlook for all companies is good. “The significant decline in the cost of access to telephone calls over the last decade, the massive use of mobile data, the price competition that WOM introduced a few years ago, as well as certain virtual mobile operators, have made it possible to significantly reduce costs in mobile plans.

In fact, Valdés assures that we have the lowest cost per gigabyte in South America. “Although there are characteristics of our country, such as geography or population density in urban areas — which affect signal and connectivity — I believe that competition really operates in this industry, which has made us allowed to have a good service at very good prices”.