By WiFucked - 03/04/2015 15:08 - United Kingdom - Durham

Today, my internet was out and wasn't due to be fixed until at least Tuesday. I'm a grad student with a lot of online research to do and deadlines to meet, so I desperately bought an expensive and non-returnable portable wifi hub. An hour ago, the internet came back on. FML
I agree, your life sucks 30 031
You deserved it 6 020

WiFucked tells us more.

Hello everyone, OP here. I'm surprised this made it in! The main problem with the internet going down when it did was that the library has very limited hours during Easter break and, also due to the holiday, my department and almost all university facilities are closed, which is where I would normally go to get internet if I couldn't have it at home. I also 'could' get free wifi in places like cafes, but often cannot get any meaningful work done in public places where people are being loud and I don't have room for my books, notebooks, etc. I also thought it would be worth it to be able to work at home since I am a night owl and do most of my best work in the evenings, when most places where I could get free wifi would be closed. In addition, the day I submitted the FML wasn't the first day the internet had been out, and I had been having trouble finding a peaceful place to work while being repeatedly told that Tuesday was the earliest I could expect to get regular internet back. It was also a bigger problem because I live in university housing (college) and the internet was out in my entire college AND in the one next to mine, so I figured that I wouldn't be the only one to use the wireless thing (as we all have deadlines to meet and I wasn't the only one upset about this) and the others could chip in for the cost. I wouldn't even have minded shouldering the cost myself if I was actually going to get some use out of the thing because it would have been worth it to be able to work at home, or at least in a more comfortable location than a fast food restaurant or Starbucks. I just thought it was irritating (and funny at my own expense) that the internet picked both the worst time to go out AND to come back on. Since it seemed like a belated and very elaborate April Fool's joke on me, I decided to make something good of it and send it in to FML. By the way, I don't THINK I can return the thing, but I'll be going back in to the shop to check on that on Tuesday, and, if not, as others have said I can always get use out of it while travelling, or if the internet goes out again, which it has before (not at any particularly crucial times before this though). At the very least, now I have a funny story to tell.

Top comments

Well if it goes out again atleast you have a back up!!

Sell the wifi hub or sell access to it. Make your money back on it.

Comments

You couldn't have gone to the library, a cafe, about a million other places that have wifi?

My thoughts exactly, OP could have got a drink from McDonalds or whatever and just stayed there all day to study.

However, as pointed out on an earlier comment, a lot of places would be closed due to Easter weekend, and OP may have a desktop (highly doubtful since a laptop is portable between classes) McDonald's could be a distraction, that and the internet speed is slow and may not be enough due to OP needing to do excessive internet study.

misslostnfound 23

In my experience the majority of places that claim to have "free wifi" actually don't have wifi that works. I always joke that it's only free because it's broken! So maybe OP did try the local places and their wifi was as useless as it is in my area? Or, like other people said, maybe it just wasn't practical for one reason or another

That's kind of a 50/50 thing, you were expecting it to be fixed in a few days , so your first instinct was to get your hands on something that will keep you going until then .. Personally I'd keep it as a back up , or you can always try selling it on eBay !

Sorry OP, but you kind of deserve it. You could go to the public library, your school library or computer lab, any café or coffee shop with wifi, or a friend or family member's place. There are always tons of alternative places that you can get online. It definitely sucks losing your wifi, and it's a bit more of a hassle having to pack up your stuff and study elsewhere, but it's better than going broke over a gadget that you'll only use for a very short amount of time. I guess you didn't think things through all the way...

I completely disagree. If op had hours and hours of study/work time. It's much easier and more practical to do it at home from your couch than at a restaurant with a bunch of people around. I'd much rather pay for a hub so I can work from home and have it in case the Internet goes down again. Op: I suggest you keep the hub, you may need it again and it's better to have it as backup now that the money has been spent.

Ramos808 29

As long as you have the receipt, you can return it. You can also keep it for whenever the Internet goes out again. I hope everything works out :)

OP mentioned it was non-returnable. It depends on the places, you can't get reimbursed for everything.

why not just use your local libraries wifi?

Look at it from the bright side. Those portable hotspots are pretty handy!

Haven't you ever heard of the library?

YDI. Next time go to library or a McDonalds. No laptop or smartphone... well... sucks to be you in.

Dude sell it to some idiot for 10 bucks less than u bought it but first cancel the payment

pharm121 21

There are these things called libraries..not sure if they exist overseas. But normally they have plenty of computers available ?