Software glitch disrupts SingTel network
UPDATED
A software glitch caused some SingTel mobile phone subscribers to see red when they were unable to make or receive phone calls, or access the Internet using 3G over the last two days.
Many frustrated customers had resorted to posting their complaints on the telecommunication company’s Facebook page over the issue.
When contacted on Wednesday, a SingTel spokesperson told Yahoo! Singapore, "The cause of the intermittent issues faced by some of our customers was traced to a software glitch."
SingTel engineers began restoring services at 8pm, he added.
While no figures on those affected were available, he said the outage affected "limited areas in central Singapore", where customers experienced "intermittent difficulty making calls and accessing the 3G network for several hours on Tuesday afternoon and this (Wednesday) afternoon".
He advised the affected customers to continue using voice, SMS and data services through SingTel's 2G network.
SingTel also released a statement on its Facebook page at about 5pm on Wednesday.
“We are currently experiencing intermittent service interruptions on our 3G network in some areas,” it then said.
“We apologise for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience. Our engineers are working to resolve the problem as quickly as possible. If you are experiencing any issues, we recommend switching your phone to the 2G network.”
Sales manager Chloe Ang, 29, told Yahoo! Singapore she had problems with her SingTel phone line for over 5 hours on Wednesday before connectivity was restored at 6:30pm.
“I couldn’t call in and out, couldn’t send and receive text messages; there was no service at all,” she said. Ang contacted SingTel’s customer service at 4pm and spoke to an operator after a 20-minute wait.
According to Ang, the operator said many people called in earlier and told Ang to “give us a few more hours to rectify the problem.”
Responding to SingTel’s Facebook statement, which had drawn over 110 comments at about 7:40pm, Facebook user Chris Wong listed Raffles Place, Bugis and Orchard Road as among the areas where 3G service was down.
Isaac Gwee said it was a “real disappointment” as this was the second day he was unable to receive connection.“I hope SingTel can come out with an official explanation on what causes the downtime as it has been very disruptive. It’s not only some area and is affecting work (sic),” he added.
Another user Adam Tan lamented, “This is outrageous and the response time for SingTel to announce the issue is horrible. Besides today, the 3G network is unstable and I often experience lost of network island wide. Deeply disappointed with the drop in standard and service.”
Many users also turned to micro-blogging platform Twitter to vent their frustrations. Some said they were receiving signals from foreign telecommunication companies in Indonesian and Malaysia.
Jerrick Lim tweeted, “From 3 bars to 1 bar to no bar back to 3 bars in 30 seconds and still no internet access. What's going on Singtel!!!”
