Do you have alternative plans for communicating?
30. Sep, 2007 
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Here I am, in California, USA, at 11:10 pm. My Comcast internet service has been down for 2 days now, and Comcast tells me I will have to go to a Comcast store tomorrow morning to figure out what the problem could be with my cable modem. Because of this, the 2 days of no internet have resulted in a few issues, including the issue of me not being able to participate in the photography contest by Jeffro. I told him I would participate, and since tonight is the last day of the contest, I realize I will not be able to participate. Long live Comcast, emergency traveling, food and procrastination.
Because of this, I am thinking about many things including one simple question: what alternative communication plans do I have in times like these? What alternative, secondary communication plans or tools do you have in place for such situations?
Do you have secondary, alternative plans for communication in case your primary communication tools and methods do not work? In order to appreciate, you will probably want to communicate. In order to communicate, you probably need a communication medium or a tool. What if such a tool, or tools, simply vanish. Does that mean your display and act of appreciation has to be paused until the communication tool comes back to life?
What will you do in the following 5 scenarios?
- You cannot access your e-mails
- You cannot access the internet
- You cannot send text messages
- You cannot call anyone
- You cannot check your voice mails
- You cannot get a team member or a friend to help you
The backup plan for each of these points could be another point listed above, or something compeltely different. What if all of the above 5 points happened to you? What is your alternative plan for appreciating by communicating if your primary communication tools are not working? I am not experiencing all of the above situations, by the way.
What secondary communication plans and tools am I using?
Since yesterday, I am using a test version of the Helio Ocean to access the internet, send e-mails, and do a few other things like call people or send text messages. Yesterday I went to a university campus library to let the web of the internet stick to me again. For the past 3 hours, I have also been trying to connect to the free wifi offered by my city: Metrofi.
If you are reading this post, it means I was able to connect to a very weak wifi internet signal that my laptop was able to feel in this city. Now I hope I am able to maintain this signal and go participate on the contest by Jeff and update my other [personal] site. Otherwise, the 24 hour over-priced internet access at FedEx-Kinkos may become my secondary, backup communication plan, if I can get there soon.
Thanks for reading. 
I will be getting back to everyone within the next 48 hours, hopefully.
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Quite honestly, for a few days, I would be appreciating whoever cut off my lines of communication for the simple fact of being able to collect my thoughts and re concentrate my efforts on a sole purpose. But, after awhile, the no communication thing would start to get to me and I would be doing anything I could to try and establish a connection between myself and the net.
I use a prepaid service which is more expensive than everything else, but I don’t need a subscription. However, that was not a viable option when I finished my prepaid minutes in the middle of the night, without possibility to go out to buy a new access card. Now I currently have two internet providers, and I hope they won’t go out of service simulaneously.
When this has happened, real life has kicked in. Go take a nap, drink a nice beverage, or play a game.
Jeffro2pto, thanks for the comment. That’s a good scenario, and realistic in several cases. When I was traveling, I also did a lot of offline things, and slowly started wondering about unread e-mails, people waiting for me online, etc.
[PS: I got your e-mail, will get to it soon.
]
Simonne, thanks for sharing: that’s interesting, a prepaid internet service. Is it faster than normal services and reliable also?
True, if you finish it, if the store is the only place to recharge your account then you may be out of luck if the store closes down early. They don’t have over-the-phone renewals/recharging?
Are both of your internet service accounts prepaid? So you have a backup, which is nice.
Valerie, heh thanks for the comment. True: many things in the offline world gets neglected in various forms because of the online world.
Now playing a game for many people would mean playing it online on a computer, or on a system like Xbox or PS3. :p The time off the internet did result in the computer area being more empty than usual.
Hey Bes, my two current providers are not prepaid. The prepaid thing I used every now and then costs me maybe ten times the price of a normal provider.
Oh I see Simonne.
Do you use the 2 current providers at the same time, like through cable and dsl for 2 computers?
Yes Bes, it’s exactly like that. Additionally, one of the connections goes to a wireless router, sa I can use the laptop in any of the rooms.
I see, thanks for explaining.
I need to route my connection to my laptop also [my net is working now, btw], instead of the laptop relying on the very weak and slow signal of the city wide wifi. Maybe I need to buy a hi0gain booster to boost the strength of the signal.
Good comment. I hope Google wins the wireless bandwidth auction so I can use that as my secondary option.
Upon moving into a new home a few years back, I had a similar experience. My experience lasted for two weeks though and cost me a considerable amount of money. I have made sure that nothing like that will happen again. It is much easier now that it was then.
This unexpectedly happened to me causing the cancellation of several online workshops which can be hard to fill again once something happens to the original date. I have made sure this does not happen again.