To hell with Orange!
As you may recall in my posts about being offline and then getting re-connected, (with temporary dial-up), the internet connection at casa az has been a bit dodgy this past week or so.
So this morning I checked out some offers with Telefónica and found out that I can get high-speed ADSL (with free wifi router), free national calls (including 120 minutes of mobile calls per month) and a groovy-cool television offer. More than 60 channels, with the option to watch non-Spanish films and TV programmes in original version!!! 
All for 45 euros a month!
And on top of that we get some sort of gift. Not sure if it’s 10 nights in a hotel or two round-trip plane tickets for somewhere in Europe.
Not sure when the change-over will happen. Apparently Telefónica will take care of cancelling the service with Orange but then I’ll probably have to wait 3-5 days for a guy to come over and hook up the TV thingy and bring the new router.
So all this nonsense with Orange has turned out to be a blessing in disguise. My friend Agustín has this same Telefónica package and he says it’s great, but we probably wouldn’t have changed servers if Orange hadn’t fucked up so badly. Anyhow, I’ll wait until the new service is up and running before I say ‘all’s well that ends well’, but it certainly sounds like a good deal. 
casa azahar 
Orange or Lemon? *giggles*
The free gift, whatever it is, sounds like a good deal in itself. I tend to get offered free gifts that are of absolutely no use to me, like tickets to sporty things.
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I think Orange came and went in Australia. I avoided it. Ivan, “SPORTY THINGS?”. You heretic, you!
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I couldn’t really avoid Orange as it bought and took over Wanadoo (which had been my server for the past five years).
Anyhow, quite looking forward to watching programmes and films in English! Apparently there is a pay-per-view option as well with more recent films. So if that works out as planned then we can probably stop that dvd home delivery thang and use the pay-per-view instead.
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Archie – yes, I’m a heretic and I’m smug about it. 😀 Why bother with sport when there’s good books crying out to be read?
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Wow, this really sounds like an awesome deal! I’d definitely take a deal like that. I’m glad that the whole ordeal worked out in such a way that you’ve found a much better deal. Hopefully the service will be as excellent as the package.
I totally agree with you in regards to sporty things, Ivan. The only redeeming quality to winning tickets to some sporty thing is that they can be sold, and the proceeds put to something useful and entertaining. 😀
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Oh horrors. Such vipers are you clutching to your breast, azahar. Books are important and wonderful and vital to life. I have often missed a meal while reading. Yet there is a human need to live a life in the real world. To interact with other human beings in a real, face to face situation. I have spent most of my life playing or coaching sports. Having, through luck in my birthdate, avoided “real war, I have experienced weaker, although similar adrenaline rushes through sport. This has given me a greater appreciation of the situations I read of in my books. Now the Warriors are near the top of the cricket table and it will soon be winter when I can cry “Carn the Dockers” with my fellows. And at the end I will have a greater appreciation of winning and losing in “War and Peace” or Gone with the Wind”. “Catch 22” will mean so much more, as will Terry Pratchett’s “Thud”.
Conrad’s “Nostromo” only made sense to me after I related it to the imperialism of Australian cricket. Oops – I’m going all long-winded again.
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LOL – I like playing sports… I just don’t enjoy watching other people play them. Especially people I don’t even know.
But the Telefonica deal sounds sweet 🙂
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Archie, I think cricket has more in common with ‘Waiting for Godot’.
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Oooo, excellent return serve Ivan (is there a cricket term for this?) … also excellent long-winded rant, Archie!
But I tend to agree with truce – that although I enjoy playing some sports I’ve never been a fan of watching other people play them, especially the over-paid primadonna jocks you see these days.
Meanwhile, still waiting to find out what my gift is going to be. Rather weirdly I received two emails confirming my new contract with Telefónica and each one said I would receive a different gift.
One says I’ll get 10 nights for 2 in a hotel and two plane tickets, the other says I’ll get 10 nights in a hotel, 4 free pay-per-view films and one free pay-per-view football match (Copa del Rey). Hell, I don’t really care as I’m sure there’s a catch with the plane tickets.
In fact, I’m sure there’s a catch with the whole deal (who me? cynical? 😉 )… will find out soon enough – at least I hope so!
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I think that deal sounds fab, az!
The only sport I actually watch is figure-skating. Used to do that one, myself. Books rock, though. Where else can you taste the future or travel anywhere you want, all by cracking a book? 🙂
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“Oooo, excellent return serve Ivan (is there a cricket term for this?) ”
You could try – hit back beuatifully over the bowler’s head.
Or
Played with a straight bat.
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Cricket is Britain’s way of inflicting misery on what remains of it’s empire. 😛
Oranges and lemons say the bells of St. Clement’s?
You owe me ten shillings say the bells of St. Helen’s!
🙂
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Wise words, zoomer …
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“Apparently Telefónica will take care of cancelling the service with Orange…”
Yeah right. I called Telefónica yesterday since I hadn’t heard anything more from them and was informed that they couldn’t cancel Orange from their end so they cancelled my order for the great deal + gift. 😕
Well, I can order it again but first I had to call Orange (again!!! ) and cancel my service with them and also tell them to ‘liberar el bucle’ (don’t ask). Only I’m a bit concerned that my bucle might have been liberared that weekend I lost phone service (but still had ADSL) because it was Telefónica who fixed that at my request … which means maybe this ‘free’ dial-up Orange internet connection isn’t free? I shall strangle someone if it isn’t as I’ve just left it going most days, all day.
I’m only concerned about this because the Orange guy told me it would take 10-15 days to cancel my service and do the bucle thang and that after that I’d be able to contract a new service from Telefónica. And when I asked how I’d know my bucle had been liberated he said it would be when I lost my phone service. Um … gaaaa?
I knew it had to be too good to be true. But still hoping it will all work out in the end … I’m dying to watch House!
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Oh My God… I would so be freaked over this. Is there any way to tell what’s been charged to you for the dial-up?
If I only had a leetle more advanced PC, I could get DSL and it would be cheaper than AOL.
Soon.
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Yeah, there is a number to call to get the amount of your bill to date, but I think this only includes phone calls, not stuff like how long you’ve spent on dial-up internet.
However, a long-distance phone call I made last night didn’t show up on the Telefónica charges today, so that must mean that Orange is still intercepting my calls (if I don’t put a special Telefónica prefix in front of the numbers I dial then Orange bills me for them).
And then Nog (the voice of logic and reason) pointed out that since the internet server dial-up connection is actually with Orange, it would be rejected by Telefónica if the ‘bucle’ had indeed been liberated by Orange. Phew!
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Oh boy! (I think…)
I just got a call from Telefónica on my mobile phone (natch, since I’m presently on dial-up).
They wanted to confirm that I’d ordered the ‘trio especial’ (ADSL, national calls, television) for 45 euros a month and I said that I had done so but it had been cancelled again by Telefónica.
So then I was told that this was because my ‘bucle’ hadn’t been ‘liberared’, but apparently it is now (!) so they told me my order had been reinstated and to expect a technician out sometime next week to set everything up. Yay!
I then had to do a kinda weird taped over-the-phone interview, giving permission to Telefónica to resume control over the normal phone line (apparently the bucle thang is for the ADSL line). Which apparently will happen when the technician shows up.
So I asked about the free ‘provisional’ dial-up I’ve been using from Orange and the woman said that in her opinion I should just keep using it until the technician shows up and cuts Orange off and that – no! – Telefónica isn’t charging me for that. Double yay!
At this point I don’t even care about the gifts, though I was told today I’d definitely get four free pay-per-view films and one football match (too bad I can’t pass the latter on to Archie). Anyhow, ‘gifts’ like hotel rooms and plane tickets usually have so many conditions applied to them to make them pretty much unusable, so better just to get the connection sorted and enjoy some free films.
Meanwhile, Orange might clue in any minute now that I’ve cancelled my service with them yet still have this free dial-up thing going. Especially as I was told my final bill will only include service up to January 22 – when my ADSL went for a burton. Must remember to cancel the Orange direct debit at my bank …
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It will certainly be good to get a proper internet service back. At the moment I have to wrestle az to the ground and tie her up to get five minutes online. But I think she kind of likes it 😉
Incidentally, cricket is what remains of the empire’s way of inflicting misery on Britain. And they’ve got pretty good at it over the years.
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Got a call from the Telefónica technician this afternoon – apparently he’ll be here tomorrow morning at 11.30 to set everything up!
So hopefully it will all go well and both Nog and I will be back online by midday (gonna miss the wrestling though).
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Yay!!! We are back on ADSL! And we also have the BBC News on the telly, which is kind of cool.
The technician was here for quite awhile. He had to install a phone jack next to where the TV is and also set up my PC so that it’s now wireless too. Before it was plugged into the router, but apparently the TV has to be plugged into the router in order to receive the TV channels.
Luckily I had an extra WIFI USB thingy kicking around, otherwise I would have had to pay 30 euros for the Telefónica one (boy, they’re sneaky! – they could have mentioned this before sending out the technician).
Anyhow, it’s very strange to hear people speaking English on TV. I haven’t checked out the movie channels yet, but pressing a yellow button switches over from dubbed to original version, which is totally coolisimo. And the pay-per-view ‘video club’ costs 3 euros a film, which is the same price as that dvd home-delivery place (the last delivery is now 10 days overdue) so I think we’ll be dumping them. Except not getting films on dvd means we won’t be able to watch films on the laptop in bed anymore.
So … I hope this works out. It seems to be working okay so far, but then again, it’s only been about half an hour.
I wonder if we’ll still get a gift…
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Good news!
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Oh, it’s been totally fab Johnny – I’ve been zip-a-dee-doo-dah-ing all over the place since yesterday afternoon.
And … PING! Pages open just like that in a split second!
And of course it’s also great for Nog to have his laptop back online.
Waiting to see if I get charged for having the technician ‘configurate’ my WIFI USB thingy for the PC … strangely or otherwise, all routers I’ve ever seen actually include one USB WIFI connecting thingy. Well anyhow, I think we are better off with this company.
Used to be, way back when Telefónica was like BT, the service was abominable … and the prices were outrageous.
Since all these other companies have started up, Telefónica has in fact improved to the point that the service it offers is markedly better than the others.
Also, I don’t think they use contracted call centres for their customer service phone-lines – they are big enough to have their own employees set up for this.
Just gotta figure out the new TV options – it is seriously cool to be able to watch films and some other programmes in original version at home.
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