Recently, we’ve been having serious WiFi issues. We’ve been able to get through the day with only a few outages. But, after dinner, when the insects are too awful to sit on the veranda, we head to the bedroom to prop ourselves up with pillows on the bed and stream a few hours of various TV series.
We tend to prefer series to movies and are constantly checking for new series that may appeal to us. Tom doesn’t care for science fiction or fantasy-type series, and I don’t care for war documentaries. As a result, we don’t watch either. If something pops up that one of us wants to see in these categories, we can watch it on our own. During the day, Tom often streams parts of recent football games from teams other than the Minnesota Vikings, which he watches entirely, usually in bed on Sunday nights.
Over the past ten days or so, we have yet to be able to stream a single show on Hulu, Netflix, or Amazon Prime without the WiFi going out every 30 seconds or so. This has prevented us from watching anything, although we’ve continued to try each night. Louise reported this to Tech Connect, the provider in Komatipoort, which generally has provided good service.
I’ve spent hours texting back and forth with the provider, trying to figure out a solution. From the start, I insisted it was a router problem. Routers go bad, and the same router has been in this house for years. But they insisted it wasn’t the router after trying many other fixes. I persisted, and finally, the company ordered us a high-grade enhanced power router which has yet to arrive, and they’ve reported to us each day. They’ve been very responsive except on this one point.
We’re hesitating to go anywhere because we fear the router will come in, and they’ll want to install it immediately. I’m sure they want me to get off their back, although I’ve always been gracious and appreciative of their help, and they, in return, have always been very nice.
Years ago, in our old lives, we had constant problems over a few years with cable TV from Mediacom, the provider in our area at that time. From what I hear, in the US, cable TV isn’t used much anymore with the availability of many streaming services. Upstairs in this house is a flat-screen TV with Netflix, but we prefer not to go upstairs at night since it’s hotter up there, and we’d have to use the aircon. Also, I prefer not to go up and down those steep steps, especially in the dark during load shedding.
We never watch TV in a holiday home unless we visit the US or if they have Nat Geo, which we may keep on in the background from time to time if there’s a TV in the living room/lounge. But that has not happened since we were in Fiji in 2015, a long time ago. We have never watched TV while in Africa, instead streaming a few favorite shows when we head to bed.
Last night, in desperation, we watched a movie we had on the hard drive Rita and Gerhard gave me for my last birthday, “A Dog’s Purpose.” I loved the movie, but Tom thought it was “hokey.” I even cried a few times, which I do more in dog movies than others.
We’ve seen most of the movies on the hard drive, or they are science fiction, fantasy types, or action heroes, another theme which Tom doesn’t care to watch. I will watch any movies, but I am not fond of films about the 50s and 60s, the years I was growing up. Go figure.
It’s a miracle that we’ve been able to upload the posts and photos each day, although from time to time, I have been unable to upload photos or save the post as I am working on it. At that point, I copy and paste everything I’ve typed and move it to a Word document to save on the hard drive for when the WiFi returns, so I don’t have to re-write the entire thing. Nothing is more frustrating than losing everything I’ve done.
That’s it for today, folks. Have a fantastic day!
Photo from one year ago today, November 2, 2021:
