"I Demand An Explanation!": A Belarusian Woman Decided To Expose A1
1- 24.10.2026, 11:56
The carrier's subscribers noticed their gigabytes disappearing rapidly.
A Belarusian woman complained that the mobile carrier A1 was deducting gigabytes from her main data plan when she watched Reels on Instagram, even though her plan includes unlimited access to social media. After she filed a complaint, the company refunded her 15 rubles and credited her with an additional 5 GB, but warned that a similar situation could happen again, according to "Zerkalo".
A Threads user with the handle wow_dessert_sol said she has been using A1’s services for nearly 20 years. Her plan includes 25 GB of data and unlimited access to social media and messaging apps. However, she discovered that watching Reels (short videos) on Instagram uses up gigabytes from her main data plan.
“My plan includes unlimited data for social media and messaging apps! And 25 GB! So A1 decided that I can use Instagram under the unlimited plan, but watching Reels counts toward my data allowance! How is that even possible? Instagram is all about Reels and Stories. I’ve been with you for almost 20 years, but now I have a strong urge to switch carriers and write to MART, the Ministry of Communications and Informatization, etc. I demand an explanation,” the Belarusian woman said indignantly.
A1 representatives explained in the comments why, even with an unlimited data plan, your main data allowance can be used up on social media.
“We understand your confusion—it really is strange when Instagram seems to be on unlimited data, but Reels suddenly ‘eat up’ gigabytes. Let us explain how this works. The unlimited data plan for social media applies to Instagram itself, but the app loads some videos, Reels, and Stories from third-party servers. In such cases, data usage may be deducted from your plan or charged separately. “This isn’t a scheme to ‘take gigabytes from you,’ but a technical feature of how Instagram works,” the company explained.
Later, the author of the post clarified that the carrier refunded her 15 rubles, but the issue of data usage remained unresolved.
“A1 credited 15 rubles back to my account. Great! But what’s next? I don’t want to have to constantly turn off mobile data every time to avoid racking up charges! How are we going to resolve this issue?” she wrote.
Subsequently, the woman was contacted by phone and offered a different rate plan.
“They called me today and offered to switch my plan, since the company can’t track where the content on Instagram is coming from. Basically, it won’t get any better. They refunded 15 rubles and added 5 GB of data,” the Belarusian woman said.
In the comments, it became clear that other A1 customers had faced similar problems. Some complained that their data used to last the whole month, but now they have to buy additional gigabytes, and some have even racked up debt.
Other participants in the discussion complained about deteriorating connection quality, restrictions on unlimited plans, and the performance of technical support. Some stated that they had already switched carriers or were planning to do so:
“Now I understand where my data is going!!! It used to always last the whole month, but now I have to buy extra data halfway through the month. I see a lot of people are having this problem—I wonder how that’s even possible.”
“I have some questions for A1, too. 25 GB of data used to be enough, and I’d even carry over some of it to the next month. But now, around the 20th, I get a message saying, ‘You’ve reached your limit.’ And I owe 80 rubles. This has been going on for a couple of months now.”
“Oh, I’ve been in a similar situation with them for the last few months. And from my conversation with the customer service rep, I realized that for some reason, Reels—those third-party videos—count toward the general data allowance, rather than being included in the ‘unlimited social media’ plan.”
“I was an A1 subscriber for over 22 years, but I switched to another carrier. A1’s customer service has become terrible—I didn’t expect that.”
The author of the original complaint also reported that she decided to switch to another carrier.
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