So after being without internet at the house since March 20 when we moved, Kevin, Sheridan, and I were anxiously awaiting our reconnection on April 30 as promised by Vodafone.

We had an appointment for the date, but not a specific time, so we figured we’d get a call on Wed. or Thurs. morning to confirm a time. Kevin and I both teach English on Thursday mornings, but we figured there was still plenty of day left afterwards (he’s home at 9:45, me at 10:30) to make an appointment.

So imagine my surprise when I got an SMS from Kevin saying that he had apparently missed the DSL contractors by about 10 minutes! They had already come and gone around 9:30, and left a note that we would have to reschedule.

So in calling Vodafone later that morning, I found that I could only make an appointment for a day, not a time. The next available appointment is Monday May 11. Grrr.

So Kevin and I went to O2, a cell provider here in Germany, that offers a flat-rate mobile internet dongle. It’s €20 a month, but we can use it anywhere we want, and it gives us internet at home until Vodafone gets their heads out of their reconnects our DSL. The downside is, it’s not as fast as DSL, and we have a 10 Gb monthly limit (bandwidth is cut way down after that). Also, it technically doesn’t work with Linux, but I’m going to see if I can find someone who’s tried it.

In the meantime, it means we can get online at home again! Now, if I can just get the printer working….