direct-telecom

At Direct Telecom, we hear shocking stories from our clients on a day to day basis with which we could no doubt write a book about frustration and utter dissapointment.  People have either lost their phone number, simply got disconnected without prior notice, have been overcharged, or suddenly got themselves signed up for a service they never even asked for!

We feel this space could be usefull to share stories and experiences with Telefónica (or any other provider) so that we can hopefully help eachother and not fall into the same trap. We therefore invite you to post your comments that will with no doubt be extremely helpful and very much appreciated.

Remember that if you are unsure when dealing with Telefónica, please do call us and we will be delighted to help.

the Direct Telecom Team.

One of the biggest advantages of having an Internet connection is that you can do a lot of things faster and cheaper online, avoiding unnecessary hassle and saving time and money in the process. But have you ever thought that you can also use less energy, save whole reams of paper and contribute to a better environment by using the Internet for many of your everyday tasks?

That’s right! And here are some ideas to get you started. We’re sure you can think up many more, so please do share them with us by adding a comment to this post.

And being able to do so much online from the comfort of your home doesn’t mean you have to be a couch potato. On the contrary, you’ll have more time to go out and enjoy the things you really like doing.

Send E-mail and save the trees

This one must be quite obvious, but just think about it. Free, instantaneous communication to anywhere in the world without using paper (remember that even recycled paper has an environmental cost) and no post van needed to drive your letter around! With an increasing number of people and businesses getting their own e-mail accounts you’ll have more and more opportunities to be greener by not using paper and to save money on stamps and get quicker replies from your contacts too.

Ditch your car and shop online

When you shop online, you don’t have to waste time and money driving around shops getting stuck in traffic and spewing out toxic gases into the atmosphere. And whether you’re looking to buy the latest electronic gadget or simply hunting for yet another woolly scarf for dad’s birthday, you can easily compare prices and get the best deal on the Internet. Even in cases where you absolutely must visit the shop and see the product in your hands, you can cut down drastically on a lot of commuting by checking online first and visiting just the one or two shops with the best prices.

What’s more, many supermarkets now offer you the chance to shop for groceries online. One example is Mercadona supermarket in Spain, where you can simply visit their website, tick off the products you require and place an order within minutes. Mercadona will deliver you shopping to your door and guarantees that their staff will select your products with the same care you would. You do have to pay a small fee for the service, but that is generally much less than the value of the time and fuel you use to do it yourself. And one delivery van servicing dozens of online shoppers means less traffic congestion, less emissions and a better environment for us all.

More news – No paper!

Why pay a Euro or two for a newspaper when you can get all the latest news online for free the very same day things happen? And again you’re saving on paper, and even some exhaust from newspaper delivery vans too. Once you see the amazing selection of free news websites – many with the same content as your traditional paper – you’re guaranteed not to miss the old fish ‘n’ chip wrapper type you used to pay for at the newsagent’s.

Get started by visiting www.bbcnews.com and www.typicallyspanish.com or just search for your favourite newspaper’s website on Google.

Wave the dreaded bank queues and wasteful paperwork goodbye

Gone are the days of queuing for ages at the bank to make a money transfer or whatnot. Nowadays, there’s almost nothing you cannot do online except withdraw or deposit actual cash. Besides, most banks have very secure websites and servers and are constantly improving their technology to make online banking easier and safer than ever. Your bank will provide you with the necessary details you need to access your account online. This way you save time, avoid having to drive around and even do away with the piles of tree-eating paperwork that is inevitable when banks process your transactions manually.

Get cheaper travel tickets or even organise your whole holiday online

From flights, to hotels, to airport parking, if you’re going anywhere, you can book it all online and usually at very much reduced rates compared to your travel agent. Once again, the Internet is your best friend when it comes to shopping around for the best deals and comparing prices from the comfort of your home, saving time, hassle and needless driving around in your car. Besides, you will find other travellers’ online reviews of hotels, restaurants and attractions, so you easily can easily find out where to get the best value for your money. You can even research your destination at leisure with the many online holiday guides, complete with photos and lots of other useful information.

Try websites like www.expedia.co.uk or www.rumbo.es for flights, hotels and car hire. And www.fodors.com is excellent for getting ideas and information on where to visit and what attractions to see as well as for finding the answers to a thousand other questions about planning your trip.

Use up-to-date, lightning fast and paper free online information directories

Need a plumber urgently? Lost the phone number of an old friend? You can look up all sorts of information faster in online business and telephone directories and the information you get is surely more up to date too! There are many different business directories and other information services available. Just for starters, try the Spanish yellow pages (www.paginasamarillas.es) and telephone directory (blancas.paginasamarillas.es). Imagine the paper saving when printed directories eventually become unnecessary.

Find all you need to know using online dictionaries and encyclopaedias

On the subject of paper saving, what’s the point of having dozens of encyclopaedia volumes spanning from wall to wall if you can find more up-to-date information online for free? The same thing goes for dictionaries, whether you need to translate a word into Spanish or look up a definition. We’re sure you know about Wikipedia, but you might also want to try Microsoft Encarta Online or search dozens of specialised encyclopaedias at one go on www.encyclopedia.com. Try www.dictionary.com for definitions and www.wordreference.com for translating from and to any of several languages.

Music and Films the greener way

Using software such as iTunes, you can legally download the music of your choice for very low fees. You can enjoy your songs on your computer or MP3 player and don’t have to burn them on CD if you don’t use that format, thus saving on plastic and paper. It may not sound like much, but when it comes to the environment every little bit counts!

Besides, more and more movie production firms are offering the possibility to download movies online, and in a nearby future, you will be able to watch worldwide TV channels directly through the Internet. No more late night trudging to your local movie rental and, worse still, having to make the trip again the next day to return the DVD means more potential fuel savings.

And don’t forget to share your own ideas for using the Internet to be greener by dropping us a note in our comments section!

Up until now, if you lived in a rural part of Spain and wanted to enjoy a good, fast ADSL broadband internet connection from your home, you were out of luck! You either accepted Telefonica’s offer of 512Kbps ADSL for the price of their faster ADSL connections, or nothing! And worst of all, you had no way of getting free calls to all fixed lines in Spain like you can in town.

Now, despite the fact that Telefonica has been fighting tooth and nail to retain the monopoly on its rural ADSL infrastructure in Spain and block out all other Spanish telecommunications operators, Direct Telecom has finally gained access!

We are very happy to finally be able to offer you a choice of top quality ADSL broadband connections to your country home in Spain at speeds of up to 4 Megabits per second! And free national telephone calls to fixed lines too!

What is the difference between an ordinary ADSL and a Rural ADSL?
Hundreds of clients have contacted us to contract our ordinary ADSL service, but were dissapointed to find that their Telefónica landline was classed as “Rural ADSL Zone” when we check for ADSL network coverage.  Until now, the ADSL connection could only be ordered with Telefónica until now.
In principle there is not much difference other than the backbone technology used to provide you with ADSL access, but it is still necessary to have a Telefónica landline in order to be able to contract the Rural ADSL service with Direct Telecom.

How do I know if I am in the “Rural ADSL” area or not?
Contact us on 902 107 111, and we can tell you as we can check this in our systems.
If you do not have a Telefónica landline and require Internet access, check to see if you are in our wireless area.
Take a look at our price list and see for yourself how Direct Telecom always offers you the best choice of services to suit all needs and budgets:

We are also introducing a special flat rate Internet service called Direct Dial-Up 24/7 for those rural areas still not covered by the broadband ADSL infrastructure. This will cost just 19.50€ / month.

We would also like to remind you of our lightning fast 4 Megabit and 8 Megabit ADSL Internet connection services specially tailored for businesses in urban areas. These cost 89.90€ and 119€ a month respectively.

These services are just another example of how, at Direct Telecom, we are constantly trying to offer all our customers a wider choice and value for money. No matter who you are or where you live!

Contact us now for more information!

 

Maggie Lennard has recently been invited to join the Board of Directors at Direct Telecom. “What a combination says Barrie Wainwright” CEO of Direct Telecom.  “Maggie Lennard joined us only two years ago as Accounts Manager – a job that Maggie was well qualified for – with a B.A. Hons. in Mathematics. Maggie has also worked as a Maths Teacher, Compère and Radio Presenter. Well known and respected throughout the Canaries for her bubbly personality and wit Maggie soon got to grips with the Direct Telecom’s ever increasing client platform handling all the accounts”  “Apart from helping to produce the first on-line programme for clients to access their own billing records” says Barrie “Maggie was also involved in the launch of Direct Telecom’s ADSL Broadband service – in direct competition to the bigger players in the Telecoms market. I had known Maggie for some time” he says “and when she applied for the vacancy I realized her potential would be an enormous asset to the company and this has now proven to be the case as demonstrated by her elevation to Director level”.  “Maggie’s energy will now assist in leading the Company to even greater levels - Direct Telecom has the best customer service in Spain which is reflected in the praise received from our clients, and I as CEO am particularly proud of all the employees of Direct Telecom, the joint teamwork has lead to an excellent atmosphere in the office”. Maggie says “I was delighted when Barrie approached me with the offer of a seat on the board; I had put all my energy into increasing Direct Telecom’s turnover, whilst managing to reduce some of our key rates, and continue to ensure that Direct Telecom remains competitive in an increasingly cut throat business.” So what does the future hold for Direct Telecom? Maggie adds, “We are currently in negotiation with several companies and will soon be able to offer WiFi internet access to clients who live in remote areas of Spain, and therefore cannot connect in the usual way, this also includes people who don’t have a land line. More good news is that many of our ADSL clients’ connections are being upgraded to 3MB now - or in the very near future.” And for those who don’t have or want the internet? Maggie says, “So many people only have mobiles these days, and we should have some very exciting news soon regarding low cost mobile rates from Direct Telecom.”www.direct-telecom.es     

 

I have been pestered in recent weeks by telecommunications companies “cold calling”. I always tell them to get lost because Direct Telecom gives me a first class service, and I don’t care what their “offer of the month” is they can’t compete with your service.

Due to the high demand of many of our thousands of clients, Direct Telecom has developed a service that will simply make life easier and especially satisfy clients who are constantly on the move and particularly the ‘swallows’.
The service in question is essentially a “call divert feature” that will automatically divert the calls you receive on your normal landline at home to an external number of your choice and simultaneously benefit from Direct Telecom’s extra Low Cost VoIP rates.  This service is in fact already available to all Direct Telecom’s ADSL clients as it is an imbedded feature of our ADSL Internet equipment.  Whereas Telefónica will charge you their standard international rates plus the connection charge to divert a call, with Direct Telecom’s ADSL & call divert feature, you will not be charged for the call connection charge and the price for the call divert to your mobile or UK landline will be charged at very low VoIP rates! 
For example, if you are back in the UK for a few days, or 3 months, you can set your ADSL Router to divert all the calls over VoIP to your UK landline or mobile.  As far as the caller is concerned, they are not even aware that you are away as you will be able to take the call from your UK phone as if you were in Spain.
The only cost involved for you is the VoIP call from your home to the telephone number you have chosen.  If you decide to divert the call to your UK landline, the call would cost you only 2.6 cts/min or even 1.48 cts/min if you contract the “VoIP Smart” call plan.  This is undoubtedly the best way to stay in contact while you are away, and can be particularly interesting for businesses or individuals working from home….no one needs to know you are not in your office!
If you do not yet have Direct Telecom’s ADSL Broadband with this feature packed equipment and service, then this is an excellent reason to get it now!

Direct Telecom is growing, and is doing so at a faster rate than was initially expected thanks to our solid client fidelity and service recommendations.  Although many telecoms companies are struggling and suffering from competition with never ending price cuts, Direct Telecom’s expansion programme aims to double the existing client data base by the end of the year, and is already ahead of its target.

Disgruntled Telefonica customers and consumers at large have been crying out for years for companies like Direct Telecom to give them alternative telecommunications products at more competitive prices. Telefonica, on the other hand used its dominant position in the market to make sure that will not happen – especially in the case of ADSL – deliberately inhibiting the growth of its EU competitors and even forcing them to operate at a loss in attempt to match the telecoms giant’s ‘bulk’ prices.

Consumers have long been unhappy with Telefonica and its devious and manipulative ways that guaranteed it a virtual monopoly of the telephone and ADSL markets in Spain. It hardly comes as a surprise to anyone that Spanish consumers pay 20% more for ADSL Internet access than the average in the EU-15 group of countries, while ADSL penetration index is 20% lower and growth a whopping 30% lower. This means that Telefonica is sitting pretty raking in the cash by charging its current customers more, while not bothering to extend its services to areas without ADSL coverage and – to add insult to injury – preventing its competitors like Direct Telecom from filling in these gaps in the market.

Spanish consumers are not just very unhappy indeed. They’re furious! But now their plight against Telefonica has finally been vindicated by the EU, with the  European Commission slamming a 151.8 million Euro fine on Telefonica for its “very serious” and long-lasting abuse of its dominant market position. This massive fine is the second largest ever imposed by the European Commission, surpassed only by Microsoft’s 2004 EU fine – until now, sanctions had only been imposed on resellers of Telefonica’s products, Wanadoo and Deutsche Telecom, the company behind Ya.com.

Finally, a light has appeared at the end of the long dark tunnel of Spain’s telecommunications monopoly. At Direct Telecom, we look forward to the day when Telefonica will be forced to recognise and accept fair competition from other EU telecoms companies. This will hopefully spell the end of the artificially inflated prices that Telefonica is forcing upon begrudging Spanish consumers and will also make things easier for the many people who would rather not have anything to do with Telefonica in the first place.

Until this happens, we, at Direct Telecom will remain at the forefront of this battle, together with the majority of Spanish consumers, exerting pressure on the EU and Spanish authorities who have the power to bring about the much needed reform of Spain’s telecoms market.

If you run a computer shop, telecommunications outlet or similar business, you can now share in Direct Telecom’s outstanding success! We are looking for Affiliate Resellers to promote our ADSL Broadband Internet and VoIP Low Cost Call service, as well as the award-winning FRITZ!Box Router in return for very attractive commissions.

Don’t pass up the chance to bring an exciting range of alternative telephony and Internet services to your clients! Rock-bottom rates on international calls and top quality broadband Internet at substantial savings. Just what they are looking for!

When you join us as a Direct Telecom Affiliate Reseller, we will provide you with all the tools and information you need to offer our services to your clients, including our own billing system with which you can keep track of your Direct Telecom clients. And of course, we will help and support you every step of the way, to make sure that this venture is an absolute success.

If you are interested in becoming a Direct Telecom Affiliate Reseller we want to hear from you right away! Please contact us for more information.

Get your FREE UK phone number diverted to your Spanish phone line with Direct Telecom.

Anyone in the UK will be able to call you in Spain for the price of a local call! Just 4p a minute with per second billing.

With your FREE 0844 or 0871 phone number, it will be cheaper than ever for family, friends and even potential business clients in the UK to be in touch with you in Spain. And not only do you pay absolutely nothing, but with your business number, you can optionally even make money when people call you!

Are you losing out to expensive international call rates? Do you want to be easily reachable from the UK even when you’re in Spain?

Read more about our FREE UK phone numbers or contact Direct Telecom now for more information.

Angry at rising mobile phone call prices in Spain? Join the club!

But, trust Direct Telecom to come up with a magnificent solution for our customers in Spain – our new Low-Cost Calls from Your Mobile Phone service!

Now you can be in contact with anyone, anywhere in the world for incredibly low prices even when you’re on the move!

How’s that even possible?

Actually the way it works is quite simple. After signing up for Direct Telecom’s Low-Cost Calls from Your Mobile Phone service, you set our special number as a preferential number (or frequently called number) with your Spanish mobile operator so you can pay as little as 1.2 Euro-cents a minute to contact our Low-Cost Call system. Then you can use your mobile phone to make low-cost international phone calls through us at our rock-bottom rates! (Plus the minimal cost your operator charges you for the preferential call to us)

Simple, yes… but ingenious too!

With this unique pre-paid system, you can now make low-cost calls even if you do not own a landline in Spain.

Be in touch with colleagues, friends or loved ones abroad from your Spanish mobile phone… at any time, from wherever you are. And for a fraction of the cost of even a normal landline international call!

Contact Direct Telecom now to find out more.