Adsl Woes

Posted on 2007/03/30 07:17:25 (March 2007).

[30th March]

Another "fil rouge" of the past months here at my new place has been the mighty Adsl connection that I made with Tiscali.

Although I cannot complain about their service center too much, there have been quite a lot of problems with the contract that I made originally, mostly due to the fact that the actual wired network in Italy is dated 1800 and is crap.

Probably doesn't even run on copper!!

As a result the 8 Megs connection that I have paid for four months basically didn't work, as the modem would connect at 8 megs only for a limited period, to then reset at a slower speed.

After two months of phone calls the people at Tiscali decided to call the dreadful Telecom Italia (the ex-state run company who still owns the network, a tragedy that could only happen in a third world country like Italy), who then called me saying that basically:

TI (Telecom Italia):"Well the problem is the network you see, but of course you don't want us to come and replace the wires..."
Lox:"Exscuse me, you're telling me that the problem is yours but you are not going to do anything about it?!"
TI:"Wellllll, can't you just go at 4 megs? I mean does it makes so much difference to you?"
Lox:"Not at all but since I am paying for 8.... Unless you tell Tiscaly that technically the network is not capable of going 8 megs and then I can ask to change the contract"
TI:"Sorry can't do that.."
Lox:"Errr... Why?"
TI:"'cause they will force us to repair the cables then"
Lox:"So you are telling me that what I am paying for is not reachable, but you will not tell them this because otherwise you have to WORK!?!"

The phone call went on and eventually they did some magic, put the line at 8 megs and it crashed after 2 hours going around 3 megs for the following week.

The ordeal is not finished, because at this moment Tiscali sends me a mail, saying that they put a new call center that "oh hei!" is not free anymore, but you have to pay good money for it!! 0,52cents x minute!!!

THE FUCKERS

First call gets me to having to run some "speed tests"... Although I tell the guy that the problem is FOUR months old and that they have all the data, he simply closes it there. Speed Tests.
It is clear that it's a technique to get you pay more, as you must call again.

After the speed tests I call again, they must do some checking, I call five times because they keep telling me to speak to another person and so on.
Eventually they realize that this line is SHITE and tell me that I was right and downgrade it all at 4 megs, stable, reliable...

Great, now it's time to change the contract...

I call and the lady this time tells me that THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE between at 8 meg connection and a 4 meg one!!! Dunno if I have to laugh or cry, argue a little and hang up.

Basically it seems that the contract that they made with me was so convenient that changing to a newer contract might work out more expensive...

I hate them, I hate them, I hate them... I just wish that whomever thought of call centers and stuff like this has a sudden strike of diarrhoea that forces him or her to call the "medical call center for terminal arse diseases" and then they ask him/her to run a "speed test" on the flow of shit and call in a week.

And I have been nice!

Lox! Wow! I really sympathise... Tiscali's call-centres really do suck, don't they? And now they want us to pay? Terrible! Perhaps they should move their call-centres closer to home?

I found that by just saying "OK I'll move my account elsewhere, did actually get Tiscali moving for me. Truth is though, in the UK, moving ADSL accounts is not easy. A month without anything but a phone-line... :(

Posted by Nigel at 2007/03/30 09:03:31.

Nigel: I was talking with John and unfortunately the service that we get in Italy (all the carriers mind you) is not even comparable to the UK. I'd be happy to have a service like you have! In Pizzaland you sign a contract that is vaid 1 year, and even if you change half a way through the deal you must pay the full year subscription. Changing carrier means if you are lucky one and half month wait and possibly large problems when they connect you. Not to talk about the fact that if the service doesn't work you cannot close the contract unless you interpose a solicitor in the middle... :(

Posted by Lox at 2007/03/30 10:54:56.

didn't get much better for me on Bulldog, supposed to be 8Mbps but only getting 2Mbps coz of the distance, bah humbug...... how long till we get fibre to our houses ? :)

Posted by Raj at 2007/03/30 14:56:21.

Raj: In Italy the situation of fibre is even worse, they started to do all the works necessary, then they realized that they put the fibre too close to the surface and the vibration coming from the trucks driving on the road would break the cables.... Nuff said...

Posted by Lox at 2007/03/31 08:33:33.

In Greece you can't get anything higher than 2Mbps and that is hugely expensive and often you don't get the full 2Mbps, but a slower rate - 2Mbps costs EUR500/year (£345/year), although to be fair they occasionally do offers where you get a second year free - but if you tie yourself into that sort of length of contract, you can't take advantage of any price reductions which may come later on.

Additionally, where I live in Northern Greece the god-awful Greek telephone company (OTE, which was recently privatised), cut off Internet access for the whole of the prefecture (county) for 18 hours on Thursday night without warning, supposedly to do "upgrades"... Inconvenient isn't the word for it...

Posted by Bryan at 2007/03/31 11:10:56.

Just realised, it was 40 hours that OTE cut off Internet access to this area for, not 18...

Posted by Bryan at 2007/03/31 11:53:41.

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