Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Adjusting for Internet


Ever had problems with your internet service???  In Zambia, they are usually created by the provider instead of being a user error.  Case in point... About 2 weeks ago, our internet provider changed the tower from which they were sending our signal.  They moved it from Matero, which is near downtown to Manda Hill, which is closer.  You would think this would be an improvement right???  


Here in Zambia, we have receivers which are mounted on top of poles. These receivers are supposed to point to the appropriate tower. When they are installed, they are bolted in tight and typically not supposed to be moved. When they changed the signal to Manda Hill, they did it without informing us that they were doing so. When we called to have the issue resolved, they told us that we could adjust the pole ourselves or wait on their service team to adjust it for us (which could take several days). I opted for adjusting it myself. What I didn't realize was that there was a huge issue (a 60 foot issue) which did not allow for us to pick up the signal from Manda Hill--a 60 foot avocado tree. I called the provider back and they replied that they would monitor our signal from the office instead of sending a team out to route our signal back to the Matero tower.


What I have learned in the first 2 & 1/2 months here is that customer service in Africa is a whole lot different than customer service in the States. After another couple of days with intermittent internet access, myself and our guard Charles took things into our own hands. With a hatchet, we took turns bringing down this mammoth of a tree "pangono pangono" (bit by bit). Thought you would like to see some of the pics. I do have to say, that our internet service is "smoking" compared to the last two weeks--no thanks to Afri-Connect.

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