THE EDITOR, Sir:
PLEASE ALLOW me space in your paper to vent my frustration. It is time that the relevant government bodies step in and stop Cable & Wireless Jamaica for the very unfair treatment being meted out to its cellular customers. We are consistently being exposed to poor cellular service or 'no service' at all.
Cable & Wireless Jamaica charges $780 per month for access fee and we the customer can only access the use of the cellular network only at their convenience. The following are some of the problems being experienced by myself and persons with whom I have had conversations:
The cellular phone reads 'out of service' on a regular basis and this may go on for days. As a result you cannot make or receive calls.
When you try to call another cellular number, you get a recording that says "you are to check that you are dialling the correct number", however, when you call that same number from a land-based telephone, it rings.
You may dial a specific cellular and get someone else answering, telling you that you have reached the wrong number.
After re-dialing the same number then you get the person you are calling.
For the majority of the time while on the road, if you need to make an emergency call you cannot get through, neither can you receive calls.
It is difficult to use your cellular after 5:00pm and this happens to me every evening.
When someone leaves a message on your cellular, you cannot access that message until hours later.
It is all nice that the charming Mr. Steve Tomey, vice president at Cable & Wireless Jamaica, can come on the radio and tell us of their plans to improve the service. In their haste to flood the market with cellular phones, it should have been their top priority to upgrade their cellular network before the problems reach this alarming state. This does not justify having the customers paying this ridiculous access fee for a service that does not exist or exist on a 'who dials first basis'. Now there is a new cellular package being offered called the 'Readi-Cellie' which will only compound the problems we are experiencing.
They should not be allowed to introduce new features until their network has the capacity to carry the load. This is an unfair practice by Cable & Wireless Jamaica and the relevant authorities need to step in now and stop it.
I am, etc.,
PATRICK TAYLOR
E-mail;
ptaylor108@hotmail.com
