2009年4月16日，三大运营商宣布正式启动3G业务，这标志着中国真正进入了3G时代。彼时，掌上营业厅的概念尚未普及，全国万余家营业厅门庭若市。
11年过去了，在信息化如此发达的当下，部门营业厅仍人满为患。中国电信用户张英向新浪科技吐槽道。
由于工作报销原因，她每月都要购买一定额度的充值卡，但中国电信必须去线下的这一规定，她十分不理解。在她看来，官网、app这些线上渠道已经很成熟，在技术上实现肯定不是问题。
实际上，运营商的服务一直是众多用户吐槽的对象。在黑猫投诉平台上，针对三大运营商的投诉不在少数，涉及客服服务态度太差、无法自由更改套餐等。
2020年，中国5G商用已满一年，三大运营商的5G建设也正如火如荼。不过在张英这类普通用户看来，运营商们在业务办理、售后服务等方面似乎还停留在3G时代。问题究竟出在哪？
吐槽：办理业务难，诱导消费多，时间成本高
张英对于使用中国联通的同事十分羡慕，因为可以直接在官网购买充值卡并下载电子发票。而工作繁忙的她每个月都要去中国电信的营业厅现场办理，费时费力。
她曾向中国电信官方客服询问此事，得到的答复是充值卡一直是不在线上销售，只有线下的电信营业厅才有的。但至于具体原因，客服并未详细解释。
传统的不只是中国电信一家。黎之顺向新浪科技讲述了她对中国移动服务的不满。
当天是在海淀一家中国移动营业网点，办理业务首先需要扫码排队，之后系统提示她排队号是1019，尚需等待2人。但等待许久，仍旧没有轮到她。
黎之顺在营业厅门口观察到，该营业厅一共有三个窗口，但只有两个窗口的工作人员办理业务。另外，叫号时也不只是等待了2人，凭空又多出好几个2开头的用户，而且窗口前正在办理业务的用户并不多。
等待40分钟后，她终于排到了业务办理窗口，最终5分钟业务办理完毕。她回忆，实际上之前该营业厅配备有自助服务机器，很多业务基本不需要排队就可很快办理。但2019年底，这些机器被全部撤掉，从此排队用户就多了。
普通用户们对运营商的诟病不只是不够智能化和互联网化上，还有诱导消费、更改套餐困难等。
秦诚常年在北京工作，而远在河南老家的母亲时常让他担忧。他母亲使用中国移动的号码多年，但一直对套餐资费等问题不是特别了解，以致经常被客服诱导消费。
巡视：三家问题广，渠道未打通，用户感知差
实际上，众多的用户投诉也引起了相关监管部门的关注。
2019年，中央第六巡视组对三大运营商进行了巡视，并指出了各自存在的问题。今年3月，三大运营商纷纷对外发布了整改进展。
巡视组指出，中国移动存在不知情定制等侵害群众利益、一线网点多为外包合作经营、员工教育培训跟不上、服务质量不高等问题。中国移动当时表示，将积极推动简化资费、资费自选模式试点、在售资费全量公示和简化套餐变更互斥规则等举措，促进透明消费，改善客户体验和感知。
China Unicom was also pointed out to have many problems such as “many packages, difficult to understand, difficult to choose”, “complaints about unknown customization”. China Unicom stated at the time that it would increase the intensity of online and offline product cleaning, timely remove products that do not meet market demand, and during the concentration rectification period, it would streamline more than 400 packages; simplify, comprehensively publicize the complete content of the packages on sale, and optimize the package rules.
Expert: Operating contradictions, thinking needs to change, difficult to achieve overnight
An unnamed industry insider pointed out that the problems encountered by operators in services are largely related to the contradictions between their central enterprise identity and market-oriented and Internet-based operations.
In his view, due to problems in the operating mechanism, operators missed many opportunities in the Internet era. For example, in the competition between China Mobile’s Fetion and QQ WeChat, although the operators had natural user and network advantages in the early stages, due to their outdated thinking, they still lost to Internet companies in the competition.
Operators are also seeking change. For example, China Unicom started the “mixed reform” process many years ago and entered into strategic investments with BATJ (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, JD.com) and other Internet companies as strategic investors. China Unicom has also developed a variety of Internet package products in collaboration with these Internet companies, winning many users.
At the beginning of this year, China Unicom launched a comprehensive market operation organization system reform, aiming to operate more market-oriented and further Internet-based in products and channels.
In addition to the “mixed reform”, the above-mentioned person believes that the arrival of the 5G era and the opening of number portability are also driving operators to actively improve service quality and follow the trend of era development.
Currently, the three major operators are making every effort to attract 5G users. On one hand, they need to continue to meet the needs of old 4G users and upgrade them to 5G; on the other hand, they need to build a good brand and service image to attract new users.
As of June this year, China Mobile has 55.609 million 5G users, with a target of 100 million for the whole year; China Telecom has 30.05 million 5G users, with an annual target of 60-80 million users; China Unicom has not yet announced its own 5G user numbers.
Interestingly, in order to develop 5G users, operators have recently spared no effort and have launched a star endorsement mode. China Mobile invited Cai Xukun to be its 5G partner for the Dynamic Zone brand, and jointly launched the Dynamic Zone M-ONE card; China Unicom invited Luhan to be the innovation partner and jointly launched the “Good Luck Companion Card”. China Unicom officially views this as “a key exploration and attempt on the road to Internet transformation”.
However, on the road to marketization and Internet transformation, operators cannot achieve overnight success. While transforming their brand image, operators still have a lot to do in terms of products, channels, and services.
(Interviewees in the article are all pseudonyms)
