[Watch] The Most Connected Pillar In Malaysia: How One School’s Random Concrete Post Became Its Digital Lifeline
The teachers’ daily ritual involves carefully placing their phones on this makeshift altar to catch precious 4G signals, transforming an architectural quirk into the school’s unofficial tech hub.
In a plot twist that feels straight out of a tech-dystopian fever dream, teachers at a rural school have discovered their own version of the town square – except it’s just a concrete pillar with mysteriously perfect cell reception.
At SK Padang Banggi in Kudat, Sabah, there’s precisely one spot where you can upload your lesson plans or send that urgent email without wanting to throw your phone across the corridor.
It’s not the teacher’s lounge or the computer lab, but a random sunshade pillar that has become the unofficial IT department of the entire school.
The situation is so absurd that teachers have installed a real phone tray on this beam.
Think of it as a shrine to Digi (their mobile carrier), whose name is literally scrawled on the pillar like some digital graffiti.
The message is clear: “Here Be Signal.”
One teacher’s video shows the whole bizarre ritual: place your phone on the makeshift altar, and boom – full 4G bars.
SIGNAL HUNTING: Where Education Meets Digital Hide and Seek
Move it an inch away? Digital wasteland. Try another pillar? Nothing.
It’s like finding the one spot at a coffee shop where the WiFi works, except this is where educators have to stand to do their actual jobs.
The teacher explains with what sounds like well-practised patience: “It’s our school’s unique feature.”
Translation: This is what they have to deal with every time they need to submit anything online.
Welcome to 2025, where finding a cell signal at a Malaysian school feels like a game of architectural Pokémon Go.
Just remember – you gotta catch it at the right pillar.
The case is also a reminder that some things haven’t changed in Sabah since Veveonah Mosibin’s viral 2020 camping atop a tree to access Wi-Fi to take her online exams.
