A Quantum Diaries Survivor

Telecom Italia, our pride and joy September 26, 2006

Telecom is the italian leader in telecommunications. It was a public company once – it was called SIP back then - but as the era of cellphones closed by and internet became important, privatizations ensued, and the new communications giant was born. Of course, the newborn baby was given privileges in the usage of all the infrastructures and services, to start consolidating its dominant position in the italian market.

Sure, rules against monopoly dictated that other phone companies had to be given access to the lines – but some relics of those privileges are still felt now that the newborn is an adult.

It is with frustration that I hear about the recent news about the way the company is handled by its leaders. A recent conflict between the italian government and Telecom’s CEO Tronchetti Provera has been making the headlines lately. Basically, it is the same story we have learned to deal: that of the scandalous profits that large companies have been making for decades in Italy, by accumulating private wealth in good days and threatening collapse in bad days – thus getting cash shots from the government.

However, the largest doses of frustration are caused by the smallest mishaps.

My wireless connection costs me a respectable amount of cash each month, but I need it and I am (would be) glad to pay for a good, flat-rate service. Telecom has the best infrastructures and can offer a fast connection at a reasonable price, but if anything goes wrong and you are forced to use its call-center, you are greeted in a nightmare.

During the last four weeks, my internet connection has broken every Friday evening or Saturday morning, only to repair itself magically on the following Monday. Every time it did I called the call center, spending hours listening to improbable melodies on the phone in the attempt of speaking with exploited, low-pay employees who could then only claim they would notify my problem to their technical staff. Which would then call me back, allegedly.

Of course, no call backs. Not the first time, not the second, not the third time. Telecom does not have a number you can call for complaints. You are on your own.

But I have a friend who works in there, and when I get desperate I let him know. So he arranged a call from the technical staff, which arrived in a few days. I was not home, and my wife took the call. Apparently, the tech explained to my wife that a virus had infected her computer, and that was the cause of the troubled service. He also offered to make some tests of the line which needed some assistance on our end, but Mariarosa wisely told the technician he should do that with me, and would he please call back at 8AM the next day ? He agreed to do so.

8AM has come and passed, and of course the tech must be horribly busy with other urgent matters. Very disappointing. But what I feel is too much to digest is the voluntary attempt to fool people, in a clumsy attempt at hiding the company’s responsibility. Mariarosa’s computer does have occasional virus problems, which I solve as soon as she tells me. But mine is periodically scanned by the support center of the Physics department in Padova, and is totally virus-free. A wireless connection that stops working on week-ends because of a virus in a machine ? Give me a break. The wireless works perfectly, it is the connection to their damn server that gets broken periodically.

I will give them a few more days, mainly to allow myself the privilege to speak with the genial technician. If they do not solve my problem quickly I will leave Telecom for good – and too bad if it will cost me more money for a similarly crappy service.