Since signing up for Streamyx from TMNet I, too, have had the problems described by A Desperate Expat in the letter Streamyx way to bankruptcy . I am only served by Streamyx in my location so I have to put up with this awful service.

Whilst TMNet claim to be doing all they can, they might wish to review this shortlist of six easy changes they can make which will bring their customer service into the 21st century:

Employ technicians 24 hours around the clock, including on public holidays and weekends.

Schedule repair crew visits centrally and give the phone support staff access to the system. This means that when a caller has a fault, they can be given a fixed time and date for the technician's visit, and the technician will be there.

Employ enough technicians so that customers don't need to wait if they have a fault. Dispatch and repair times should not be more than an hour from the fault report.

Do not grant leave to support staff or technicians if it means you will be short of staff. That means keeping a full staff during festive seasons and during big football matches, 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

If any customer has a fault for more than 24 hours, dispatch an emergency-service technician immediately and give the customer a one-month refund as goodwill.

Change the Streamyx customer support line to a free-phone number or use a 'call me back' facility. Of course, this wouldn't be needed if the phones were answered promptly.