So Ross and I have lived in our apartment for almost 5 months now...without internet. Yes, it's as painful as it sounds. We first made this decision to save money and not sign up for yet another monthly bill based on the fact that like most newlyweds, we did not have much money. It sounded really great in our heads, save fifty bucks a month, and drive somewhere to bum free wifi. Wrong. It has probably been one of the most frustrating things in our marriage. Let me explain why. Ross was a substitute last semester. Therefore, whenever he got a subbing job, they posted the location, teacher, and time that he had to arrive at the school on the internet. So basically, before he discovered that he could do it all over the phone, he would have to get up extra early just so that he could go somewhere to get internet in order to know where he would be working that day. For me, it wasn't quite as annoying, but still frustrating none the less. I am still a college student. Therefore, I have lots of assignments that can only be submitted online. My solution to not having internet was that I would have to get to school an hour before my first class every day just so that I could make sure I was caught up on everything that was due. Not that huge of a deal. Anyway, besides the inconvenience that not having access to the internet was causing us, we soon found out that it was inconveniencing other people as well. Because Ross and I are both youth leaders, we get a couple of emails per week that lays out the plan for The Underground. As leaders, we are expected to respond with our feedback in a timely manner. This is really hard to do when your internet access is limited to finding free wifi somewhere. So basically, one of our friends, (I won't mention any names....) kept explaining to us that it would pretty much make his life easier if we got internet.
After many months of agony, we finally decided to get internet...on our phones. I had this brilliant idea that in the long run it would be cheaper, and after all, we both have smart phones so why not let them do what they were made to do..surf the internet. So I will be the first to admit that this was not my greatest idea. While it did allow us to use the internet, Verizon overcharged us (anyone surprised?) and we were not able to access certain things the way that we thought that we would be able to.
And then the day finally came. On June 23, 2009 I realized that I was wrong, and I sucked it up and called Time Warner Cable. Ross found a really great promotion that allowed us to get a free modem and a free wireless router with no contract. I signed up for it, set up a installation time, and it was done, or so we thought.... The installation guy came to install the modem and this is what we ended up with
As you can tell, this is a wire. Based on the fact that I have to use a wire in order to connect to the internet, I can conclude that I do not have wireless internet. After realizing this, and talking it over with the installation guy Dave, I called Time Warner back. Mindy tells me that I would need to order the router for $50, pay $14 for shipping and handling, and then get a $50 rebate in the mail. Shipping charges = not a free router. After telling Ross this saga over the phone, he decides to also call and give Time Warner his wrath. As it turns out, Time Warner had nothing to do with this lame rip off. The promotion that we signed up for was actually though this place called offerwire.com. What the crap? So basically, Time Warner is our internet provider, but they can not help me solve the problem because they are not the ones who signed me up. It's this little thing called "authorized retailer." Man, do I have a lot to learn.
Ross and I are going to Target to purchase a wireless router this afternoon...
All of that to say, we will officially have wireless internet sometime this evening. Also, technology may or may not take over our lives...
