TSTT cannot be serious August 12, 2008
Posted by Emir in Science and Technology, Trinidad and Tobago.Tags: adsl, blink, bmobile, broadband, internet, phone, trinidad, Trinidad and Tobago, tstt
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TSTT is probably one of the worst companies I have ever had to deal with. Fortunately, I live in a country where I enjoy freedom of speech and as such can speak about my experiences when a company has failed in the provision of its services.
To those who do not know, TSTT is the Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago. It is 51 % owned by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago and 49% by Cable & Wireless. I might add that until fairly recently, TSTT held a monopoly over the telecommunications market, a monopoly I personally believe the Government of T&T only relinquished due to the increasing economic partnerships (such as CSME and the now-stalled FTAA) in which the country has become involved that call for liberalized markets. I will split this blog entry into Cellular and Internet segments.
Cellular
I am sure most of us who live in the western hemisphere have seen the Verizon Wireless advertisements on American cable channels where a guy roams the United States calling into his phone, “Can you hear me now?” This was the sour reality of cellular service in T&T for many, many years. Imagine at one point (while we were using TDMA technology but most of the world had long gone GSM) we had to pay not only for calls we made, but calls we received! My phone remains prepaid to this day because I have heard too many people complain of finding massive postpaid bills for calls they never made.
Fortunately, Digicel has entered the market, forcing TSTT to slash its cellular prices, increase its feature set and rebrand the service to “bmobile”. You know what’s really quite funny though? TSTT was there for so many years, yet Digicel managed to arrive and in record time provided more reliable service, more coverage area, more features and a clean slate. TSTT did make a great comeback with its improved service, prices and advertising campaign but…they turned a massive loss in doing that. For the first time ever, I might add.
Internet
How about internet services? Broadband took a very long time to arrive in T&T. But when it did, we got a whopping 128k ADSL connction for TT$460 a month – that’s US$72 and includes tax. WOW. Did I mention its North American competitors were already offering 2 and 3MB connections by then for half the cost? Eventually we got a boost to 256k. Yey. Wave flag.
Recently, Columbus Communications bought over our halfway excuse for a cable company and converted the system to digital. One of the benefits was cable internet (the old cable company tried it before but it was an abysmal failure). TSTT saw this coming and decided to upgrade their network. They have changed the service name to “Blink Broadband”, and I now get a 2MB connection. I can get “up to” 10MB but only if I pay TT$700 a month which even a geek like myself is uncomfortable with.
Now here’s the kicker. They tell me the speeds before were so slow because they have only just upgraded the system to ADSL2+. Are they serious? Do I look like a complete moron? Old school ADSL would have provided up to around 9MB. The ADSL2+ they have now rolled out can offer 24MB!
That aside, they did choose an appropriate name for the service. My connection really does tend to BLINK. Every evening at a little after 6pm, my DSL signal will drop, and require a modem reboot to resume the connection. It then happens again at a little before 7pm. It tends to be more troublesome than that on weekends. Their tech support told me that it’s my phone line. Now I don’t believe my physical phone line likes to malfunction only at specific times of the day, but they have now promised me three times to investigate it but never did.
I should not expect less. Usually when I call their tech support I get put through to a call center somewhere in India where a guy will make me look over every single modem setting by the book unless I point blank ask if there is a problem with the service. At my workplace, we requested our internet package be upgraded to a higher speed. We never got it, but a technician did come in to switch our modem for another of the exact same model (while letting us know the lady we spoke to on the phone did not know what she was talking about!). A week later another technician randomly and without request delivered a third modem, also of the exact same model.
Sigh. You may be wondering why I’m still with TSTT. It was only because I was waiting to see how FLOW, which has just recently been installed in my area has been working out for others. I’m going to switch as soon as I get the chance. FLOW has 3x the speed for the same price anyway and excellent reviews. If it works out at home, I’m also going to recommend my workplace migrates with immediate effect.
In closing
TSTT, you are a downright shame on all local business enterprises. Trinidadians and Tobagonians are always being told to support our local business, but how can we do so when the service is as abysmal as it is?
The Smog of Beijing August 12, 2008
Posted by Emir in Current Events, World Affairs.Tags: beijing, china, human rights, olympics, pollution
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Time for a reality check. Now that we have awed at a historic opening ceremony, we need to examine some of China’s failures in hosting the 2008 Olympic Games.
Seven years ago, Beijing was awarded the opportunity of hosting the 2008 games. At the time, Beijing promised that the media would have complete freedom in their reporting, that they would improve their abysmal human rights track record and they would significantly reduce Beijing’s pollution. I’m afraid these promises have not been fulfilled.
When international media arrived in Beijing for the games, several internet sites were blocked including those that may provide information on protests. Now while China may not be telling the reporters what stories they can and cannot cover, it does not take a genius to deduce that media personnel require access to sources of information in order to accurately report their findings. Let this count as strike number one.
Secondly, can anyone show me exactly how China has improved on its human rights? There are reports of China using surveillance against activists and their families, blocking access to the capital city to others and sentencing people to prison and/or labour as punishment for speaking out. It has gotten so bad that Amnesty International has gone so far as to publish a document on China’s broken Olympic promises! (link) That’s two strikes, China.
Finally, the smog! Now granted, a lot has been done. Factories have been reportedly moved out of Beijing, traffic conjestion has been limited and rerouted…but the air was still awful! Beijing’s smog is so bad that I have read various news sites reporting the sun can be looked at directly and visibility was only as far as one kilometer off. From the photos I have seen; I believe it. If this is how bad it is now after the improvements, then think of how it was before! Sorry China but even if this is an improvement, that’s the third strike. As the Americans would say in baseball – you’re out!
Not to mention that it has now surfaced that the little girl who ’sang’ during the opening ceremony was miming to the voice of another little girl who was deemed to be not cute enough for the ceremony! (link) How horrible!
Now don’t get me wrong. I am facinated by China’s development and their return to the world stage of superpowers. I am also extremely happy that this has happened because ever since the fall of the USSR, the United States has been the world’s sole superpower. Nothing against the USA, but the world needs either no superpower, or more than one. One by itself is a recipe for that power to get away with anything it pleases.
I welcome China back to the world stage and I congratulate them on a historical Olympic Games. I just think they have a very long way to go before they can call themselves first world. They may have a gargantuan economy, they may have an impressive armed force and they may be one of only three nations with independent access to outer space. However, as long as personal freedoms and a high standard of living are repressed, China is little more than a third world nation with a fat bank account.
