ADSL and other alphabet illnesses

Hi there!

Well, I’m in the throes of trying to get ADSL installed at the Tenuta. First some history…

1. We have ADSL at the shop in Marsciano (see www.LaMaisondYvette.com for more information about the shop), but it took us two months to get it installed to start with. What we ordered initially (I was skeptical) was a pay-by-volume arrangement with the provider, Wind, a subsidiary of Telecom Italia. After it was installed, the system didn’t work. Surprise? Well, we tried the Wind telephone help line (190 – free but never free, if you know what I mean), and after about three hours on the phone, they eventually said they would send someone to look at the installation. About two weeks later, someone showed up (Wind uses contractors for this kind of work). They spent about an hour, and could not find what the problem was. Since the rule is, after an hour, we pay for the repair and it’s not cheap, it was getting a little ticklish. They finally found the problem in a small junction box that the original installers never opened. Luckily, at the 58-minute mark. Finally, ADSL worked!

2. After about three or four weeks (even before the first bill arrived), I found that we would be better off with a flat-rate arrangement. No change of provider, just a switch in accounting, right? Well, that’s what we thought, and innocently called 190, and after only about 35-40 minutes, the job was done. We thought. Then the ADSL stopped working. Why? Call 190 again. “Oh, the service will be disconnected until the new ADSL connection is installed.”
“Installed?”
“Yes, they have to change things in the switch room.”
“When will that be done?”
“Well, it shouldn’t take more than a week or two.”
“And what do we do for an Internet connection in the mean time?”
“Well, I guess you could use our analog dialup?”
Two and a half months later, it finally worked. Sort of.
What we discovered is that the Wind ADSL systems in Marsciano apparently are not the greatest. From noon to about 3 in the afternoon, the access speed was faster using the old analog dialup. And again from about 5:30 to 7:30 in the afternoon, the same.

3. About nine months later, we opened a new shop in the Old Town of Marsciano, and told Wind to please install ADSL there as well.
Mmm.
After about six weeks, the installers came. They installed the physical equipment, but I was not able to try out the installation before they left. They seemed to be in a hurry to leave.
Mmm.
I tried for about five weeks to get the ADSL there to work, without success. I spent five continuous hours on the phone with 190 technical people.
They insisted that it was functional.
I could not get a signal.
After about a year, we called Wind and told them to take their equipment (a wireless modem) out and disconnect the service. They said that it would cost €100 to terminate the contract. We said we would think it over.
This has gone on for almost 18 months now.
We’ve decided that we’re going to close the shop now (not enough business to support the expenses), so I first said, “this is the opportunity to get ADSL installed at the house in San Biagio della Valle!”
We called 190, and they said “no problem, we’ll send someone out next week!”
That was a month ago.
We’re still waiting…

4. Last week, we discovered a different system, using a direct broadcast system (not satellite but with an antenna) from Perugia. Sort of like terrestrian digital TV. Our neighbor (our ONLY neighbor, we really are out in the countryside) got it installed, and he says it works just fine! He also said he had to call about 28 times before the people finally came and installed it… Sound familiar?
Anyway, now we will try this in parallel with Wind. It will be interesting to see what’s installed first! Oh, we’re at call number 4 and counting…

Will keep you informed!

Ciao for now…

Craig

P.S. One of our goals at Tenuta Collicello is to keep you isolated from such typical Italian red tape!