Getting an Internet connection

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I got so many requests what to do about this situation... It is simple. If you return to Germany and need a phone or internet connection, go with Deutsche Telecom. Everything else will leave you stranded for two months. Take the cheapest most quickly cancelable contract and once they turned on your connection, switch to a provider you like better. --DR

Caveat: Please read these experiences sent in by a reader of this blog why this advice might leave you stranded. --DR


After returning to Berlin, the first thing I did after I found an apartment was to order a phone and internet connection. It was seductively easy: You signed up on a website and two weeks later, so it was promised, you would have your phone and DSL connection. Little did I know...

End of November I signed up on ARCOR's website for the ISDN + DSL combo, hoping to have internet at home soon. A few days later I received a paper contract to sign and send in which I dutifully did. A week later I received the same contract again, reminding me to sign it and send it in. Apparently, the first contract had been lost, so I did this, noting that this is the second copy.

Days came and went and I did not hear from ARCOR. Eventually I called and asked what's up with my order. After all, it was supposed to take only two weeks, and this had passed. "Oh," the customer rep said, "we don't do anything for the first two weeks, because that is the timeframe during which you can still cancel the contract." I got a funny feeling in my stomach.

She then told me that it would be two months until I would get a phone and internet connection, because they would need to get the Deutsche Telecom to switch on the line for my place. Deutsche Telecom owns the last mile (the cables in the ground) and as part of Germany's telecommunications privatization efforts has to provide the final connection to companies like ARCOR for a predefined fee. "Naturally" Deutsche Telecom waits until the last minute to do so. So my options were to fight ARCOR and get out of the contract and switch to Telecom which would setup my connection right away for a high fee, or just wait for the two months. Well, I decided to wait, since I had an internet connection at the office and a cell phone in my hand.

This turned out to be tougher than it sounds. I still wonder what my neighbors thought when they saw me roaming the street late at night trying to find an open WLAN. Notebook in hand, out in the cold, my packets were screaming "let me in," but unfortunately the area where I lived had little open access.

Eventually the wait was over. Eight weeks after I had signed up I received two letters from ARCOR informing me that a Deutsche Telecom technician would come to set up my connection. These two letters had different contract and customer ids so I tried to tell ARCOR about this. After about 30min in the phone queue I was kicked out without ever having spoken to a customer rep. I then sent them Email, first through their website, later through regular email, but nothing happened. Except, that the postal service showed up at my doorstep trying to deliver two WLAN routers, one for each contract. I sent one back and kept the other one. Then I wrote a letter explaining to them that there was only one Dirk Riehle living at my place and that this person only needed one internet connection.

The next day the Telecom technician showed up at my place and set up the line. He made some fun of me, telling me that cheap providers like ARCOR provide poor service and that it takes them two months to get me connected. I almost got violent... Fortunately, after this, phone and internet were switched on. It seemed to work almost perfectly, except for my phone, which didn't ring. "Not my problem," the Telecom technician said and left.

A week later I got a phone call (on my cell phone!) from an ARCOR customer rep asking me about the double contract, promising to cancel one of the two. Getting another funny feeling in my stomach, I told them not to switch off the connection and phone numbers I'm currently using. "I have been without phone and internet connection for two months," I said, "and I don't want to go back."

"I can totally understand this," the customer rep said, "that would be so bad." Totally! she said. With a soft 't'. Where was I? Is this Berlin or Dude County? But at least she understood me. Todally.

The next morning, when I got up, ARCOR had disconnected my internet connection. However, the phone was still on. I digged through the paperwork, found the connection information for the second contract, put that in, and voila, internet was working again.

A week later I got two bills, one for each contract. I'm getting a funny feeling in my stomach.

Unfortunately, I can't contact them easily, because their customer service line remains blocked.

Too bad. What to do next? Stay tuned...

Copyright (©) 2007 Dirk Riehle. Some rights reserved. (Creative Commons License BY-NC-SA.) Original Web Location: http://www.riehle.org