Kabelvision's monopoly

Considering the hefty fees Kabelvision asks monthly one would expect decent service, but if one lives in Tebet, special considerations apply, after all.

Tebet is not Pluit or Kelapa Gading from where no complaints have been heard so far, and I have lots of friends living there. These areas are (were) served by the latest equipment, whereas Tebet (Menteng Pulo Substation or whatever) had the cast-offs installed. I know this from the mouths of their own technicians.

Only after massive pressure was Kabelvision finally able (or willing) to rectify the formally non-existing service provided to the internet cable-clients.

For two months I have also received the program magazine on time, a great improvement after two years of late or non- delivery. That the editorial value is still somewhere in the range of 20 percent compared to what should be provided and that the program-information definitely contains heaps of mistakes are not so important. After all one is expected to be grateful for any sign of improvement.

Technical problems can and do occur and nobody will complain if these are rectified within a reasonable time frame. Question: What is reasonable? I hold an MSc in applied engineering and I phoned two friends in Europe who are both Chief-Engineers for Broadband Providers who confirmed that the technical problem under discussion would not take more than two hours at the maximum to straighten out, and if for any reason that could not be done, a Broadband Provider has (or should have) technical provisions to bypass the problem in order to maintain Broadband Delivery to the subscribers.

As a matter of fact these two engineers confirmed that the bypass is installed automatically in the first place; always, because for these companies the service in the paying clients comes first. After all they are not monopolies like Kabelvision.

It is high time Kabelvision received a competitor.

HARM G. FREY, Jakarta