Grass is not always greener

December 11, 2009

Dear Sir,

To the disgruntled CableVision customer: The grass is not always greener on the other side. You have poor visual quality and good sound. WOW has great visual quality but poor sound. Can we get a "hybrid" of the two companies?

E. JONES

St. George's

An Island in distress

December 10, 2009

Dear Sir,

The gun violence that has escalated in the past 14 months and the murder of Kumi Harford has again put Bermuda in the limelight. Once regarded as a beacon in the Atlantic Ocean, Bermuda has now become an island in distress. Crime has become prevalent and the failure to solve it has become the norm. No longer is the motto "Bermuda is another world" applicable to our once tranquil island but rather "Bermuda has become like the rest of the world" seems more fitting.

As the values, morals and principles of our Island became eroded, our children inherited the remnants of a society whose elected leaders permitted immodest dress, lack of moral turpitude, and negative western influences to dictate how our children were raised; whose church and community leaders became obsessed with personal gratification while losing sight of our children's spiritual maturation; and whose parents no longer live by the adage, "Do As I Say and Do" thus parental insolvency has taken the place of parental involvement.

The change that has saturated our island is not the "Change" the Progressive Labour Party mandated in their 1998 platform nor is it the change that our forefathers shed sweat, toil and tears for. Yes, change is inevitable, however this change has had a negative and profound impact that has seduced our children, destroyed their minds, hardened their hearts, influenced their actions, shaped their future, and changed the course of a once youthful and vibrant generation.

As Bermudians we must demand a call to action hold our Government accountable and insist that they put aside their political affiliation and agenda and lead a new era of accountability, that law enforcement conduct concentrated, investigative policing that results in arrests, that the judiciary uphold the law and bring the perpetrators to justice, and that family and friends break the code of silence. We must take a three-pronged approach that includes community-based violence prevention, public education to reduce crime, and high visibility enforcement to enhance deterrence.

Having said the above, regardless how many letters we put forth and the poems that circulate, we the community together need to help attack this problem. I don't just want to hold others accountable. I want to be held accountable. That's why I also unite in an island-wide effort to "Take our communities back take Bermuda back."

We can no longer bury our heads in the sand and pretend that all is well. Something is wrong. So wrong.

NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO TAKE

ANOTHER MAN'S LIFE

City of Hamilton

Modern day version of hell

December 10, 2009

Dear Sir,

I write to you both as a last resort and in the knowledge that, occasionally, public complaint can move mountains. Bermuda is bedevilled by service organisations that are a disgrace. The worst, as we all know, is the truly pathetic and grossly unfit for purpose Post Office, whose incompetence is the stuff of legend but that's a well-worn track.

There's hot competition for second place, though, and it's in the private sector ... the Bank of Bermuda's determination to provide insufficient tellers to deal with demand, exacerbated by apparently reducing their number by one for every two new customers who join the line; Bermuda Broadcasting Corporation's inability to provide a television picture that can be seen or an audio feed that can be heard (on ZBM) or technicians who can produce a merchantable product; the cell phone companies' pricing; and the taxi industry's complete incompetence; all are contenders, among a shameful host of others.

For elevation to that host I now nominate Bermuda Cablevision Ltd. I know, I know, it's a sitting duck with its disappearing channels, incorrect TV Guide (content misrepresentation), breaking up pictures, duplicate channels, exorbitant charges and so on; but it's the broadband service that I want to highlight today. I live on the Paget-Warwick border; I buy Cablevision's top-of the-line product to deliver my Internet connection, for which I pay a substantial sum each month. Having worked in IT for a time I understand that broadband is a pipeline, and that the more people use it, the poorer the individual service is to each, although the price is not reduced: in other words, the more widespread and egalitarian the rip-off. This condition manifests itself usually as slow response times to Internet polling. I might not like that but I can live with it unless the delays become outrageous or disruptive.

No, my problem is that, for the last three months or so, my Internet connection has dropped me out several times a day, and I have to reset and reconnect my modem and log back on. This becomes infuriating very quickly, as you can imagine, but no real problem, eh, call the company and they'll help you troubleshoot and fix the problem. Yeah, right! Have you ever tried to call Cablevision? It's always been difficult but in recent times it's become a modern day version of hell.

First you're welcomed (currently) by a message that the staff are going to have a holiday soon, and, being of a genial nature, you're pleased for them. Then you get a menu requiring you to pick your preferred service department; then a message saying that all providers are busy, leave a message; then a message saying that the mailbox is full so you can't leave a message (translation go jump in the harbour); then a message informing that the staff are going to have a holiday soon; and back again through the loop, endlessly.

Very soon you're becoming inventive as to where the staff can stick their Christmas Cheer. There's no way of breaking the cycle to talk to a person. You're trapped, doomed. The strong-willed can force themselves to hang up the phone and race to the bar or medicine cabinet for the tranquilliser of their choice, but who knows how many decayed corpses are yet to be found, slumped, receiver clamped in skeletal claw, being eternally informed that the Cablevision staff are going to have a holiday soon.

So that is why you're my last resort, Mr. Editor, as the most respected and accomplished communicator in Bermuda. Today the Internet won't talk to me. Apparently I'm branded as not authentic (whatever that means) on those occasions when a server at the other end deigns to respond.

It's teased me by letting me pop in to get e-mail on a couple of occasions, but I've only been in its good graces for a few seconds before it shuns me again. Cablevision doesn't answer the phone; I can't send them a letter because I need to do things before February, or March if Cablevision were to respond by mail (see second paragraph). Can you help me? Do you have a telegraph system you could use to get a message through to them? Carrier pigeon? Smoke signals? Drums? Maybe you could send a runner? Do you have a siren you could sound, as in the old days, to get their attention?

As a measure of how we're being financially and digitally maltreated (not just by Cablevision it is fair to add), I happen to visit another country for a period each year, and stay in a place a thousand times more remote than western Paget.

Internet service is delivered at several times the speed of that in Bermuda, over the phone line, and performs to speed specification 95 percent of the time for one-fifth of the price I pay here. If anything goes wrong there's "free" support 24/7/52 and the helpline response time (the literature claims, although I've never had to use it) is a maximum of one minute. By the way, let me know if you get a response, will you?

ABANDONED AND ADRIFT

Paget