Telecom New Zealand sounds no different than any telecom in the U.S. To complicate and confound matters further, the telecoms that do have telephone contact options are outsourcing the services more and more — which means some bloke in Boise, Idaho will wind up airing grievances to someone in Mumbai, India. The bigger the telecom, the bigger the problems. It certainly opens the door for niche competitors. But none of it ever appears to benefit consumers.  

Tell me. I was just trying to do this literally two hours ago.

Oh, the irony.

—K  

It’s 123, but good luck: they may not have their phones manned after 7 p.m. It was a pain in the neck trying to call these guys at 1 a.m. when my problem was not solved, as there is no conceivable way, at all, of getting a human being.
   Highjive, I hear what you are saying. I suppose I should be grateful that someone in the same country answers my call—though with my late-night problem, I wished it were outsourced to someone. But in the world of Telecom New Zealand, no one in the world has a phone problem after 11 p.m.