If there is one thing Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are good at, it is to ghost their customers bigtime.
Ghosting is a relatively millennial term that deals with a short-term or long-term relationship suddenly ending without any explanation whatsoever. “For the person who does the ghosting, simply walking away from a relationship, or even a potential relationship, is a quick and easy way out. No drama, no hysterics, no questions asked, no need to provide answers or justify any of their behavior, no need to deal with someone else’s feelings,” Susan McQuillan wrote for Psycom. Such betrayal is so profound that it would take months to go through the fifth stage of grief – acceptance.
This bittersweet relationship has long existed between ISPs and customers. The ISPs know that they have to earn the trust of their customers. But because there aren’t many major players competing against each other, they are using several tactics to manipulate and subtly exploit them.
Ghosting customers is a story that is familiar with the story of Jesus’ birth. Such trust and confidence are poured into ISPs for hopes that their services will be quick and efficient. And yet, when a problem arises, they suddenly vanish into thin air like boyfriends too soured of their partners.
It is painful to be ghosted by a man you love so dearly, but it is more painful to be ghosted by an ISP you pay so constantly.
Converge, one of the rising ISPs in the country, has been well-known in the previous years for the blazing speed of their internet. 100 Mbps internet speed suddenly became realistic in a country that is far behind others when it comes to this area. And even if we are one of the most loyal consumers of social networking sites, the prospects of better service and coverage are still far from reality. Converge entered the picture when the public was irritated with the Globe-PLDT duopoly. Being the only major ISPs in the country, customers are finding new ones who can let them surf the net uninterrupted – or with minor glitches. Sky could have been a major competitor, but it hasn’t stood solid grounding as firm as Globe and PLDT.
But as the pandemic reshaped much of our lives, so as the attitudes of the ISPs. Converge received mounting complaints on two areas: the installation process and the internet speed. Netizens narrated how they felt that Converge was a fraud – asking for a PhP2,500 installation fee and thereafter ignoring them. The anger and distrust are manifested through the words they’ve been using as they attack Converge. And the internet speed that they have been selling to their customers is just “ningas-kugon.”
“Each company has its own strengths and weaknesses, but Converge has been gaining ground lately as they are seen by some Filipinos as the supposed redeemer in the state of internet connection in the Philippines. Things got pretty intense when consumers started complaining about frequent disconnections and speed inconsistencies,” Gadget Pilipinas wrote last year. Quoting a commentor, they asked whether Converge was a ‘victim of their success,’ prompting a response, “we hope not.”
PLDT is also guilty of this, but they are far worse than any other telco player. In my previous blog, Edj Learns, I told the story of how we were crucified by the company, depriving us of the internet for 2 weeks. The reason behind that was the substandard installation of cableman who came to our home in May 2017. My aunt and mother fumed on the telephone, berating customer service representatives for their slow action in our complaint. The blinking red light was so infuriating that I wanted to throw the modem out of our house. Luckily for us, a major mishap like that did not happen ever since.
Still, what we saw on PLDT’s customer service was already proof of their timidness in resolving issues. But when we talk about money, they engage like a friend whom we never saw for years.
One time, when we paid our bills on the exact due date, PLDT cut off our internet for no reason whatsoever. Records showed that our payment was not posted on their system, prompting the disconnection. To our amazement, we were told that if no posting happened yet after three days, we would have to go to a satellite office and cross our fingers for a miracle.
Now, PLDT has yet to respond to two of our applications: one was for a new plan for my aunts, the other was for an upgrade of our plan. The last time they texted or emailed was about a month ago when they said they were assessing our place whether they could install the necessary equipment. More than that, they remained mum.
I would say that we are still lucky to enjoy a, somehow, functioning internet. Now that everything is anchored on the internet, it would be costly for us if our internet is caught in disarray. It would jeopardize much of our school affairs, to say the least.
I know that many customers had not had that luck to surf the internet smoothly. Liza Soberano would be one. But unlike us, PLDT and Converge were accommodating to her. She was not ghosted by these ISPs. We can’t criticize netizens who would describe this instance as ‘unfair’ because it’s really unfair. This just shows that a public figure like Ms. Soberano should be well-equipped with an internet connection to maintain the supposed reputation these ISPs are keeping. A barrage of criticisms from a personality would be disadvantageous to them financially.
It is painful to be ghosted by a man you love so dearly, but it is more painful to be ghosted by an ISP you pay so constantly.
The Edj View 