Internet in Kenya

As my reader may be aware, we have had a broadband connection problem since I arrived in Kenya. We had had a telephone line and broadband installed not too long ago, but as the cables are copper and unprotected, someone stole a length of cable along the road. It took Telkom 10 days to find the fault and it still hasn't been resolved. In fact since the problem occurred, more cable has been stolen (it makes very good washing line!).

Telkom have been sort of helpful - they have lent us a dongle whcih we have to charge up. But it is only offering a maximum speed of 236kbps, as against the Safaricom dongle we borrowed, which boasted 7.2 Mbps - big difference!

Oh how I miss my "no limit, flat rate" account at home!

Of course, as the dongle connection is not flat rate, we are being very careful  about how long we are connected. This means that apart from emails, we are doing little via the Internet. We pass a comment ot two on Twitter, just to let the world know we are still alive!

Oh well, I suppose we ought to be thankful for any sort of connection.

I've Arrived

I arrived in Kisii, safe ans sound and on schedule, only to find that some kind soul had stolen the recently installed telephone cable, which has deprived us, and many people to the west of the town with telephone services (and Internet connection)!.

We have managed to borrow a mobile Internet modem, but I have to use my cell phone SIM, which means no one can contact me while I am using it.

So I am restricting my time on the Internet to a minimum, so blogging will be sketchy until the line is replaced by Telkom (it has taken two weeks so far - but this is Kenya).

I am keeping notes of moments of interest and will post all as soon as I can.