Four days without internet access
By Gina
@Gina145 (3949)
Johannesburg, South Africa
August 21, 2017 8:51am CST
I was online on Thursday afternoon when our landline and internet connection suddenly stopped working. I immediately phoned to report the problem, making mention of the fact that we needed the landline urgently - my elderly mother doesn't use a cellphone so it would be risky to leave her home alone without a way to make contact with the outside world.
At lunchtime on Friday I phoned to see if I could get an update. The line was being checked remotely and if the problem couldn't be solved that way, a technician would be sent out. Once more I emphasized that the repair was urgent. After a quick response the last time our phone was out of order I was optimistic that it would be fixed before the day was out, so I stayed home in case the technician needed access to our house.
Just before 5:00 pm I resigned myself to the fact that we were likely to be without a phone for the entire weekend and I rushed out to buy airtime for my cellphone - it was almost depleted after the two calls I'd made.
Sunday afternoon we were out when I received an unexpected text message - they would be attending to the matter "shortly". On a Sunday? What a pleasant surprise. I was hopeful that I'd finally be able to get online when I got home that night.
No such luck!
The technician finally arrived at 10:30 this morning (Monday), a mere 18 hours later. Hardly what I'd call shortly.
So now I'm wondering whether there's some definition of the word that I'm unaware of. What does "shortly" mean to you?
10 people like this
11 responses
@allen0187 (58582)
• Philippines
22 Aug 17
So sorry you had to experience this.
Glad the phone and internet is back up working for you.
2 people like this
@Gina145 (3949)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
23 Aug 17
@allen0187 It sure does. All we can do is hope that they'll be more careful from now on.
1 person likes this
@Gina145 (3949)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
22 Aug 17
@allen0187 It's a big relief, but I'm terrified it will happen again because the cable was cut by workers laying new cables for upgrading our area to fibre internet connections. As long as those workers are around anything can go wrong without warning.
2 people like this
@LovingMyBabies (85288)
• Valdosta, Georgia
21 Aug 17
No, that's not a short time at all. I'm glad it's fixed for you now though.
2 people like this
@Gina145 (3949)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
22 Aug 17
@LadyDuck I wouldn't be here now if it hadn't been fixed because I don't have internet on my phone. I'm starting to think it's time I got it though, just for emergencies. I'm really concerned that it may happen again because the damage was caused by workers digging up the pavement to lay fibre cables for an internet upgrade. As long as they'll be around I won't feel like our phone is safe.
1 person likes this
@Gina145 (3949)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
22 Aug 17
@LadyDuck I don't have a laptop so there wasn't much I could do. I have a Kindle (which I rarely use) but I find it really difficult to use it for anything other than reading. Besides, I don't have a protective case for it, so I was scared to carry it around with me.
2 people like this
@ilocosboy (45156)
• Philippines
21 Aug 17
I often hear this from customer service, they usually used this word as alibi.
2 people like this
@Gina145 (3949)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
21 Aug 17
@ilocosboy I'm sure that happens here too, but this was probably an automated message. I just don't understand why they sent it on a Sunday afternoon. Nobody really expects them to come then.
2 people like this
@KrauseHome (36448)
• United States
24 Aug 17
And I thought they sometimes were Slow here. I personally sometimes think places like that do not consider things Urgent unless it was to happen to them. At least you have it fixed now, and hope that is going Good.
1 person likes this
@Gina145 (3949)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
24 Aug 17
@KrauseHome So far so good. I just hope the workers don't cut another cable.
Four days sounds bad but the fact that two of them were the weekend didn't really help. And with workers digging up the pavements all over the place to lay cables for fibre internet connections, it's possible that they've had a lot of similar problems to take care of.
@prashu228 (37524)
• India
21 Aug 17
It's happens with me very often. When ever it rains no internet, problem now and then.
1 person likes this
@Gina145 (3949)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
21 Aug 17
@prashu228 It doesn't happen to me often though I went through a period when rain was causing problems too. Fortunately that was fixed a while ago. This was different though, the problem was caused by workers digging up the roads who cut through a telephone cable. My whole street was affected.
2 people like this
@Gina145 (3949)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
22 Aug 17
@sishy7 True, but that's the way things are here. They can't cope with everything that needs doing at the best of times and right now we have workers in the street every day laying cables for fibre internet connections. It was those workers who damaged the phone lines in the first place, leaving our whole street cut off.
1 person likes this
