Internet woes

Warning to all those going on a year abroad: things are never what they seem when it comes to accommodation. Never!

I did everything I was supposed to do: I searched the internet, and the newspapers for rooms to rent in the centre of Santander. I looked carefully at the pictures and dismissed any of those which showed the pictures to have been taken way back in 2007. I emailed the people, asking all the appropriate questions and used the wonders of google maps to see how long it would take me to get to work every day. And even when I thought I had found the most perfect of places, I decided not to sign or commit to anything until I had seen it person.

It was only when we saw this flat that I currently live in, with our own eyes that we agreed to pay a deposit and the first month’s rent.

I stand by that, overall, this place is great for someone in my position. There is no contract, so should I choose to leave at any point for whatever reason, I am not committed to anything. And the room and flat is great: it has lots of storage, and space for visitors to come and visit. It is also in a really good location, sitting in the centre of the city, with good bus links etc.

But I have come to the conclusion that the landlord is a bit of a yes-man. I.E. he says ‘yes’ to any question that you ask even though it may not be entirely truthful. For instance, when I asked ‘and there is internet here? It has wifi?’ the landlord replied ‘yes, of course’. However, there is no wifi. Upon moving in, one of the girls already living here said ‘no, there’s no wifi – never has been’. And I made sure that it wasn’t something that I had lost in translation - having spoken to Lea who speaks fantastic Spanish and moved in only a day after me, she said that she had also been told there was wifi when there wasn’t. Grrrrr.

Anyway, we thought that it would be okay. Lea and I agreed to investigate internet deals together and then we would split the cost between the two of us. Lea made a deal with Vodafone who said that within a few weeks not only would we receive the modem/router; someone would come to install it for us.

5-6 weeks later, and no one has come to install it for us. We have tried to it ourselves but there is something else that a member of Vodafone staff specifically needs to go to get it up and running. We have even returned to the store a few times to complain, and each time they assured us that someone would be coming that week. Well no one came, but they still had the audacity to charge us for a month’s worth of internet that had not been used, for want of trying. Eventually we came to the decision that we didn’t want Vodafone’s service, and took back the modem telling them to refund us. I think we had to, as we were getting absolutely nowhere with Vodafone and actually we’re no worse off than we were a few weeks ago.

I mean we still don’t have the internet, but it isn’t like we had it for it to be taken away again.

That said, these past few weeks have definitely shown me how much I rely on and enjoy the internet. It’s been a bit of a struggle keeping up with friends and family back home: just using Facebook or Skype which seem like pretty standard things to have these days is now a difficulty, having to time it out when I know I’ll be in a wifi zone. And it isn’t just socialising that is a difficulty. A lot of my uni stuff comes through facebook and I get all my Erasmus stuff from UEA by email. Which I can’t easily look up at the moment.

I have a project that I need to complete and I have started planning but sans internet it is proving tough.

And I don’t mean to sound like a spoilt brat, complaining about not having the internet when I know I am very lucky to have what I do have. It’s just, when you are used to something or expecting something, it is a great disappointment when it is not easily accessible anymore.

I can sometimes access Facebook and Whatsapp on my phone as I have a bit of internet as part of my mobile phone deal … also with Vodafone. And that has been mayhem too. Paying 20 euros a month for calls, texts and the internet. Not a week later I receive a text to say that all my internet has gone and if I use more they’ll start charging me 2 euros at a time. It was impossible to use so much internet in such a short space of time, I only used it to message people – there was no downloading videos or music so I really have no idea what it was that could have maxed out my internet. Letting it slide this time, I topped up my phone with another 20 at the end of the month. That was the weekend I went to Alicante and used Wifi pretty much the entire time, but come Monday they told me I had used it all again. This doesn’t make any sense to me, I understand nothing. What’s more, is that a few days after that they cut off my text and calls as well forcing me to use my UK number. I went to PhoneHouse and asked to top up my phone one more time. Now, it all seems to be working smoothly but it means I have paid 60 euros within one and half months. Rest assured, Vodafone is receiving a strongly worded email.

To sum it up, Vodafone is terrible, and I would not advise anyone to go with them should you come to Spain. After using up my 20 euros this time round, I think I will be switching to Yoigo (a phone company that I have only heard good things about). That is my piece of advice to you, and my rant is now done. Thanks for listening – it has been driving me a little crazy. Next time, I shall try to be more positive…perhaps it will be “Yay, I have internet” but we’ll see.

Hasta luego.