Through the Single Wholesale Network model that has been adopted by Malaysia, consumers are connecting to just one 5G infrastructure which is under the purview of Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB). This also means that all of the supported 5G devices that have been listed by DNB’s website should be to connect to the 5G network regardless of the telco that the users are on.
As it turns out, that is not the case with certain Samsung 5G phones with U Mobile and unifi Mobile SIM cards. We have since confirmed this with DNB and U Mobile representatives.
After cross-checking DNB and unifi Mobile’s 5G device lists, here are the Samsung 5G phones that facing this issue:
- Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
- Galaxy S21+ 5G
- Galaxy S21 5G
- Galaxy Z Flip3 5G
- Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
- Galaxy A33 5G
- Galaxy A53 5G
- Galaxy A73 5G
- Galaxy M33 5G
We first learned about this issue after we were not able to connect our Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra to the 5G network through U Mobile which just activated its 5G service yesterday. This is despite the fact that we had no issue doing so with the Yes 5G SIM card since a few months ago.
We then reached out to DNB who explained to us that the reason behind this is not due to its infrastructure. Instead, it has got to do with performance issues between the devices and the core network of U Mobile as well as unifi Mobile.
We were told that each manufacturer has a certain level of performance benchmark and they will only sign off on a firmware update if the device can adhere to the said level. Samsung likely has a higher threshold than other manufacturers in DNB’s list, hence the company has yet to release the firmware that would carry the 5G support for U Mobile and unifi Mobile for these devices.
DNB representative further added that both telcos and Samsung are already working together to rectify this issue. U Mobile’s team has confirmed this to Lowyat.NET as well although it is not yet known when exactly Samsung will release the necessary firmware to consumers.
The national 5G company also noted that Yes 5G and Celcom customers should not face this issue. There shouldn’t be any connection issue for other models inside its devices list as well.
We have since verified this using Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 and HONOR 70 with a U Mobile SIM card. While we were not able to do the same for unifi 5G since we don’t have an unifi Mobile SIM card on hand, both of these devices have already been listed on its website anyway.
As noted in our previous report, U Mobile customers have to be on either U Postpaid 38, U Postpaid 68, U Postpaid 98, Prepaid U25, or Prepaid U35 plans in order to utilize 5G. On another hand, unifi Mobile customers are able to access 5G by obtaining the BEBAS monthly prepaid pass or the Ultimate postpaid plan.
