My nephew suggested I should start using wordpress, and I thought it shouldn't hurt to give it a go. So far I'm kinda overwhelmed by the amount of options and tweaks there are, but for now its blogger dot com for me.
Anyway, I would like to touch on a subject of the utmost importance to all of us.
Telecommunication, damned thieves. Well I guess I just summed it up for you and I can stop my rant, but I wont. I will only try to discuss Bahrain's telecoms business because frankly I feel jealous when looking at other countries telecoms offers and secondly I don't really know whats the deal outside, well apart from UAE who have the worst cellular coverage this side of the century. Seriously though, give it a thought, how come not ONE telecoms company in the world suffered when the economic crisis hit? hmmm I wonder why!
At first there was nothing, then God created earth, the trees, the animals, sent Adam & Eve down, and gave them Batelco! That was maybe the believe of so many of us, there was always Batelco. A company with a monopoly so big, that they didn't even need to advertise much, after all where else are you going to get your telecoms itch scratched? Even their employees were so arrogant, that they would treat you like you are asking them for a favor or some charity. A clear case of how arrogance can be so contagious, maybe a good example for a psychology researcher. I still remember that, in a very twisted way, I always enjoyed my trips to Batelco outlets (to pay my bills obviously). Standing in those long lines I would observe the looks on those so called "customers", they looked more like a pressed crew on a pirate ship more than willing happy customers. You can clearly see tension on everyone's face, because simply put, everyone's got an issue with Batelco. You see an old man pleading with a customer service employee, a woman raising her voice in protest over the astronomical figure of her bill, a young guy biting his nails thinking how to structure his payments, and the defeated person who walks out with his head bowed realizing that he just got squeezed out of every penny he got to satiate this horrible monster, and finally the arguing guy who just found out that you cannot win in any way shape or form. I even remember back then at the time of the monopoly a person would try so hard to be close to a Batelco employee, like they were celebrities, and they were. I believe that this company got so rich that they started buying and investing into other telecoms companies in the region, and all thanks to the helpless population. Its not just personal and commercial use I'm talking about, Batelco have entrenched themselves so much that even the newly introduced telecoms companies have to go through it one way or another. Highway robbery I say.
Then came MTC Vodafone (later Zain) like a breath of fresh air, or so everyone thought. To be honest, I know some individuals who have told me blatantly that they would rather be robbed by the new service provider rather than be treated fairly by Batelco! People registered to MTC by the truck load, and the funny thing was when they would intentionally go to a Batelco outlet just to smile and inform them that they will not be continuing with Batelco anymore. It was a blessing that came down from heaven with angels and trumpets, but like all things in life the honeymoon has to end at some time. MTC Vodafone became Zain, as if to tell you people that you will cough up your money but in style. Even after the introduction of Viva as the third mobile provider, Zain still has the worst services in Bahrain. Zain just rolled over and let everyone step over its dying corpse, you can even feel it on the faces of their employees, who at one point were considered to be the happiest in Bahrain. Along comes Viva, the Saudi behemoth, with its untold riches and its single minded policy of "if there is a problem, throw enough money at it until it disappears". Now you may think that we as Bahrainis do not have a problem nowadays, on the contrary, a look at Saudi Arabia's telecoms services will put shame to ours. People keep telling me that the newly created TRA (telecommunication regulatory authority) is the one that is holding down the telecoms companies from offering better, cheaper services to the public. I wouldn't blindly believe this statement, but I will take it with a pinch of salt. The way I see it, its just in your head, changing service providers has little or no effect really. Sadly we are still left helpless, with no say as to how we want our services, and at the mercy of vultures.
I have to leave you now to go pay my land line bills to Batelco, my mobile and internet service to Viva, and finally my blackberry mobile to Zain. Adios!
Anyway, I would like to touch on a subject of the utmost importance to all of us.
Telecommunication, damned thieves. Well I guess I just summed it up for you and I can stop my rant, but I wont. I will only try to discuss Bahrain's telecoms business because frankly I feel jealous when looking at other countries telecoms offers and secondly I don't really know whats the deal outside, well apart from UAE who have the worst cellular coverage this side of the century. Seriously though, give it a thought, how come not ONE telecoms company in the world suffered when the economic crisis hit? hmmm I wonder why!
At first there was nothing, then God created earth, the trees, the animals, sent Adam & Eve down, and gave them Batelco! That was maybe the believe of so many of us, there was always Batelco. A company with a monopoly so big, that they didn't even need to advertise much, after all where else are you going to get your telecoms itch scratched? Even their employees were so arrogant, that they would treat you like you are asking them for a favor or some charity. A clear case of how arrogance can be so contagious, maybe a good example for a psychology researcher. I still remember that, in a very twisted way, I always enjoyed my trips to Batelco outlets (to pay my bills obviously). Standing in those long lines I would observe the looks on those so called "customers", they looked more like a pressed crew on a pirate ship more than willing happy customers. You can clearly see tension on everyone's face, because simply put, everyone's got an issue with Batelco. You see an old man pleading with a customer service employee, a woman raising her voice in protest over the astronomical figure of her bill, a young guy biting his nails thinking how to structure his payments, and the defeated person who walks out with his head bowed realizing that he just got squeezed out of every penny he got to satiate this horrible monster, and finally the arguing guy who just found out that you cannot win in any way shape or form. I even remember back then at the time of the monopoly a person would try so hard to be close to a Batelco employee, like they were celebrities, and they were. I believe that this company got so rich that they started buying and investing into other telecoms companies in the region, and all thanks to the helpless population. Its not just personal and commercial use I'm talking about, Batelco have entrenched themselves so much that even the newly introduced telecoms companies have to go through it one way or another. Highway robbery I say.
Then came MTC Vodafone (later Zain) like a breath of fresh air, or so everyone thought. To be honest, I know some individuals who have told me blatantly that they would rather be robbed by the new service provider rather than be treated fairly by Batelco! People registered to MTC by the truck load, and the funny thing was when they would intentionally go to a Batelco outlet just to smile and inform them that they will not be continuing with Batelco anymore. It was a blessing that came down from heaven with angels and trumpets, but like all things in life the honeymoon has to end at some time. MTC Vodafone became Zain, as if to tell you people that you will cough up your money but in style. Even after the introduction of Viva as the third mobile provider, Zain still has the worst services in Bahrain. Zain just rolled over and let everyone step over its dying corpse, you can even feel it on the faces of their employees, who at one point were considered to be the happiest in Bahrain. Along comes Viva, the Saudi behemoth, with its untold riches and its single minded policy of "if there is a problem, throw enough money at it until it disappears". Now you may think that we as Bahrainis do not have a problem nowadays, on the contrary, a look at Saudi Arabia's telecoms services will put shame to ours. People keep telling me that the newly created TRA (telecommunication regulatory authority) is the one that is holding down the telecoms companies from offering better, cheaper services to the public. I wouldn't blindly believe this statement, but I will take it with a pinch of salt. The way I see it, its just in your head, changing service providers has little or no effect really. Sadly we are still left helpless, with no say as to how we want our services, and at the mercy of vultures.
I have to leave you now to go pay my land line bills to Batelco, my mobile and internet service to Viva, and finally my blackberry mobile to Zain. Adios!
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