[ technical wars in joburg ]

The "Bonnie and Clyde" team here in Johannesburg are completely amazed that while being in Africa's most economically and technologically-advanced city, we are the two fellows who are encountering the most frequent obstacles when it comes to both accessibility to internet and its quality. But this is the life of most South Africans.

And then power outages.



Here are some of the facts:
1. Internet is charged per data bundle, not per month like common America.
2. Internet modem and router installation is ridiculously priced - as much as $300US just for the modem itself.
3. Internet is charged more or less per data bundle depending on what part of the day it is. During the day, you are charged more because service companies know they will see more customers tapping in during business hours for internal and external company communication.
4. Wireless cafes and hot spots are fairly new to Johannesburg. Due to the facts above, independent cafes choose not to expense for internet and therefore such venues are hard to find.

The closest internet cafe to us is a 30-minute hike down the hill. Unfortunately, the internet provider the cafe uses blocks all google applications. The google search engine works alright but at a sloth-like rate. Blogger and checking G-mail are out of the question.

We find this lack of internet accommodation now unbearable. The first week was fine. The second week we were a bit frustrated. But now as we enter the third week, the Joburg team is honestly becoming depressed with this situation.

We had internet issues at the BTM office as well last week. For the latter half, the entire system was down and the whole team found itself at a day's loss and now behind in assignments. Today is going to be a killer day.

Despite the above issues, we're moving at a faster rate than the BTM coordinator had expected.

Never mind, the office still doesn't have internet. And the other day we dont