Neighbors of Les Llosses, in Ripollès (Girona) are tired of the constant internet and mobile signal interruptions. They have been reporting it to Telefónica for years, but they say that they do not listen to them.
In recent weeks, incidents have increased. The problem is the repeater that also gives signals in Borredà, Sant Jaume de Frontanyà and Alpens.
It has been running on diesel since 1993 and often has problems, either because it runs out of fuel or due to inclement weather.
"It is very precarious, it fails a lot," complains the mayor, Jaume Cuní, who assures that more than half of the town depends on the repeater. Businesses like the Saiol campsite denounce that this causes them to lose money and customers. The company admits that they have no plans to perform.
"We've been in business for 24 years and the service has never been good." Santiago Garcia, co-owner of the campsite, located in a place surrounded by nature and next to the river, expresses himself forcefully. He explains that loyal customers already know the problem, but those who want to come for the first time often give up. "Since there is no way to contact us, they think it is our negligence and they leave us reviews saying that we are not for the clientele," he details.
A situation that creates a lot of helplessness and that affects their business. Thus, for example, they already ask to only pay in cash - they cannot have a dataphone or receive transfers 'on site' - and many clients decline to go knowing that they will not be able to telework from there. At most they can have a 3G signal and the internet is so slow that it does not allow them to download documents. Added to all this is the personal part, the fear of being cut off and not being able to attend to family emergencies, as detailed by Marga Rubio, Garcia's wife and co-owner of the campsite. "Many times you are without internet all morning and in the afternoon, when the coverage returns, you receive 50 messages from clients or people who have called you because you are incommunicado," she remarks.
They also complain that in recent weeks the outages have become more and more frequent at a rate of two a week. "The situation has worsened, we are cut off," says Garcia. The exhaustion is such that now they don't even call the telephone company to notify them of the outages and simply write it down on a wall calendar to keep a record. "Before we called to report the incident, but now not even that," explains Garcia.
As it is requested to notify at the time of the incident, what they had to do was take the car in the direction of Ripoll while waiting to have a signal again. "We don't like talking to machines, the operators don't understand the problem and they don't give us answers either," he complains while pointing out that the invoices they pay are "abusive" when compared to the prices that the company itself offers to large cities. "We only have that resource or bad resource," he adds. They are not the only ones. They know the case of neighbors who must telework some day of the week and who travel to Ripoll to be able to do their work.
"It is a grievance in the rural world"
According to the mayor, Jaume Cuní, "it is an offense in the rural world and we feel below others; if this happened in a city, it would be intolerable and here it happens to us every two days." And he remembers that people must be able to attend to business and be able to notify in case of vital need. Precisely in the last plenary session they approved a motion denouncing the situation and demanding solutions. Remember, also, that this is not only the case of Les Llosses, but also affects Borredà, Sant Jaume de Frontanyà (Berguedà) and Alpens (Lluçanès), which is where the repeater is. The City Council knows that since April there have been more than ten cuts and some for more than 3 days in a row.
According to the mayor, in 2010 an attempt was made to electrify the repeater to end the problems of running on fuel, but "the company did not want to pay for it." An argument that, according to him, is still valid in the meetings held with Telefónica. They are unaware of the real cost of the work and demand more support from the Generalitat and other institutions: "We ask that you help us, advise us and act as intermediaries so that this part of Catalan citizens is also covered like the rest of the country."
Telefónica sources have confirmed that they are aware of the recent problems, although they do not specify the causes. They defend that they are the only telephone company that provides service to this area where the orography makes coverage very difficult. Likewise, they confirm that they do not plan to undertake electrification, but admit that if the municipalities are open to making a contribution, it could be explored jointly. However, they admit that the repeater is not a priority and that no action is planned during 2024.
