13286: Racine125: Why Are All ACN Cybercafes Horrible? (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Racine125@aol.com

Why are all the ACN cybercafes in Jacmel that I have ever used been just awful?  There used to be one really bad one at "Biznet", otherwise known as "Maison Henri Deschamps".  I should say, that is, that "Biznet" is still there, but now there is a second ACN cybercafe in Jacmel, "Jacmel.Net", across from Guy's Guest House, which is even more horrible if that were possible.

The establishment is divided into two rooms, served by one electric fan in the middle - sometimes the staff turns it one way, sometimes the other.  When the fan is pointed away from the room in which you are sitting, you just sit there and sweat!  I guess they are too cheap to buy two fans.

The quality of Internet connection is invariably poor.  The "satellite signal" must apparently travel through two or three "repeater" stations in the mountains on the way to Port-au-Prince, and they are either poorly maintained or constantly out of adjustment, so out of any one hour of service that a client pays for, they are lucky to get twenty five minutes of functionality.  And slo-w-w-w!  A simple webpage with few graphics can take five minutes to load.  Iin the meanwhile, pornographic programs and pop-ups keep intruding onto your screen.  Want to check your email?  If you can read more than six or seven emails in an hour you're lucky.

But worst of all is the staff.  Perhaps ACN is a family hegemony and all the relatives are genetically dull, boorish and cranky, I don't see how else they could have found such a high concentration of rude, arrogant, unhelpful and witless people.  In contrast to the "Jacmelien" (the cybercafe, not the hotel), where the staff is pleasant and helpful, ACN staff... well, for instance - you spend ten or fifteen minutes trying to bring up the websites you need, and not one of them can load, so you ask the young man in charge, a thickset, hoggish fellow deeply involved in his computer games, to come and have a look.  He gazes pointedly in the opposite direction.  Ask again, and he snorts contemptously.

Finally, you say, "Look, I am talking to YOU.  I am paying by the hour here and I can't retrieve a single webpage, I can't answer an email.  Would you come and have a look, please?  I don't think this computer is connected..."

"ACN!  ACN!",  he bellows at you, as though this explains everything.  Then he glares at you and turns back to his computer game.

Fine, you go to the desk, and you say, "I've been trying for fifteen minutes and I haven't been able to use the Internet at all, thank you very much anyway."  The woman at the desk informs you that there is a one-half hour minimum charge!

"But," you protest, "I'm telling you that your setup doesn't work!  I've used no service at all, the Internet is completely unavailable through your hookup."

"That's not my fault."'

I swear I'm not kidding!

Normally, I go to the Jacmelien, where the staff is friendly and professional.  But the Jacmelien is on TELECONET, and when the TELECO connections to Port-au-Prince go down, ACN becomes the only alternative.

I guess that's what they count on - having a captive clientele.  They certainly aren't doing anything to make themselves attractive.

Peace and love,

Bon Mambo Racine Sans Bout Sa Te La Daginen

"Se bon ki ra" - Good is rare
     Haitian proverb

The VODOU Page - http://members.aol.com/racine125/index.html

(Posting from Jacmel, Haiti)