Endless woes with GTT’s DSL

Dear Editor,

To the best of my knowledge, of the large service providers in Guyana, GTT must be one of the most disrespectful to consumers. Last year, I accidentally discovered that I had been paying for a Gold DSL plan for almost two years when in fact that plan was not available in my area. After I complained to GTT, my plan was downgraded to the Silver Plan, and I was rebated. Mind you, I was on a Bronze Plan when I signed up for the DSL service several years ago; however, because the quality of the internet GTT provided deteriorated so much over the years, I opted to upgrade to the perceived Gold Plan, which turned out to be the Silver Plan, and which was no better and even worse than the Bronze Plan.

Early last year, the quality of the internet provided on the Silver Plan became almost unusable. My complaints (Ref #:247411; 2200566; 2246199) have been in the system since mid-last year, and I had visits from several technicians who all came to the same conclusion that the cables serving my area (Brighton Village) were responsible for my internet woes. Persistent calls to GTT throughout this period were met with the response that it is a cable issue, and they do not know when it will be fixed. Last November, the Fault Reporting Division informed me that they were working on the cables and that they would be in my area sometime in December.

When December passed, and I was not relieved of my internet woes, I called the Fault Reporting Division and found out that my case was closed without verifying that my service had improved. The technicians claimed that they had visited my premises on three occasions and had no access.  I found this very strange because I work predominantly from home, and I always return missed mobile calls. My case was reopened this year with yet another visit from another technician who again reported that the cables were the problem. In fact, cable work had been done in the area, but it was not for the DSL service for which consumers are paying. It was for Blaze, a service promised to consumers and widely advertised via email to consumers in the Corentyne area.

Being desperate and disgusted with the quality of the DSL service, I applied for Blaze late in December and received new account and telephone numbers for this service on December 30. I was also informed that my service would be provided within 15 working days. On January 7, GTT called to inform me that the Blaze service was not available in my area, and again stated that they are unaware of when the cables for DSL would be fixed in my area.

Based on my experience with GTT, I cannot help thinking that perhaps GTT’s intent is to gain more subscribers for its mobile data plans which have become the mainstay of my professional life (even though I subscribe to DSL) and to gain as many subscribers as possible for its Blaze service which has not as yet been rolled out in the Corentyne area. I hope that with the competition ahead, GTT put its ingenuity to more respectful use!

Yours sincerely,

Pamela Rose