The Weibo topic "Woman said the 159 yuan mobile package is not as good as the 39 yuan package" became a hot search topic, triggering a lot of discussion among netizens. Many people couldn't help but think of the old package they had used for several years after reading it, and felt a strong resonance of being cheated. According to media reports, the person involved is an old mobile user with nearly 20 years of Internet experience. The monthly package he is currently using is 159 yuan, and the benefits only include 400 minutes of free calls and 80GB of general traffic. However, a friend of the same operator applied for a 39 yuan preferential package. Not only can he get a direct call subsidy of 480 yuan, but the package also includes a full 110GB of traffic, which is a lot more cost-effective.
She said that as an old user who has been using it for almost 20 years, she has no authority to pay 159 yuan a month for the configuration that others can enjoy for 39 yuan. She is completely like a victim who has been silently harvested in the eyes of the operator.
Industry insiders have dismantled the underlying logic that makes it difficult for old users to downgrade. On the one hand, many early high-monthly rental packages come with consumption agreements. If users actively apply for downgrade before the agreement expires, they will most likely be required to pay corresponding liquidated damages. However, there is no obstacle to upgrading to a higher monthly rental package.
On the other hand, when old users notice that the package is unreasonable and repeatedly communicate with customer service to request adjustment of rights and interests, the exclusive retention mechanism in the operator's backend will be triggered. This mechanism was originally designed to retain users who plan to port their numbers to another network. Only when the triggering conditions are met, users can get those compensatory discounts that have never been open to ordinary existing users.
Many industry observers have made it clear that whether it is "killing familiarity" or discriminating, it is unwise for telecom operators to treat old users in this way. Those old users with high loyalty, who have continued to contribute stable profits to the operators for so many years, should have enjoyed more friendly rights and interests, and should not be treated lightly or even harvested in disguise.
Nowadays, major social platforms have developed a large number of highly practical countermeasures. Consumers who are bundled with unreasonably high monthly rent packages can clearly inform customer service that they intend to handle number portability or complain, forcing operators to proactively provide coordinated rights adjustment plans, and no longer have to passively accept differential treatment.