Warning – this post contains much ranting!
Last Wednesday at 11.15 am, our Internet service unexpectedly went down and my immediate thought was that it was a glitch and it would probably come back in a few minutes. Five days later and we still have no service in spite of numerous phone calls to the ISP (Internet Service Provider) which went something like this:
Wednesday afternoon
As you all know, phoning technical support of any company nowadays is a game of chance played out on your phone screen, where you hit dozens of numbers relating to your account, usually resulting in an endless wait while listening to hideous elevator music that sounds like it was recorded underwater on a ’70s tape deck.
Me: Could you please tell me when the service will be reinstated?
ISP: It should be back by 6 pm tonight.
Me: Great, thanks. (I didn’t believe a word.)
Thursday morning – a public holiday celebrating National Flag Day
Me (slightly irritated): You said the Internet would be fixed by 6 pm yesterday. It wasn’t.
ISP (Bolivian or Columbian and barely understandable): It should be back by 11 am tomorrow (in other words, GO AWAY!)
Me: Again, what exactly is the problem?
ISP (struggling to come up with an adequate excuse): It’s a problem in the main junction box which our technicians are attending to right now.
Me (not believing a word): Which junction box and when will it be fixed?
ISP: If you go to the modem you will see a red light which will disappear when it comes back online (proceeds to instruct me how to look at red lights).
Me (visibly shaken): I know what a red light looks like. Please, just fix the problem as soon as possible.
I then gave them zero points at the end of the chat survey.
Friday – another public holiday commemorating some long-forgotten Argentine general
Me to my wife: I don’t have the energy to call them again today, so I’m going for a ride on my bike. Chau!
In the meantime, I’ve hooked up our mobile phones as Wi-Fi hotspots, so we can at least keep in touch with the outside world. I also explained to my wife that we have limited data plans and it doesn’t work like Wi-Fi, so we need to be careful about uploads and downloads. However, I forgot to mention to her that watching live TV counts as downloading…
Saturday – nobody works on the weekend. Hasta mañana, baby!
Since we are both running out of data credit, we wrongly assume that the ISP, which I also use for my mobile data plan, will generously credit us with free data!
Me: We are still without service. What are you doing about it?
ISP: Sir, we’ve already noted your complaint, so phoning again with another isn’t going to speed things up…
Me (visibly gnashing my teeth): You haven’t been telling me the truth, señora.
ISP: This phone call is being recorded, señor.
Me: I should hope so and by the way, we are running out of credit for mobile data. You will be crediting our accounts in the meantime, won’t you?
ISP: No, you have to buy ‘packs’ and we will try to credit them back to you in your next bill…
And so it went on, until today…
Sunday – forget Sundays because everyone is crowded around burning charcoal, grilling chorizos, and sides of dead cows
Meanwhile, we’ve spent thousands of pesos topping up our data credit, but clearly streaming Netflix and YouTube et al is out of the question. However, we were generously given 500MB free of charge to stream YouTube, which lasted all of five seconds.
Monday 24th June, 2024 AD
With the modem red light shouting at me for the fifth day and no bright light at the end of the tunnel in sight, it’s time to bang on their door again.
Me: What’s the latest? (by now I’m laconic)
ISP: A pole needs to be changed, but since we don’t own the pole, it’s down to the local municipality or electricity company to change it.
Me: In other words, you can’t say with any certainty when the Internet will be re-established?
ISP: If I did, I’d be lying.
Me: (grateful that finally someone told the truth) Thanks and goodbye.
They weren’t able to tell me which pole or where, but coincidentally, a pole opposite our house is bent at a jaunty angle, like many in Buenos Aires, a city that resembles a tangle of cables, trees, and hanging branches.
Anyway, here’s a small picture I took, which I’ve made as small as possible due to my 4G limitation.
Story continues…
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Well Marc, I thought I had it bad this year. Experienced three power failures due to down trees but what truly got me extremely upset was loosing the internet due to my server also loosing power at one substation. Two days is much too long as we depend on this technology, Mindblower!
Can you get Starlink there?
After checking Bruce, the answer is Yes, but I prefer to remain with my current provider since I also receive VoIP, Mindblower!
The thing that struck me in the photo is that it seems like the wire going to the yellow house has caused the pole to tilt over so much.
The owner may be asked for a significant contribution to replacement of the pole since it’s their wire. Tho I can see it’s very loose but these days they will try for any recompense they think they can get away with.
I have owned this little house fya year now and still getting used to no internet. I have an 18gB me bike plan and that’s it. If I save some it gets rolled over which is generous. But if I move up to more data I loose that saved data and have to start saving again.
It’s a major comedown from my unlimited NBN that I had on my farm.
Yes I too would have access to Starlink but it’s very expensive so I’m doing my best to conform to my new normal.
Hello Clissa
Cables dangle all over the place in Buenos Aires and it’s presumed that a truck caught an overhead cable, causing the damage. The house owner has no responsibility whatsoever for the negligent placing of cables.
Starlink is available in Argentina, finally.