My phone and DSL line started having issues about a week ago, and it was becoming progressively worse: there was heavy crackle on the voice circuit, and the DSL line was showing about 20% packet loss. On Thursday evening I reported the problem through the fault reporting website.

Early this morning they phoned me and informed me that the technician would be able to visit later today, and he did indeed arrive at about 11. Because of the nature of the problem – an issue with the lines between my building and the distribution box – he had to travel back and forth a few times between my flat and the box on Main Road, so the process did take a while. Nonetheless, throughout the experience he was friendly, efficient, and competent.

I should mention in particular that at no point did I have to deal with the notorious callcenters and the interminable on-hold music. I didn’t have to spend any of my cell-phone minutes waiting for someone to take note of my problem. All I had to do was fill out the form on the website, and wait for them to get back to me – which only took two working days.

This is a marked contrast from my experience two years ago with my parents’ broken phone line, where it took five days and many hours on the phone to get the DSL and line repairs departments to agree on who was responsible for fixing the problem.