Seriously, it FEELS like withdrawal. You NEED a support system in place to deal with the fallout of being internet-less in your own home. Once you're used to having WiFi access, you seriously wonder how you ever lived without it.
You laugh, but you know exactly what I mean...
Oh sure, we have 3G (no 4G here, yet) & a large data package for our phones, but it's not the same. Videos take AGES to load, there's no "streaming" anything, updating a status... Sending a text... Uploading a picture? Yeah, might as well brew a cup of tea & fold a load of laundry.
I'm not kidding...
If the kids had homework online or we needed to download a new book for bedtime or Lindsey needed to work on his dissertation, we were huffing it down to the little Italian cafe to buy a cappuccino for the privilege of using their WiFi. Using the phone "hotspot" just wasn't cutting it.
So, it was a pretty big deal when I got a call from Lindsey saying the installation technician would be over in about two hours!
Fabulous!!! Of couse, I wasn't home.
A friend of mine (Kristi Shipman, also new to AD from Rockwall!!!) had come with me downtown to the, er... a mall. We were both on the hunt for swim caps (for kids) & she needed white bike shorts for her daughter... had to be white! Two sets of eyes are always better than one. Plus, it would be a great time to get to know each other better (we'd never met in Rockwall, but we had mutual friends.... Thank you, Susan & Annie!!)
We quickly finished our shopping (success on both counts!) & headed back. We would not be "ladies that lunch" today...
The little talking box had our arrival timed to line up almost exactly with the tech's ETA. Awesome!
Then we hit a snag. There was an accident. I have to say, it's the first one I've seen here so I "rubber-necked" through the whole mess. I think one car bumped another, but no one was hurt. The wrecker was already on the scene... But we'd lost 3 precious minutes...
Lindsey was texting me:
"Where are you?"
"He's going to be there any second!"
"We CAN'T miss him!! I don't know when they'll reschedule!"
Dude, I know!!! But I'm driving! I can't text back!!!!
He finally called me. I told him to tell the tech I would be 3 minutes late; I was in the complex parking in the garage. "Beg him to wait", I said....
He did wait. Whew!!
And then.... I waited.
It was a comedy of errors.
First, the wiring access panel inside our apartment was locked. He asked me for the key. Key? What key?! No one provided us with a key.
"No problem." So he jimmied it with a screwdriver.
Then, he had to "check the line" which required a trip downstairs to the main panel for the complex block. He left his backpack, told me he'd be back in 20 minutes & left.
Thirty minutes later... He's back with a friend (helper?) But, turns out security wouldn't let him access the main panel downstairs without the work order... which was in his backpack. (I guess guys dressed in black etisalat logo Polos can't be trusted?)
Except now, security was on their lunch break; we'd have to wait 30 minutes before he could go back down. Seriously?!
"No problem." He'd just start getting the panel ready for the equipment.
"Getting the panel ready" consisted of breaking out an entire section of pre-fab slots & brackets. (I guess our panel was made for a previous model?) The guy in the black polo did all the work; the guy in the white kurta watched.
I affectionately think of them as Tweedle-dee & Tweedle-dum, respectively. They were here over 2 hours.
After Tweedle-dee was able to confirm that the line was indeed working, he activated a phone jack (just one....) & a TV jack (again, just one...), & THEN the internet.
Notice all those little ports across the top. The first 10 are labeled & correspond to the 10 jacks located around the apartment. At this point in the installation, he'd only got a phone line connected...
So I asked him, "But what if I wanted a phone upstairs? .. Or a TV?"
"No problem. You just move the phone wire from the jack where it is now to the new jack for upstairs in this access panel... Same for the TV. "
Ummm, okay. But then the phone (or TV) downstairs won't work anymore, right?
"Yes." Then he looked at me like I was crazy to want more than one phone or TV in the WHOLE house.
He got the internet hooked up & asked me to access the WiFi on my phone to check the signal strength. Yippee!! Four bars just about everywhere downstairs & two to three upstairs with the exception of our bedroom. (Of. Course.)
He told me that's the best he could do; I'd need to get a signal repeater. (I'm pretty sure Lindsey already has one here waiting in a box....)
He then spent 15 minutes hooking up the TV & configuring all the settings for the package we purchased. He gave me a quick tutorial on how the box works (it's not a DVR), packed up his tools, & collected his co-worker/watcher.
On the way out the door he says, "I'll bring you a phone for the wall in a few days. I don't have one with me at the moment."
... Sure, Tweedle-dee, no problem!
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