Of trenches internet and the girl next door

32 Comments

Dear Telecommunications Company

Imagine waking up to find the front of your yard all dug up.. (again) looking like an archeological dig site.

what bones shall we find here
what bones shall we find here?

And not so much as a warning, a by your leave; silence, nothing, just strangers in work suits digging.
You say Hello.
They say hello, make small talk about the heatwave and ask for some water.

You ask the men at work what they are doing and find out they have been contracted by some telecommunications company to dig trenches to lay cables.

You ask  “didn’t you guys do this again just earlier this year or were you the ones from late last year. Because this is the 3rd or fourth time people been digging up these trenches.”

They say “oh no that wasn’t us, that was someone else contracted by a different company.”

Oh?

So if I formed my own corporation, I would also have to dig up the whole countryside to lay down these cables for super fast internet connection and all that.

Can’t you guys all get along like agree to all pitch in to some single contractor and then just dig the once and for all. Then leave some sort of service pipes so that in the future, for new connections you won’t need to dig up again. Or when evolution of internet connection yields newer faster tech and you need to upgrade it will be easier too.

All this digging can’t be good for the environment, especially now at a time we are busy praying for rain, a deluge of rain at that, so that Kariba dam levels rise up and we can have normal electricity generation, from the hydroelectric power plant. (That is why we are having loadshedding I am told)

Speaking of electricity won’t all this fibre what what, increase the demand on our already strained power grid or you have a secret you are yet to share with us.
Personally I won’t have much access to this wonderfully fast internet (that the packages are usually ridiculously priced being one of the reasons) having electricity for only 6 hours a day between 2300hrs and 0500hrs.

If I do not use the internet on my phone I can go three whole days on a single charge cycle.
Who knew.
Alternative power solutions, Maybe wind or solar powered network towers. How about pocket sized solar Wi-Fi routers (my phone lasts longer on Wi-Fi than on mobile data connection)

alternative power
Alternative power sources

You say that all these cables you lay are so that everyone gets connected that’s a good plan.
Wireless you say but it’s only later you tell me I have buy this expensive hardware (antennas & routers)

And then I wake up to see headlines in the newspapers about companies retrenching which means to my limited street economics some of you are rolling out campaigns you can’t afford to consumers who can’t afford it, this can’t possibly end well, cheap reasonably capped internet sounds like a fair compromise.
I do not want just social media bundles (turning me into a permanent resident in the Hotel California, that is social media, you log out, but never ever leave) I want google, I want GPS, I want to know how fast I run when I jog, I want it all, if you
make my dollar stretch, I will happily give you my next dollar, even if it’s way later on, that is better than me not giving it to you at all. Financial advice from a street bred entrepreneur (read vendor)
But I am no economist I am simply a guy complaining about his dead lawn.

On the upside this time round the guys did not kill the paving on the driveway, (too much) they used some sort of drill, to bore beneath it.
I can’t say the same for the lawn, it will grow back I suppose but I keep wondering isn’t there a better way, you could have at least, apologised gave me free internet for the inconvenience (ok I admit the last bit was fishing)
You killed the shrub just by the corner, I used to wait in its leafy shade for the girl next door.

The internet should be like the ground beneath your feet, everywhere you step….. It’s there.
But hey you to make an omelette you have to break a few eggs…..dig holes, kill lawn, and pay, someone always pays.

Till it rains

~B

32 Comments

    1. You know by better plan I imagine them floating Lil rainbow coloured weather balloons but for the internet hahaha.

      Thanks for popping by ^_^

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      3. Good afternoon, B…sure didn’t know it was 2:25 in the morning when we last spoke. 🙂 If I may ask, where in the world are you? For some reason I thought you were in New York!

        Liked by 1 person

      7. I hadn’t seen your post about where you live, B. Thank you for sharing your world. I’m happy to know a little about your beautiful city and country.

        Liked by 1 person

  5. You’ve just told a Zambian story.
    We too are having people dig every 3 months at same spots to lay new fibre optic cables. Worst part seems to be they’re only digging in few select neighborhoods

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Interesting am wondering how long before when someone accidentally digs up another’s cables or mess around with the power or water lines.

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      Reply

      1. I’ve wondered the same, but these guys seem to know what they are doing and may be in cahoots with each other, or have secretly laid conduit pipes.
        Makes no sense whatsoever how we can’t improve a system of laying cables

        Liked by 1 person

  6. The same thing happens here in our country too, digging up the same trench by multiple agencies for multiple purposes. I felt like you writing about us. 😀
    Great !!!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  9. It’s not much different in the US, at least as concerns digging. They come, they dig–someone else comes, and they dig, too.

    I have no idea why coordination is beyond their reach. We can go to the moon, but we can’t coordinate utilities. *sighs*

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

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