Forced to take Telefonica as our (useless) internet service provider (our neighbourhood is the victim of a monopoly) we also suffer from outrageous phone costs. Prior to our trips to Paraty and Rio we made a few calls to landlines in those cities. About 25 minutes in total according to our bill. The cost is R$ 60. That's about £1 a minute for the "luxury" of calling outside the state of Sao Paulo. I could call the same places from the UK for a fraction of the price. I won't even bother to ask why this is allowed in Brazil.
PS: Thanks Telefonica woman for hanging up on us today when we asked why our line wasn't being immediately reauthorised for outgoing calls, now that your extortionate bill has been paid. We must wait several more days. That's the second time someone from Telefonica has slammed the phone down. Where's my friendly, warm Brazilians when I need them ?
I felt the same when I was hijacked by BT, oh how I used to hate BT to death. And the tv stuff in London? NO CABLE TV. What do you do if you don't like dish? Nothing, no tv for you, and so I ended up living for 4 years in London without tv. That was a modern accomplishment.
ReplyDeleteI tell you one thing, the mind is very powerful indeed. If you go live in a place but you've decided beforehand you hate it, then you'll hate it for the time you are there. That was my case in the UK. I didn't want to go there, I was forced to go there. And I hated it with all my heart. Conclusion: 4 years living there and hating every minute of it. Surely I could have spent a better time over there, only had I been more open minded about things. But I wasn't and that was it.
And by the way, I don't like Brazil either. I'm longing to get out of here as well. For the second time, and I hope, for good.
Patricia, thanks but no thanks for your "it's all in the mind" argument. The facts show that UK prices and quality for Internet, TV and telephone are much much better than here. As for your not having access to the kind of TV you wanted in London, well you were living in the Canary Wharf area weren't you so I can't believe you didn't have plenty if options available.
ReplyDeleteI see from your recent comments on this blog that a degree of patriotic defensiveness seems to be kicking in. Yet you apparently still wish to escape Brazil for the US. So I'm not sure that you are practising what you preach or, indeed, what exactly you are preaching ?
PS. There is a completely different debate to be had on the relative merits and demerits of life in the UK and US, or more specifically London and New York. Both have a lot to be said for them, unlike Sao Paulo.
ReplyDeleteNope, I was living in Canada Water and the only way I could get paid tv was via dish (Sky), there was no Virgin over there (no cables). Not to mention the internet service, which was very bad, below average, because it reached us through copper wire - my provider was O2.
ReplyDeleteOf course I wanted to replicate my US experience in London and get a decent bundle of tv + internet on cable - Virgin. But as I said, it was either dish or nothing and we decided for nothing. In fact, I was only watching the BBC for free over the internet, because we have a Sony projector. The good thing was, I never had to pay taxes on it - by the way, another thing I refused to do and added up to the decision to not have tv at all.
I am trying to practice my preach, I didn't say it was easy hehehehe. I have plenty of foreign friends here who are enjoying their experience, as I had plenty of Brazilians living in London who were enjoying their experience as well. So I think again it all comes to the individual and the decision to face life as a glass half full or half empty - this is cheesy I know, but I still think this is the way it is.
Nothing inherently wrong with copper wire Internet. I had it, as do most in London, and got decent fast broadband.
ReplyDeleteWhat was wrong with digital terrestrial TV for free, using a regular antenna ? Again, it's what I had and cost nothing apart from the BBC Licence fee. If you had a principled reason for not wanting to pay it then that's your choice. Some might see it as hypocritical since you watched the BBC anyway via the Internet.
You work in investment banking Patricia, anyone earning that kind of money might have the luxury of choosing their state of mind, irrespective of where they happen to be.