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A Cuban publicly denounced the poor quality of mobile data connectivity in his neighborhood and the lack of solutions from the Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba S.A. (ETECSA), after calling *2266 to report the issue and receiving a response that his area "has already been reported," as he explained in a Facebook post.
“My wife just called @ETECSA_Cuba at *2266 to report the poor mobile data connection here in our neighborhood again. Without even hearing the address, the operator who answered told her that this location has already been reported,” wrote user David Espinosa, who questioned whether this was an automatic response with no intention of resolving the issue.
In his complaint, he criticized that, despite the poor quality of service, promotions and top-ups in foreign currency continue. "Meanwhile, the offers in foreign currencies persist, and they are collecting dollars by keeping us 'hostage'," he stated.
The Cuban also expressed his frustration over the lack of real alternatives for making a complaint. “I don’t know whether to wait for them to fix the poor service, to go to the national Cubacel office tomorrow, or to go out on the street with a sign that says: Down with ETECSA! I don’t know what to do,” he wrote.
In the same post, he recalled a prior incident that occurred in 2017 when he filed two reports with the Revolutionary National Police (PNR) due to a similar situation. “In 2017, I made two reports to the PNR about a similar scam, and a concerned executive called me because I took the report to the Granma newspaper. Back then, I was told they would return what was stolen,” he recounted.
Along with the text, the complainant attached images of official documents, including a criminal complaint issued by the PNR, and stated that he retains these proofs. "I am attaching photos of the complaints so you can see that I have never exaggerated and that I have serious traumas with this company, to which I have contributed a significant amount of foreign currency," he wrote.
The post generated dozens of comments from other users who reported facing similar issues in various areas of the country. “That response is predetermined. I've submitted complaints before about problems with the radio towers I connect to, and that's the response I get,” one of them remarked.
Another user pointed out: "You're paying money for a service that you're not enjoying," while someone else summarized the general sentiment with the phrase: "After the price hike, the connection is awful. There's no Internet, the data isn't working."
Several complaints pointed directly to the contrast between poor connectivity and the charges for top-ups in foreign currency. “They say the millions they collect from the top-ups are for improving services, but it’s just another scam,” wrote one commenter. Another stated, “ETECSA is the biggest scam in the world. It charges in dollars for a terrible service.”
The impact of power outages on connectivity was also mentioned. “When the power goes out, everything goes out, the connection, everything. And it’s hours and hours without internet,” wrote one user. Another added, “From so many power cuts, the connection got messed up, and since then, there’s been no 3G or 4G.”
Citizen complaints arise in the context of an officially recognized energy crisis, which has led ETECSA to reduce services and modify its attention to the public throughout the country. The company explained that power outages forced it to limit procedures and prioritize only the reception of complaints and incidents.
Despite these explanations, users continue to question the lack of concrete solutions and the contrast between the poor quality of service and the ongoing availability of offers in foreign currency.
"Where are the rights that we, the customers, have?" asked the whistleblower in one of the comments following their post, a concern that is echoed by many users of telecommunications services in Cuba.
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