Telecommunications outage and outrage

Many of us spend a lot of time on their gadgets-phones, laptops, or desktops, for communication, entertainment, information, news and most importantly, for a living, since a lot of us work online from home.

- UNDER THE MICROSCOPE RAYMUND W. LO, MD, FPSP

Ever since the Covid-19 pandemic, we have been increasingly reliant on the internet. As a pathologist, I now get most referrals from our medical technologists mainly via email or Viber. Of course, what is important is a reliable network of providers that have functional connections.

But in the Philippines, the situation is not that rosy. We are plagued by poor networks, low internet speeds and poor service.

Our village is a prime example of this predicament. Nary a day passes without someone posting on our village group chat about no phone service, cable TV breakdown, and/or weak internet signals and more often, no signals.

The problem is not just one provider or network. All suffer from frequent, intermittent and even long-term breakdowns. Some shared horror stories of their periods being out of order for months, and even after repeated calls, there was no response from PLDT or the company sent a demand letter for overdue bills when the phone had been reported out of order for the periods being billed. No wonder people are ditching their landlines in favor of cell phones. But landlines are still needed for the usual communications between village administration and security and the homeowners.