Residents struggle with work from home as Tauktae takes Goa offline

PANAJI: With work from home being the new normal, working professionals in the state largely dependent on internet connectivity have been left handicapped in the aftermath of Cyclone Tauktae. While power has been restored, the ‘high speed’ internet and fiber optics service providers have failed to restore connectivity even a week later.
“I have been left without Wi-Fi now for nine days, and there is no word when services will resume. I’ve been exchanging emails since Friday, but now I can’t even get to speak to the customer care centre despite calling them 25 times in a span of five days,” said Santa Cruz resident, Anthony M, who subscribes to DNA internet service.
A family in Merces had a similar experience with the service provider wherein calls to customer care would drop after a wait-time of six minutes, despite being next in line to speak to the representative.
A media professional from Porvorim wrote four back-to-back emails over the course of the week requesting DNA to restore the internet service only to receive a standard apology in what seemed like a pre-drafted response.
“Even electricity dept has completed its job of restoring power supply across Goa, but DNA, which has presence in only a few pockets of the state, can’t do its job efficiently. So much for professionalism. I’m regretting hiring the service,” she wrote in her last mail to the provider.
Besides working professionals, the failure to restore internet services has left school and college students groping in the dark, as well.
Assagao-based Mona Nalovalia’s seven-year-old daughter, who studies at Ardee’s school, is one such student whose online classes were affected after Ethernet Express failed to restore services in their area.
“The school finished their online exams prior to the cyclone, however, we had signed her up for some classes. We have had to reschedule those classes,” she said.
Miramar resident Steve Dias and his wife have been resorting to their mobile phone service provider’s data to make Zoom calls and complete office-related work every day.
“There is a lot of damage due to trees and electric poles crashing due to the storm. They said it would be resolved soon, but it is taking longer than anticipated,” he said.
Reis Magos-based filmmaker Ashvin Kumar, who hasn’t had G-wave internet service restored since the day of the storm, however, chose to be understanding about the matter.
“I don’t want to discourage the service provider because they must be trying their level best. It was an overwhelming situation and already due to the pandemic their staff had depleted. Even though it’s been 10 days, and a lot of our work has stopped, I’m trying not to put more pressure on them than they must be already under,” he said.
Luck, however, seems to have smiled upon a few.
Claude Pinto, a hospitality professional living in Santa Cruz had his internet service restored soon after electricity was restored after the cyclonic storm.
“I have been facing issues with the internet speed. It is not as up to the mark as it was prior to the storm,” he told TOI.
Despite repeated attempts, TOI received no response from the service providers for the Net blackout.