Are all telecoms companies irredeemably tulip?

[nomadd]

Yes

This^

[Mich the Tester]

Profit is indeed reward, so any company making a good profit is by definition doing a good job for it's customers.

Oh dear, not this tulipe all over again.

[nomadd]

Look, life for a lot of people is not about 'look how much money we've made'

People with a life and not just a bank account actually care about doing a decent job and feeling good about it.

Are you sure you are cut-out for the world of contracting?

[Mich the Tester]

Are you sure you are cut-out for the world of contracting?

Yes, actually I find I have more freedom to do a reallygood job for a client when I´m not restricted by the working practises of some tulip-for-brains middle manager that got a business degree instead of an education, and I get more satisfaction out of work that way.

[SueEllen]

On the original question:

As a service company for consumers: Yep
As a service company for small and medium sized businesses: Yep
As a service company for large businesses: Yep
As an employer: Yep
As a B2B customer: Yep
As a contractor client: Yep

On the point above about KPN, I worked with them in 2000/1 on a contract in The Hague and they were a decent bunch. Probably the only telecoms contract I've enjoyed.

To be fair as a small business customer I've managed to get decent service from one telecoms providers and ok service from 2 others.

As a consumer I've had some shocking service and have had to resort to threats of regulatory/court action and taking a company to the regulator.

Even the same companies that treat you ok as a small business customer treat you appallingly as a consumer.

[Archangel]

I've had good service from xln for the past few years

[Platypus]

I've had good service from xln for the past few years

My parents too. Once I phoned XLN on their behalf to get their broadband password, customer service was excellent!