« Unlimited » data at 14,900 FCFA: MTN customers question a suspicious slowdown 🇨🇲📶

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Internet connectivity remains a real headache for many Cameroonians. The case of so-called « unlimited » plans, meant to guarantee a steady speed all month long, is a textbook example of this tech paradox: the further into the subscription cycle you get, the more the connection speed seems to collapse.

The catch with the 14,900 FCFA plan ⚠️

Technically, an « unlimited » plan is built around an uncapped data volume — but signal quality and allocated bandwidth are a different story, one that can vary depending on internal mechanisms controlled by the operator. That’s exactly what subscribers to the 14,900 FCFA plan are calling out. In the first few days, speeds are excellent: the network feels smooth, almost flawless for a country often criticized over its connectivity. Jaurès describes it this way:

« I’ve been on the 14,900 plan for a while. At first, it’s great. But during the last 15 days of the cycle, it turns into an absolute nightmare. »

Aline agrees: « When you’ve just paid your 14,900, you’re comfortable. But little by little, you realize you’re already back in trouble. »

Technical glitch, or a deliberate strategy ? 🔧

This systematic slowdown, which reportedly kicks in almost mechanically around fifteen days before renewal, raises questions about the traffic-management practices the operator applies. In the telecom world, this kind of pattern points to possible deliberate throttling — a technique sometimes used to steer subscriber consumption without officially touching the promised data volume. Several observers find it hard to believe the same technical glitch would recur every single month with near-programmed regularity: « You’d have to be pretty naive to believe this connection problem always happens to show up in the last 15 days of the subscription. »

That recurrence is fueling suspicions of a commercial strategy dressed up as a technical incident, designed to push users into renewing early so they don’t lose connectivity for work. One customer sums up the general frustration: « I’ve noticed this operator deliberately cuts our connection speed near the end of the subscription, even though we signed up for an unlimited service. That’s mistreatment of customers. »

What the law says ⚖️

Regulators, in theory, have the tools to check whether commercial offers actually deliver what they promise. Cameroon’s Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, working alongside the Telecommunications Regulatory Agency (ART), is tasked with monitoring the quality of service operators actually provide, including through speed audits and compliance checks against contractual commitments. These institutions should, logically, be looking into the operators involved — especially given that the disruption seems to concentrate, suspiciously, on the last fifteen days of each billing cycle.

For Alain, the urgency is real: « I’m calling on the government once again. Its people are crying out, raising the alarm. This situation needs to be resolved, » he says firmly. Until the technical mechanisms behind speed throttling are made transparent to consumers, trust in « unlimited » offers will keep eroding.

Has your connection ever slowed down right before your plan was set to renew? Tell us about it.