INTERNET
Jack had seen an ad in the Prague Post for the same Internet provider that the collage Mike works for has. He called them on Monday to get some idea from them if our modem would work and to see what was involved with signing up for their Internet service. He was given a number to call for the technical support. After a brief discussion the tech guy said he thinks there would be no problem with our modem, but, to bring it into their office for them to look at it.
We got the address , found the street on the map, and knew what metro (subway) station to get off at. We get to the right street and start looking for the correct building number. On the outside of the door is a sheet of paper that simply said Terminal.CZ Tech Support. We knew we had the right building. We open the door and it is a flight of stairs. The building looks to be in the middle of being remodeled. We end up going up three flights of stairs to a door that has a bunch of boxes around it, but has the same sign stating it’s tech support. This cramped office was about 7’x10’ for two people, their desks, two computers each, book shelves, and boxes of equipment, spare parts, and more books. Honzo helped us at first. He’s Czech but very good English. Kent then comes in, the other technician. He is from Canada and has been in Czech for seven years. Then a phone guy comes in to work on a big phone box on the wall. It got a little cramped. Honzo had to take a phone call to help someone who had Novel and could not get access to the Internet. So Kent finished up installing the program on our laptop and checking that it worked before we left.
He then took us on a quick tour. They had just opened a small cafe downstairs appropriately called Terminal Cafe. They had four or five computers set up that members (which we are now one) could come in and for a small fee (about a dollar) use their computers to access the Internet. They also had videos to rent which you could take downstairs to view them. Mike said it took them almost two years to get the business open, up and running. He didn’t know if they had money problems or if it was just slow bureaucracy. It was a smart business move on their part as there were a lot of people who don’t own a computer or a VCR here. You only need to be a member and pay the small rental fee to use their equipment. Membership runs 595kc ($17.50) per month or 3300kc ($97) for six months with unlimited access. However, the phone company charges a fee for every so many minutes. We don’t know exactly what this will amount to. We’ll find out soon enough.
We have only one temporary problem. The laptop came with a little 3’ telephone line. This means I have to sit on the floor in the hall when we want to be connected. We measured it out and converted to meters what amount of phone line we would need so that I can continue to use the coffee table in the living room as a desk. It is a higher than normal table which works out good.
December 19th: We did the hunt for a 5meter telephone wire. We started from Namesti Rebuliky (Republic Square) because we also wanted to draw out U.S. dollars from our checking account for Hanka’s parents. They want to have USA dollars as the dollar is more stable than the Czech Koruna (Crown) is right now. That in itself was a project. We have a debt card that takes money right from our checking account. It is much cheaper than getting cash advances from a credit card. Normally, we use an ATM machine to get Czech money. But we can only get Czech Kruna from an ATM machine. Therefore, we had to go into the bank. The card has a VISA logo on it so they are thinking it is a cash advance. Of course, when they call into wherever it is they call into to verify the card number they are told it is not a valid card number. It’s not a valid VISA card, it is a debit card. She knew English quite well, but, I couldn’t get her to understand. So we dropped that idea. I consider myself lucky they didn’t confiscate the card thinking is a forged card.
Anyway, back to the search for the telephone wire. Sounds simple, everything starts simple, and ends up a full day search. We hit every electrical, audio/visual, and (what is classified as) department store for 20 blocks. By this time it was lunch. Then back to the search. We did get side tracked. What? Cher side tracked? No! I started looking at large purse/small brief case type things. The back pack is good, but I have to have it off often and it is not easy to carry by hand. I’m thinking of a large purse type thing that a lot of women use here. I found what I was looking for, but of course one can’t just buy it. I have to price and shop around another day or two to make sure it’s the right thing and price then go back only to find its gone.
In the large Tesco (formerly KMart) we found my purse AND we found the telephone cord! We left the house at 10:00am. It was about 2:30 when we called it a day. Jack was shopped out.
• By the way, our Internet address is: jhubbell@terminal.cz
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