As a result of technological advancements which has brought about inventions such as smartphones and gadgets. With the availability of this devices, numerous applications has made it a lot easier to perform most of our day to day activities without leaving the comfort of our homes. I have always wondered how those that lived in the olding days cope with boredom because usage of smart devices have become the order of the day.
With the usage of smartphones comes the need of something called data. I don't know much about anything else but I would say data is life. I mean it is a common statement around here, how else would a person have access to the internet without an active data subscription.
For someone like me who depends on smartphone to perform 70% of my daily activities, data is like oxygen. It was never like this but my dependent on my smartphone for activities began when my major sources of income became online oriented. Not just business only, I also have to manage conversation, discussions through different social media platforms. Especially the likes of WhatsApp, twitter {X} and Discord.
I will be lying if I said my dependent on my smartphone have not increased since I started my hive journey. It opened a new dimension of internet usage for me. Ranging from writing of post, engaging and interactive sessions on discord. Like I said in my previous post, I became more involved with the crypto space after getting on-board on hive blog. Which means my involvement with the crypto space is not limited to hive blog only.
I trade and take advantage of the available opportunities available within the crypto space. It has become some sort of addiction for me, whenever I wake-up in the morning, the first thing I would do is to turn on my data and open my coinmarketcap app to do some analysis. It is a daily routine, not just in the morning only, anytime I have access to my phone, I will definitely feel the need to peep a little. In order to do all this, I need an active data subscription.
Judging by my usage of data, it is so obvious that it is something I can't do without but there are times when, despite having a active data subscription, I still find it difficult to have access to the internet.
My network usage is a little complex because I'm not using one network and the reason is quite dramatic. I live in a country that invest a lot of effort and time in ensuring the citizens live a miserable life. Let's not even get started with part the government is playing in creating the mess we are currently in.
The first sim I bought, the network was Etisalat. I can't really remember when it was but I can recall that it was the talk of the town in those days. I bought it because they were offering lot of data and airtime bonuses. It was a new network, so they were trying everything possible to attract users. After a couple of month I decided to purchase another sim which was MTN. The reason was because I was using an android with two Sims, so I needed a new SIM to occupy the empty space.
Along the line I misplaced my phone, I tried retrieving both Sims but I was only able to retrieve my MTN SIM. Thinking about it, I'm grateful that I did not retrieve my Etisalat SIM because after a while, the network started misbehaving. In order to replace the Etisalat SIM I bought a Glo SIM.
I was enjoying my Glo and MTN SIM, it was a perfect combination but eventually MTN data rate became too costly, so I purchased AIRTEL SIM. So I was using both Airtel and Glo sim in my smartphone, while my mtn SIM was in my Nokia phone, a typical keypad phone. This was before I embarked on NYSC journey.
After going to camp, I was posted to an isolated community in the middle of nowhere in OYO state, the name of the community is owotoro. I keep telling people some of the things I endured in that community and most people think I'm just exaggerating.
I have suffered network fluctuations before but nothing compared to what I experienced in that community. There are times when my Glo and Airtel network will be completely offline for days and this affected my online activities a lot.
Whenever I want to make a post, I will have to leave my house and trek to the next street just to get network signals. I can't even put a number on how many times I had to do this. Eventually I discovered that Glo was the worst network in the community, especially in my apartment. I had to remove it and insert my MTN SIM back into my smartphone.
After getting back to Lagos, I didn't feel the need to put back my Glo SIM, so I have been using it like that ever since. So if I'm being honest, I'm using about 3 different network and anytime one misbehaves, I remove it and insert another.
This write-up was inspired by week 16 SciFi multiverse prompt "Network providers" in SciFi multiverse community.
Cover image - 𝖣𝖾𝗌𝗂𝗀𝗇𝖾𝖽 𝗎𝗌𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖼𝖺𝗇𝗏𝖺
Image 1 - Source
Image 2 - Source
Image 3 - Image is mine
