How To Get DSL in Prague
Step 1. Order the service via the Internet. Simple.
Step 2. Receive confirmation email from DSL provider. You may wait up to four days for email. Be sure to have a translator nearby; the email will be entirely in Czech. Straightforward.
Step 3. After another week has gone by and no news has arrived via email, snail mail, or telephone, call DSL provider to get a status check on the order. Provider verifies the order was completed correctly and that no technical difficulties were experienced. Provider informs you that since the order specified the provider was not needed to install the modem and software, the modem will be sent via snail mail, and will arrive the following week. Excellent.
Step 4. At the end of the following week, when no modem has arrived in the mail, check in with the DSL provider. Provider re-assures that the order was processed successfully, and the modem will arrive the following week. No worries.
Step 5. After a week and a half of no DSL modem arriving in the mail, call again. The provider now informs you that the order did meet with technical difficulties, but they will be resolved on the upcoming Sunday, and the modem will arrive in the mail on Monday or Tuesday. Oooookayyyy...
Step 6. On Wednesday, when no modem has arrived, call again. The provider now informs you that you should not be expecting a DSL modem in the mail, since you specified that you wanted the company to install the modem and any necessary software themselves. They will also inform you that the reason an appointment with a technician hasn't happened - or even been scheduled - yet is because they were unable to get in touch with you to schedule a time. They will continue to say that they tried to schedule a time with you in the only way they knew how - the existing land line in your flat - but all calls were unanswered.
So, correct the (suddenly changed) item on your order which says you do want company installation, and also, it's probably a good idea to give the company your mobile phone number at this point, so that any future twilight-zone conversations can take place at their leisure.
Upon correcting these items, the provider then informs you that the service will be wired on Friday, give or take a day (but Thursday is a national holiday, so everything's closed, and Saturday is the weekend, so everything is closed, so don't figure the +/-1 day thing to be +5 days), so you can plug in a modem bought at a local computer store and it will work fine, once the external wiring has been completed. ...Riiiiight...
Step 7. On Thursday, receive an email (again, only in Czech. You still have your personal translator handy, right?) stating that a technician will come to your place of residence between 7:00 and 8:00 AM on Friday to install the service. But, you have to give them some leeway (for who knows what), until 9:30. Remain baffled as to why the provider suddenly contacted you via email, after insisting that the only way they knew how to get in touch with you was via the land phone line. Also, don't spend too much time thinking about how your order - which never originally contained a request for installation by the provider - suddenly has the provider providing installation at 7AM.
Step 8. Friday morning, fool yourself that the company will be on time, regardless of the stellar time-telling and schedule-keeping traits they've displayed thusfar. Drag yourself out of bed (you didn't drink the night before, did you? it was only a national holiday and you had already started your 4-day weekend. no reason to drink and be merry, right?) and curse them when they haven't arrived by 10:30. Pick up the phone to call, and get no dialtone.
Waaaaaiiiit a second here - no dialtone?! We had a dialtone last night... <GASP!> THEY MUST BE WORKING ON THE LINE!!! Well, it's either that, or they've cut off your landline now...
An hour later, successfully plug in your DSL modem and surf away. (Well, not without the hassle that is configuring the modem and internal network, but details, details).
So there you have it. These 8 simple steps will have your DSL up and running in no time (well, more like a month).
Piece of cake, no?
Step 2. Receive confirmation email from DSL provider. You may wait up to four days for email. Be sure to have a translator nearby; the email will be entirely in Czech. Straightforward.
Step 3. After another week has gone by and no news has arrived via email, snail mail, or telephone, call DSL provider to get a status check on the order. Provider verifies the order was completed correctly and that no technical difficulties were experienced. Provider informs you that since the order specified the provider was not needed to install the modem and software, the modem will be sent via snail mail, and will arrive the following week. Excellent.
Step 4. At the end of the following week, when no modem has arrived in the mail, check in with the DSL provider. Provider re-assures that the order was processed successfully, and the modem will arrive the following week. No worries.
Step 5. After a week and a half of no DSL modem arriving in the mail, call again. The provider now informs you that the order did meet with technical difficulties, but they will be resolved on the upcoming Sunday, and the modem will arrive in the mail on Monday or Tuesday. Oooookayyyy...
Step 6. On Wednesday, when no modem has arrived, call again. The provider now informs you that you should not be expecting a DSL modem in the mail, since you specified that you wanted the company to install the modem and any necessary software themselves. They will also inform you that the reason an appointment with a technician hasn't happened - or even been scheduled - yet is because they were unable to get in touch with you to schedule a time. They will continue to say that they tried to schedule a time with you in the only way they knew how - the existing land line in your flat - but all calls were unanswered.
So, correct the (suddenly changed) item on your order which says you do want company installation, and also, it's probably a good idea to give the company your mobile phone number at this point, so that any future twilight-zone conversations can take place at their leisure.
Upon correcting these items, the provider then informs you that the service will be wired on Friday, give or take a day (but Thursday is a national holiday, so everything's closed, and Saturday is the weekend, so everything is closed, so don't figure the +/-1 day thing to be +5 days), so you can plug in a modem bought at a local computer store and it will work fine, once the external wiring has been completed. ...Riiiiight...
Step 7. On Thursday, receive an email (again, only in Czech. You still have your personal translator handy, right?) stating that a technician will come to your place of residence between 7:00 and 8:00 AM on Friday to install the service. But, you have to give them some leeway (for who knows what), until 9:30. Remain baffled as to why the provider suddenly contacted you via email, after insisting that the only way they knew how to get in touch with you was via the land phone line. Also, don't spend too much time thinking about how your order - which never originally contained a request for installation by the provider - suddenly has the provider providing installation at 7AM.
Step 8. Friday morning, fool yourself that the company will be on time, regardless of the stellar time-telling and schedule-keeping traits they've displayed thusfar. Drag yourself out of bed (you didn't drink the night before, did you? it was only a national holiday and you had already started your 4-day weekend. no reason to drink and be merry, right?) and curse them when they haven't arrived by 10:30. Pick up the phone to call, and get no dialtone.
Waaaaaiiiit a second here - no dialtone?! We had a dialtone last night... <GASP!> THEY MUST BE WORKING ON THE LINE!!! Well, it's either that, or they've cut off your landline now...
An hour later, successfully plug in your DSL modem and surf away. (Well, not without the hassle that is configuring the modem and internal network, but details, details).
So there you have it. These 8 simple steps will have your DSL up and running in no time (well, more like a month).
Piece of cake, no?
posted by David at 12:57 PM
1 Comments:
I have to tell you that except for the escalators at the metro, there are few things here which happen quickly. It's unlikely that DSL installation will be much quicker with any other provider. I'm not a slanderer, so I won't explicitly say which company it was, but suffice it to say they're the Bell Atlantic of Prague. Once you're here, you'll know who they are.
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