I am officially a Zambia PCV. I have 4 phones. 2 blackberries, 1
smartphone, and 1 in-between internet phone. Because of the multiple
phone carriers and coverage here it is not uncommon for PCVs to have
multiple phones. I'd like to think 4 is outrageous but I can think of 2
other PCVs off the top of my head who have also had this many phones.
That's the other thing about phones here. Zambia chews them up and spits
them out not unlike the gnashing of teeth displayed while the children
eat sugarcane.
Phone number 1 was the
unlocked smartphone I brought to country with me from America, a galaxy
note. Unfortunately the reception on this phone is pretty poor, possibly
due to age, and it works very rarely, and not at all at my site. I
can't get any sort of data coverage. The calling coverage is medial at
best. Because of this I purchased phone number 2.
Phone
#2 is my samsung chat. An "internet" phone as they call it which can
access webpages and facebook but no "apps". This has been my main phone
and has the perk of dual sim so I can put both my MTN and Airtel sim
cards in it and switch back and forth to find the best reception. This
poor phone has already taken quite the beating and my "a" key frequently
sticks now. This phone, and problem, is the reason for my poorly
spelled and punctuated posts on facebook. It is also responsible for
all the 2megapixel photo uploads you might have seen.
During
training I learned that phone data is expensive. They don't necessarily
have monthly plans like we do in the USofA, it's all prepaid. So every
mb of data, second of talk time, and text message adds up. I found out
that through Airtel they offered a blackberry data plan that gave me
unlimited data for 36kr a month. Way better than the 500mb I was buying
for 50kr. So I petitioned my friends stateside for an old blackberry. My
friend found an old one and got it unlocked and my lovely mother
shipped it over. So phone number 3 was an old blackberry. I was so
excited when I got it. I loaded up the sim card and tried to download an
app. Nothing. I had to wait until we went to Lusaka to take it to the
phone store, who told me it needed an OS upgrade. So I took it to the
blackberry store only to find out the cable needed they didn't have. So I
scoured the shops at Mansa Hill Shopping Mall to try to find an older
miniusb cord. Nothing. So I pocketed the phone. Next time I returned to
Lusaka I brought the cable with me and left the phone overnight for the 4
hour upgrade. When I came back the following day they said it had
failed and gave me the number of a shady guy in the market that I could
try. I had no idea how to get there nor would we be taken there during
our time in Lusaka for swear in. So I had a glorified bar phone (just
calls and text).
Phone number 4 was gifted to
me recently by the PCV who I replaced. She said it was locked and had
to be unlocked in Lusaka. I made plans to do it next time I was there
but luckily another PCV knew a trick and I was able to get the phone
working! Hallelujah! The Airtel service provider is the one I have to
use in the phone but at least I was able to download whatapps and viber.
That's right you can message me through either of those now! My
connection here isn't good enough to make calls through viber though.
Bummer. Now the only problem I face with this phone is the "o" key and
"delete" key don't work. :( Why is it always the vowels that break! Why
can't something insignificant like x break!
So
the next part of the technological snafu was the bluetooth keyboard I
brought to connect to said phone and type up blog posts with. It works
beautifully. Unfortunately it only works with Android and Apple
operating systems. This means I can type drafted blog posts on the
no-data smartphone and then when I finally get somewhere with working
wifi (very seldom) I can upload said posts.
Whew!
That being said it has been a struggle to do justice to this poor blog
and with the very poor connections photo uploads to the blog are out of
the question. Those are done by my wonderful mother stateside when I
physically mail flash drives packed with month's worth of photos.
So
in short, I apologize for the infrequency of posts and the bulk of
posts, when I do post, but such is life and luck in Zambia! Not all of
us can be posted right next to cell towers like Matt
(fishinginZambia.wordpress.com). But then again not all of us can live
close to a beautiful waterfall. You win some you lose some, and right
now I'm clearly losing the battle with technology in the bush.
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