Right, so this was supposed to be a post on food, but I haven't been able to post for a few days for a couple of different reasons. So here's a little insight into how things work, or don't work sometimes and why my post has been delayed.
We started out having real difficulty with our Internet about a week ago. Here's a little history about our Internet.
When we arrived we needed a home phone, easy, there is only one provider. They have a monopoly because they control all the lines, kind of like Bell used to in Canada. So, when we went to the phone company we found out that they did broadband dsl too. We said terrific sign us up.
One day the Internet just up and stopped working, but on international sites only. We could get South African websites, but not international ones. What we didn't know was that the dsl provider has caps for local and separate caps for international bandwidth. We never ran out of bandwidth in Canada so after a few frustrating days of thinking our router was broken or our modem, we called the provider. We had run out of bandwidth the first week. Sigh.
The rep on the phone told us we just needed to go to the website to top it up. Marvelous. Off to the website I went, they only accept South African credit cards, so I entered all my brand spanking new South African Visa Credit Card information and .......... nothing. I tell dh I'll go to the bank and get this sorted out the next day. Next day and 1 1/2 hours later, with 3 very bored and unhappy children, nothing is sorted out because the bank has no idea what the problem is and I can't change anything anyway because dh is the account holder and I'm just a dependant. Grrrrrr! So, the next, next day dh calls the number the bank gives me and they say sorry can't do this on the phone you need to see your personal banker. The appointment is set up for 2 days later.
In the meantime we go on to plan B: buy an Internet stick from a cell provider and ............... nothing, can't figure out why, maybe because we live in the country. Sigh! By now, we're on day 3 maybe 4 or 5 of no Internet.
Time to try plan C: go buy more Internet at the grocery store, because you can do that here. I put in all the information just like it says on the receipt................. nothing. So I call the help number on the receipt and they say, no those instructions are wrong, so they talk me through getting the extra bandwidth. Hooray we have Internet again.
Dh goes to see his banker and is told, oh no, you cannot make online purchases, you are not South African. So we have a credit card, but we can only use it in stores, not on line. Sigh!
So, while all this is going on I discover that the Internet provider has a data management portal. You can request by e-mail to increase your cap, which would have been nice to know when I called them in the first place. So I e-mail to increase the cap to the absolute maximum and ............. nothing. Sigh. Turns out I have to reset the router back to the original provider, so a long phone call later we are back up and running, until 2 1/2 weeks later we reach the maximum cap. Still 6 days left in the month before it rolls over, so I buy more bandwidth at the grocery store.
By now I have become an expert at changing the router settings. So when the same thing happens the next month I'm ready. I have located an Internet provider with a higher cap, I can honour the ADSL contract with the phone company by paying them for the line and just have the bandwidth provided by someone else. Terrific done. The other company will do direct withdrawl, no South African credit card required. That was 1 1/2 weeks ago and that's when it all fell apart.
So, I changed the router settings again and it worked, for 20 min. Then our Internet access was intermittent. On for 5 minutes off for 10. Then on for 1 hour and off again. Over the course of a week we lost our Internet 8 or 9 times a day. After much research dh decided that it's the router and he's going to buy a new one, he'll bring it home that night. Just as I am ready to chuck the current wireless router at the wall, I am saved by the fact that the power went out, again, for the 3rd time in 4 weeks. It's not the whole city or anything, just 3 of the houses in the subdivision.
It happens so much that the next door neighbours have a generator. Not just any generator either, when I first saw this giant blue thing over the fence it reminded me of a Zamboni without wheels, it's that big. I wasn't sure what it was, maybe a furnace or air conditioner. Nope, it's a generator. In the day time I know when the power goes out, not because the digital clock goes out, but because the neighbours generator starts humming. Either that or when the house alarm starts going haywire to tell me the power has gone out.
So, the router is saved from certain death, by virtue of the fact that I have no power. Now, no power isn't a huge deal. The stove top is gas, so I just need a lighter to cook. We have flashlights and we go to bed pretty early anyway so it's not such a big deal. Still, dh figured it would be easier to go out to dinner, so we did. We got home from dinner and still no power. This is 8 hours later. It was kind of like the old saying "I'll fix your headache by stomping on your foot." I forgot about the Internet headache because I kept stubbing my toes in the dark. :)
Dh promptly falls asleep, because it's dark and there is no television. I, on the other hand, stay awake until the power comes back on, which it thankfully it does at 22:15 (they use the 24 hour clock here, but that's a whole other post). I dutifully set all the clocks, again, turn off the alarm when it starts going haywire to tell me the power is back on, turn off ds #2's bedroom light. I suppose he tried it one last time before he went to sleep, just to see if it worked. Then I go to sleep.
The next day dawns and I'm back to trying to sort out the Internet only this time with the new router. Thankfully, the kids have a friend in the neighbourhood and it's the school holidays, so everyone is out and about to play. They are not around to bare witness to their mother turning into Mr. Hyde. So the new router works beautifully, for 20 min. then nothing. I call the provider who tells me that he can't help if I'm not using the router they provided. Sigh.
I switch back to the original router and call them back. We've gotten so far as him verifying that I am me. He gets 3 steps into the fix and the phone dies. Not a power failure, just the phone. I have given him all my contact information so I wait for him to call me back. 15min later I give up and call them, and I start the whole process of verifying that I am who I am and after 25min. I have an Internet connection again and I'm good to go and then the power goes out again. Grrrrr.
I SMS the neighbour in charge of our electrical problems and she tells me that the fix last night was temporary patch and now they are really going to actually fix the problem, it shouldn't be out for too long this time. So the joy of the Internet fix is tempered by the fact that I cannot use it because they are fixing the power.
After the power comes back on, I try with the new router again. No luck. I give up and put the old router back on again. I know my limits. Dh and I spend a quiet evening in front of the tv watching the first episode of An Idiot Abroad executive produced by Ricky Gervais. Totally hysterical given our current situation.
Knock on wood today has been a good day. I managed to get the new router working, it's a lot faster than the old one, and the power has not gone out once. I have learned a few things from this experience. First, when we get home I will never complain about any of our Internet or phone providers again. Second, setting a router is easy once you've done it a dozen times. Third, I can't understand the South African accent on the IT help line any better than I could understand the Indian one when I called Bell. Fourth, patience is indeed a virtue and Fifth, a sense of humour is paramount when you become an expat.
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