| By Azaraimy Hj Hasib
The Short Messaging Service (SMS)
was overloaded on New Year's Eve with many mobile phone users
grumbling about failure or delay in sending or receiving SMS
greetings.
As expected on special days
such as Hari Raya and New Year's Eve, the text messaging traffic
increased so much that the network was clogged, forcing many
people to stare helplessly at their mobile phone screens that
flashed: "Error sending message". Others received the
SMS up to several hours after they were sent.
SMS traffic was reported to be
as high as four times that of a normal day as users, especially
youths, across the country opted to wish "Happy New
Year" via arguably the cheapest, fastest and most
convenient means of communication.
The increase in SMS traffic
spelt huge revenues for Brunei's sole mobile phone service
provider, DST, as the company charges $0.20 per text message.
However, it resulted in a clogged network, said DST.
The clogged network is
compounded by the tardiness of users in deleting
"read" messages and "cleaning up" their
mailboxes. This leads to a pile-up of messages at the network
end.
It is estimated that millions
of SMS are exchanged annually by just about 60,000 users in the
country's population of 360,000.
"Communication via SMS is
much better than voice mail and, one cannot rule out its fun
component," said a DST public relations officer.
What also contributed to the
SMS congestion was that it was not just the plain old
"Happy New Year" text that the network had to carry.
With messages becoming fancier, longer, bulkier and sometimes
flashy, the load on the network got worse, informed sources
said.
Users are advised to beat the
rush hour by sending their SMS earlier. During Hari Raya, the
problem was under control but on New Year's Eve, some people
complained of receiving delayed SMS and experiencing problems in
sending an SMS.
SMS has overtaken greeting
cards and even the Internet email greeting cards have been
affected by the SMS explosion.
The main reasons for the
growing text messaging culture are cost and speed.
A paper greeting card costs 10
times more than an SMS message and is much slower in reaching
the recipient.
DST said that it is always on
the look-out and preparing for any SMS glitches on festive
occasions.
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