Photo courtesy: Jordanians united against bad internet services

I would like to start by expressing how it truly does not surprise me that many people complain about Orange’s services… but seriously, you would not know how bad the service is, until you have been subjected to their customer services yourself.

When the government gave Orange the license in 1999 or 2000, the aim was to build a new, highly advanced network to serve Jordan. Jordanians were skeptic, we still did not know what that really meant, but now a decade later, we know better, and we wonder… what is the value of advanced if it can’t sustain a decent basic level?

My internet was mediocre last week. However, this was not my problem. My problem was that some setup changed on my computer, and i could not connect to the Internet.  I called to seek the advice of the experts…

Ohh how I wish I did not call!

I called at 7:45 AM.  A technician answered the phone, he asked me to call back in fifteen minutes because they needed to restart some server in order to sort out my problem. He promised that he will help me then.  I called as requested and asked about him. I was told that his shift ended and he left home!  I think he was just not in the mood to bother with customers’ problems. 

 The person who answered the phone next, had no clue what I was talking about… she asked a few questions, and finally said that she did not know and will record the complaint, and that they will get back to me within 72 hours. 

I did not trust her and therefore called again hoping for a different operator. The third one was even worse; she asked a few questions and said that they have a service where they send someone for ten JDs… I was not impressed.  Looks like orange has figured out a way to make money in solving problems that result from their incompetence.

I called a fourth time, this one was a bit better, she asked a few questions,  walked me through the process, but then she got nervous and told me her supervisor was making gestures because she took too long and apologized mid way…

So the result was that I started with a computer problem and a mediocre Internet service, but ended up with  the computer problem, but no internet at all.  

I got my internet back a couple of days later, and managed to solve my problem alone, without the expertise of Orange. 

Now, apparently many people have been facing problems with Orange. I  wonder why does  the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission refrain from bearing the responsibility of holding Orange accountable for the bad service they provide in Jordan?  This is the least they can do towards the tax payers, who pay their taxes when they can barely make it to the end of the month,  so that entities like TRC do what they are supposed to do.