Internet Connection Outage
We lost our wired DSL connection to the Internet from the early morning of July 11 until the early afternoon of July 17, 2011. This is the first time we had a one-week Internet connection outage in the almost four (4) years that we had engaged the services of our current broadband provider. We would have some service outages in the past but it would not last for more than two (2) days. Even the disastrous Typhoon Ondoy in late 2009 did not cause us to lose connection this long.
A call to customer helpdesk in the morning of the first day revealed that the service outage was area wide so I felt that it won’t take long for the problem to get fixed because there are many of us who got affected. Three (3) days passed and we still do not have the connection so I took time and went to my Internet provider’s office located in a shopping mall some ten (10) kilometers away from our home. I wanted to check the real cause of the connection outage. I also wanted to make sure that it was not because of the late payment I made on our bill.
I had to queue for about half-hour before I got to talk to a customer care representative who confirmed to me that our connection outage was not caused by our late bill payment but by a cable stolen from their installation. It was already the fourth day of the problem so I asked her what’s taking them so long to replace the stolen cable. She just smiled so I had to tell her my guesses as to what was causing the delay. I said it might be that they do not have a cable to replace the stolen one or the police put a yellow line while they do lengthy investigation of the crime.
Whatever could be the reason for the delay in restoring our connection, I cannot hold myself from writing about the incident that affected me in no small way. Our Internet service provider happened to be Globe Telecom, the company furiously fighting the share-swap deal between PLDT and Digitel because it could result to the return of a monopoly. Yes, Globe Telecom is the remaining competitor I am referring to in my previous blog and at the rate they handle problems like what we had, I am afraid that the return of the monopoly will come easy and will be preferred by many.
Ever since I encountered very poor service from Globe when I applied for a landline in our first residence here in Provident Village, Marikina City, I never dared to try again Globe’s services. Of course, even PLDT is never immune from any foul up in its services. However, I managed to be patient and understanding whenever some trouble occurred in PLDT’s services. In my almost twenty years of stay in Cubao, Quezon City, I never had any difficulty for applying for a PLDT landline. Twice, I did earn some money from selling my telephone rights to those who needed it more than me. As a satisfied PLDT user, I will not consider Globe for whatever reason.