Saturday, December 19, 2009

Paying for Internet, Part 1 - Monday, 30 November 2009

The IT guy had told me that I must pay for my Internet by the end of the month, and I must pay in cash, in person. Friday had been a holiday, and I wasn't sure if Kazakh Telecom would be open, and Saturday and Sunday were weekend days (though not sure if that makes a difference around here). So Monday we had to go pay it! We let the driver take us home, I changed into my super-warm boots, and then we caught bus 19 to the store. In there, it was not as easy as the IT guy had said it would be, and if I had remembered to take his number with me, I would have called him!

You're supposed to take a number and then wait. Except you have about a dozen options of what you're there for--you press the corresponding button and then get a number. Well, I don't know which button was for paying for Internet! Luckily, a guy nearby spoke English and tried to help. He found out that I wasn't supposed to wait in line, there was a kiosk machine and I was to use that.

He stood in line with me for that (only about one person in front of me) and then tried to help. Earlier, I had double-checked with the IT guy--the post-it note with the L/C number and the monthly fee was all I needed. Just show it to them, no need to even speak, and they would know what I meant.

Well, he had no clue and the worker at the machines had no clue. It looked like a telephone number, so he tried that (the machine asked for a phone number). I took out my real phone number, he tried that. Finally, he realized--or someone told him--that whatever L/C means, it's different from using a phone number. My guess--since I do connect through my phone--is that the telephone option is for dial-up and L/C means something like DSL. ('C' is Russian for 'S', if that matters.)

Well, for some reason, you couldn't pay for L/C today, he said come back tomorrow. I was worried that my Internet would be cut off--but I had a sneaking suspicion that Kazakh Telecom doesn't work that quickly, and I'd still have Internet the next day.

I think I could have paid at a booth, in person, I don't know.

So we walked home in the cold, did some shopping, and got home late. And tomorrow will be another late day.

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