I hate your answering machine

February 15, 2007 - 10:37 AM by David Brinn

If there’s one company that symbolizes the pastiche that makes up the Israeli psyche – the Zionist spirit, idiosyncrasies, incompetence, achievements, and ambivalence – it has to be Bezeq, the national phone carrier.

Bezeq

As an immigrant, from the time I moved here Bezeq has been part of my life for better or worse… and usually for aggravation. In the old days, you had those ridiculous asimonim you had to use for the pay phones, the lines outside of the country either crackled, echoed, or didn’t work at all, and the prices were outrageous.

Things have improved greatly in the last decade or so, but with Bezeq’s monopoly cracked and the market opening up, the options have become too numerous and attractive to pass up.

So, for the first time in 21 years, we’re no longer paying a Bezeq bill! We’ve gotten rid of our Bezeq home phone number and moved over to HOT – a cable TV provider that also provides internet service, and recently began offering HOT phone numbers in an economical overall package.

HOT

It must be similar to the feeling when Americans no longer had to rely on the life support teat provided by Ma Bell, but the sense of liberation is evident – no more convoluted bills that are impossible to decipher.

When I sent around an email with our new number, one friend, who just founded his own company, responded that he too wanted to get rid of his Bezeq number, but was afraid to deal with it.

‘Are you nuts? You started your own company! You can’t do a little thing like switch your phone company?’ I responded.

His answer –

‘You tell me – what’s easier to deal with:

a) making a living, income tax authority, value added tax authority, national insurance, accountants, printers, etc
or
b) Bezeq’

So, I’m here to tell my friend, and all others who feel like him that the years of fear and intimidation are over – you can take the destiny of your own phone number into your own hands!

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