That day was a Monday morning, everywhere was calm and all seems good, I had prepared for this day, and for the first time, I wasn't feeling nervous, it wasn't a physical interview, but I prepared like it was one. I had read all that I could, mastered all the ethics that I could, I had iron my white shirt, made a very good background, my laptop was fully charged, and I have rehearsed all possible questions, all in all, I was fully prepared.
I sat down, waiting for the stipulated time as my heart was pounding with excitement. Just then, I saw the service bar going down, it went to no service, then to emergency, then it came back again, that day MTN just chooses to disgrace me, I watched as the service got dull again, then begin to reduce, is this playing, is this a joke. That day I nearly ran.....I did all that I could, I restarted my system, same with my phone, I don't own a router/WiFi, so I was just there doing all I could, I prayed, I even spoke in tongues, but this service wouldn't even pick up.
I visited every corner of my apartment, I stood up, I sat down, I lay on the floor, I climb the bed and did all sort of things, I even visited the toilets, went to the kitchen, went out to my balcony, it remained same, I was panicking already, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me, how could this be happening.
I quickly switched to airtel, hoping for something better, but airtel network too was bad, it was so slow and was hardly connecting, zoom couldn’t connect properly, the video just froze, it kept connecting and disconnecting, and that was it, some minutes later, I got this heartbreaking email...“Due to technical difficulties, we were unable to proceed with the interview......we're sorry to inform you.... ”. I was speechless, I just sat there staring, I felt like shouting and cursing out loud, I felt like calling the service providers and yab at them, because how could you hold someone's future hostage like that.
Here in Nigeria, those network providers can be so annoying and at the same time amazing atimes, they might be so good and fast today, but come tomorrow, its totally different, worse , bad and terrible. Presently, I use both mtn and airtel, not that I really love them, but where I stay, they are the only one's you could enjoy their services, if I should relocate and move somewhere else, where services provider like glo is doing very well, I will switch. For me its what pays, it's survival.
I can’t afford to put my trust in just one. MTN comes through atimes when you need to download, post, surf the internet and all, but when you need it them most, like the time of my interview it just disappear. That is also why I have airtel, in its own way too, its somehow dependable, especially when I am in areas where mtn network refuse to cooperate.
There was a time I traveled for work, it was just recently, I follow chefs, caterer's and such to work, this time around we went for catering work, we are to cook and serve about a thousand people, it wasn't very easy, reason being that my boss wasn't around and that means I have to snap, do videos and all and send to him, those who own the events asked us to help design the tables the little way we can, that's not really our work, but we had to.
After taking some pictures and doing certain videos too, I wanted to send to my boss, that was when I realized that mtn network was very poor there. It felt somehow, this happens to be a city, how could the network be this bad, I checked a friends phone, it was same as well, exactly why I haven't been getting messages or notifications and my calls has been dropping, it never came to my mind to look up st my screen and check the service bar.
That day, it was airtel that saved me, it was later that I got to know that most people there make use of either airtel or glo, well I was glad I could do what I wanted to do, and it was that day that I truly appreciated the value of having multiple options. For me, it was not a matter of preference, it about survival. I knoe my boss too well, I must keep her updated and show her various things consistently, she was not there with us and she might not really understand how poor the network was.
And seriously, I found out that network now had become a serious factor even in making certain life decisions, a guy was came over to my apartment, he wanted to rent the free apartment available, and before he even asked about the place security, light stability and all, what hr asked first was...."which network is good here abeg".
Its funny right, but its just the truth, what's the essence of a beautiful apartment if you can’t make a simple phone call or chat with your loved ones. There are some areas where you see mtn dominating, some airtel, some areas to its glo and many more. I had the issue when I was in school too, anybody that stays there couldn't boast of having a good network, either you ate using glo, mtn, airtel, 9mobile or any, network is just worse there generally, but what can I do, its the closest place to school, its trekable, I had to settle for it, when you want to make calls or chat, you can't stay in a place, you have to be on the go, walking, parading and all.
Just like I had mine with the interview, I know most if us would have one time or the other had those moments too when we need to submit something urgently, report, transfer money or join an online meeting and the netowrk will just vanish. Aside that its painful, it can be so frustrating and even embarrassing, imagine the price of data now, the price of making calls and sending SMS, and still finding out that the network provider's are still somehow.
Personally, I use more than one network provider, this is Nigeria, you never can tell, I can't afford depending on just one sim, they are just like outfit, you will definitely switch them, though depending on where you ste what you need to do but sometimes that does not really matter, they(service provider) would just so frustrate you that at the end, you will be forced to switch.
And maybe its not ideal, I can't say, what I can day is, this is my own reality, and am sure its same for many, maybe one day, things might get better and we will have good, consistent, affordable and strong network, and anyone can chose to go for his/her preferred network, then it would be a matter of preference, for now, its not, so until then, we keep going about with multiple sims, and if possible, two phones, and we keep praying that the networks won't fail us when we need it the most.
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First and last image's were generated using AI, other images are mine.
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