A resident of Contramaestre, Santiago de Cuba, published a public complaint on Facebook against ETECSA, describing the connectivity situation in his municipality as "a true odyssey" and demanding answers regarding data packages that expire without being used.
"The patience has run out. We spent a good part of the day and night without a stable connection. Meanwhile, the packages are expiring," wrote Arnoldo Fernández, who directly questioned the state telecommunications company for charging for a service that users cannot benefit from.
The author pointed out the contradiction of "free" internet promotions during specific hours: if there is no signal during those times, the offer makes no sense. "It's like selling a product that the customer cannot consume before it expires," he summarized.
Fernández also questioned the state monopoly regarding remittances from abroad: "Who is responsible for the international transfers that our relatives abroad make with such effort?"
The post garnered comments from users across different provinces who confirmed that the issue is not exclusive to Santiago de Cuba.
"This situation is across the entire country," wrote Ángel Salvador Escandell Zamora, a resident of Centro Habana, who recounted that he went to the ETECSA Commercial Office on Águila Street to complain about the inefficiency of the service. The response he received was that the company is also affected by power outages and that its equipment "is not designed for long outages," and that investments to improve are progressing "slowly."
When Escandell Zamora asked if it was possible to sue ETECSA for "misleading promotion," the response was clear: both in Cuba and from abroad, a lawsuit "is pointless." The user concluded that "there are no strong, capable lawyers who can legally take on this company, which, to be honest, has no commercial competition."
Another commentator, Pedro Pablo Pérez Santos, reported an equally absurd situation: he has been without landline service or Nauta Hogar for days because "a card in a cabinet is damaged," yet he must continue paying to avoid permanently losing the line.
The discomfort is set against an accumulated crisis lasting months against ETECSA. In May 2025, the company implemented a significant fare adjustment that limited top-ups in Cuban pesos to 360 pesos every 30 days, pushing users towards dollar plans. According to data released by the government itself, in the 46 days following the fare increase, ETECSA collected more than 24.8 million dollars, about 540,000 USD daily, without that amount resulting in visible improvements.
The chronic electrical crisis exacerbates the situation: ETECSA admitted that the blackouts leave approximately 47.5% of mobile radio bases and 56.5% of telecommunications cabinets out of service, and that the infrastructure cannot withstand more than 24 hours without electrical supply. In March 2026, a massive blackout caused a 65% drop in national internet traffic, with recovery taking nearly 29 hours.
Fernandez concluded his complaint with a demand that goes beyond connectivity: "We, the users, are not asking for a gift. We are paying for a service. And when a service is charged, the least the customer deserves is to receive it with reasonable quality and to get responses when it fails. It’s not just about the Internet. It's about respect."
The comedian Ulises Toirac published an open letter in August against ETECSA demanding that the company reinvest the revenue from the rate hike or allow alternatives like Starlink, a demand that resonates strongly with each new citizen complaint.
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