UTS attacks, pastechi and technological limitations on Curacao
Because of the serious amount of questions in the Meet Curacao Mailbag, we had to split up today’s piece. So twice the amount of David we usually get!
Tech apartheid
Hi David
I would like to know your stance on the liberation of the telecommunications market in curacao and how it has affected the public socially and economically.
As you may know the telecommunications market in Aruba is still held pretty tight and I wanted your opinion on how this may be affecting the island, its development and people
and what positive effects would come from the opening of the market.
Kind Regards,
Howard (resident of Aruba)
Well, our telecommunications market may be “liberated”, but I’m pretty sure that just about everyone on the island is pretty fed up with the way things are going, especially with regard to internet speeds and prices. You don’t hear many complaints about the telephony and cellular options as these are pretty decent on the island. Pre-paid customers are happy, post-paid customers are happy, Blackberry customers are happy most of the time and I really don’t hear people complaining about these services.
If we’re talking internet however, that’s a different case. Let me just put it like this. Right now, our best option is a company that offers a 2Mbit connection for 149,- guilders, a 4Mbit connection for 249,- guilders and an 8Mbit connection for 399,- guilders. Combine these prices with the fact that the connection is as stable as Amy Whinehouse and you get something that I’d like to call “highway robbery”.
But getting back to your question. Liberalization of the telecommunications market has tons of advantages. A liberated market means more options, which means more competition, which means better service, lower prices and better offers. And with the way broadband internet is booming in Europe, Asia and the U.S., we just can’t afford to be held back by government owned companies or companies that operate within monopolies.
Everyone should be able to turn on their computer and enjoy high speed internet, 24 hours a day and at a reasonable price. When this is not the case, the public gets held back. Maurice Adriaens, our minister of telecommunications, said this exact thing last month. When telecom companies do not offer people good service and reasonable prices, they set them back and put them at a disadvantage in comparison to countries that do offer these things.
In my opinion, that’s the danger of a telecom market that is not liberalized. The people (customers) are just at a big disadvantage and it’s very frustrating. Seriously, there’s nothing more frustrating than struggling with a 2Mbit connection, getting horrible customer service and then having to pay 149,- guilders at the end of the month, just because you are the mercy of the provider.
/end rant
UTS attacks
The people at UTS must hate you, don’t you think?
Alexander
Yes. I am convinced that they have a big picture of me in their headquarters and that Paul de Geus throws darts at it, all day long. I like to imagine that they have special meetings, where they discuss how much they hate me and where they sing songs in which they insult my mother.
That’s why I’m always very careful if I have to enter their customer centers. I’m constantly looking around me, using my awesome ninja senses to pick up what is going on. THE SNEAK ATTACK COULD COME FROM ANYWERE!
This last question wasn’t really a mailbag question as it was left in the comments, but we decided to make it one.
The pastechi recipe
Hallo,
Ik vind dit een superleuke site om op de hoogte te blijven van wat er gebeurd op Curacao.
Sinds jullie het recept voor Pika hebben gepubliceerd is er geen dag voorbij gegaan dat er geen verse Pika bij ons op tafel stond..mijn man is nl antilliaan en we wonen momenteel in Egypte..maar op deze manier kan ik nu zelf zijn geliefde eilandpika maken!!
Graag meer van dit soort authentieke receptjes.. ik maak zelf ook pastechi, maar kunnen jullie misschien aan een authentiek recept geraken?? Zou mn man hopi blij maken!!
Alvast bedankt en keep up the good work!
Ayo!
Kuikentje
Dave: Hmmm… someone wants to know how to make an authentic, Curacao-style pastechi. Let me just whip out my extremely awesome pastechi recipe and revolutionize the art of cooking.
Wife: You can’t even make Tang without messing it up.
Dave: Do you have a better pastechi recipe to offer the readers??
Wife: Well yes. I do have one actually and I am going to share it with everyone.
Dave: But this is my mailbag! You can’t steal my readers!! I AM NOTHING WITHOUT THEM!!!
Dave: * bites off own fingers *
Dave: * passes out *
Wife: * starts typing pastechi recipe *
Yes folks, my wife has an authentic pastechi recipe that she’s going to share here on Meet Curacao. It’s a bit long to add it in the mailbag right now, but we’ll run it as a separate feature next week. Stay tuned….and keep those mailbag questions coming to david@curacaoconnected.com so that we can make this a recurring feature!
Ook leuk om te lezen:
Dave the mailbag has turned out to be perfect input for your column, especially the UTS attacks part is brilliant! I think I saw your picture in the hand of their guard the last time I was at UTS.
By the way, since they upgraded my internet connection to 4 mbps for the same 150 guilders I am pretty happy. It seems to work a lot better, more stable and the speed is oke. My Digicel Blackberry works great with a good connection so I guess I am pretty happy with Curacao’s technology at the moment (who would have thought I’d say that some day!).
And please…. skip the pastechi’s and keep writing about technology
I use my iPhone with a pre-paid Chippie chip… I’m happy there.
I have a Blackberry with a package from Digicel…. very happy there.
The wife has a Blackberry with the biggest package from UTS…she’s happy there.
Then there’s the 2Mbit connection and 3G from UTS….not happy at all.
I think I should just give the 3G back, upgrade to 4Mbit, keep paying the 149,- (they are still dangling this offer in front of me) and maybe then I’ll be more satisfied with the broadband side of things.
So you’re one happy family as long as you’re not at home
3G is pretty useless when you have a blackberry ánd iPhone, so get rid of it asap and enjoy a more stable broadband connection at home (and make your friends at UTS happy!).
I signed up for the 3G when UTS debuted it at EFEX 2008. I thought it was a good idea at the time because I working as the IT-guy at a company and I was on the road a lot, doing installations and giving support. A true, mobile connection had a lot advantages for me.
And in the beginning it was ok. Not a lot of people had this connection, so I was getting great speeds when making my installation/support visits. Then it all started going downhill…
The modem started bluescreening my laptop. UTS could never figure out the problem. Speeds started to drop..the connection started to drop… But I moved on from that IT job and started making a living as a writer so I really don’t need it anymore. At home I have the ADSL, Wi-Fi on the iPhone and the Digicel Blackberry package, which are all sufficient.
But my 3G contract is about to expire and I won’t be extending it. There’s absolutely no reason to do so.
I am also pretty happy with the upgrade to 4. Although my bill went up with 5 guilders. But I will see next month if it was just a one time mistake. The amount is tool low so not worth the trouble (yet)
@ Theo YOU? Happy with Curacao technology? This is an historical moment
Let’s hope I’m not going to be punished because if this. Probably the internet will not work for a week now I said this
Btw my bill didn’t go up, maybe they know Dave is writing for your blog?
I have been having a lot of trouble lately with my 4MB internet connection. When I first upgraded about a month ago I was very happy with the increase in speed. But lately, the connection has been so slow.. I feel like i should have just stayed with the 2MB. I feel that they have tried to nip any potential competition in the bud by offering a 4MB connection but have not actually done any technical upgrade to boost their system to handle the 4MB customers. I have heard others that are having the same problem, even with their 3G stick. I am so pissed off I don’t know what to do. I have to wait like 2 hours to buffer a 30 minute video. Isn’t that ridiculous?!!
I’m also fedup with this UTS BullSHHH. I went to a service center, waited almost 3 hours for my turn, asking them for a upgrade from 2 to 4mbit. Before you know it, that “awesome” 2 years contract is infront of you and waiting to be signed! After that they told me, they will call me that afternoon to confirm if it’s possible to upgrade to 4mbit. Almost 3 weeks passed by, i get a misirable phone call from UTS giving me the great news that it was not possible to upgrade from 2 to 4mbit due to phoneline problems they have. Isn’t that wonderful? Bringing some kickass deals which they can’t manage to keep up! btw if your 3G contract is about to expire, make sure you go personally to a UTS center and cancel it! If you don’t do it, they will automatically renew your contract!
Gr,
Lisandro