Nov 02, 2011
Bit by bit…
…almost ready to cross into Mexico. Just a few things to deal with, mostly the A/C which is today. We so enjoyed our day in the BLM lands yesterday. We will stay here longer, another time. I now understand, Larry and Mar, just going along and stopping as they wish, to enjoy the here and now. We are not quite there yet, once retired for certain, but now we need to get ‘there’ to the Isla where we can stop and rebuild from the inside out. Plus we are so pulled to be in Mexico but realistically we suspect that perhaps we may not always be able to travel there so for now that is our priority.
This little lady hung around us all day, always perching on the same branch. I took a dozen photos and none worked. Finally I asked Colin to help out. Of course he got it just right the first time!! I must really do some research on my photography techniques!!
I must say that having the Verizon USB modem has been a huge plus. Not just for the blog but to check for messages and emails from clients and family. We actually did get some business done yesterday. However it has been a massive headache dealing with all the details. I will be the first to admit I am a very detailed person but this experience was over the top. I won’t go into all the details but it has cost us much more money to get everything functioning than we spent on the system in the first place. I would do it all over again as I love being connected….well most of the time.
First of all you need to have a US address in order to get a Verizon contract. Why, just because!! They also require your SIN which is very different for us Canadians than Americans. With me they couldn’t figure out how to enter it into the system and that seemed to be the cause of most of the problems. Regarding the US address we used our Western Horizon membership park. Unless you know someone who is willing to let you use their address you may have a problem. They system cost $70.00 for a 2 year contract with a $50.00 rebate. Twenty dollars is a good deal with a 50.00 per month usage charge, pro rated based on usage. You may also put the system on hold for a charge of $15.00 per 3 month period. So far so good. Then I found out that you need to register the device from your own computer but because we did not have a proper SIN USA #, it would not work. If we did not register then the bills would go to the US address we had given. If we registered then the bill would come via email. However the $50.00 rebate would be mailed to that address!!!!! Well we don’t ever go there, sigh….anyway we finally got that changed by mailing in a different address ( of a friend ) and hopefully we will get the rebate card which is suppose to be good for a year!! I must have spent at least 2 to 3 hours on our cell which has a roaming charge of at least $2.00/minute, probably closer to $3.00. Plus a second trip into the Las Vegas Verizon store that took a while to figure out how to overcome the obstacles. I must say that Jasmine with who I dealt with was very creative at overcoming the impossible. Kudos to her and her manager. I will be writing them a commendation letter. I have been on the phone to Verizon customer service a few times with the last time my being told he had to hang up because they were having a fire drill!!!
…and just now…..I am so upset…..I lost all of the above….the system is not perfect and disconnects for no reason. That is likely a problem of settings but I am technically challenged and have no idea where to start. So for those who asked, those were my problems but forwarned you should be fine. If I had to do it all again I would bring my computer in with me and not leave the store until everything was functioning properly and registered. Be sure to come prepared with a US address, you can give a restaurant address if you like but the problem is where will the rebate be mailed to??!!?
We had a great day just being still and enjoying.
It was a perfect day. It was about 90F in the shade but we had a slight warm breeze which felt cooling. The girls were in their element, Carmeh constantly on alert for critters while Caeli slept.
Wish us luck with the repairs and our final day in the US……..
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I am so excited for you and might just shed a tear tomorrow when you post the first picture of the Isla.
Mary…hang in there…no photos till Sat….lots of time to stock up on tissue!
George…it was worth the agony for the internet!!!!!!!!!!
Croft….it works for us….plus we may get the monthly 50.00 prorated!!!
Elaine….Verizon seems to have a thing with us Canucks……tomorrow we will be at the mercy of Mexicans!
T N T….anything to be connected……….
Sounds like a very expensive frustrating time you had to get the internet, just for a short period of time. But at least you have it. Love all the BLM lands, especially Quarzsite and the Hot Springs near Holtville California.
Good luck with you ac repairs.
We spent the whole winter in the USA last year and researched the broadband choices carefully before deciding on Virgin Broadband2Go. It is a pay as you go plan with no contract. $70 for the hardware and $40 per month for “unlimited” use. The price is now $50 per month but we are grandfathered at the lower rate. The “unlimited” has since been modified to 5GB per month before they slow you down. Our friends in Florida have Verizon and are happy with it. When we were parked outside their house, they got better speeds with Verizon that I was getting with Virgin.
That is still all we need and we were pleased with the coverage. It worked everywhere except Yuma and I think they have towers there now. We will buy a month’s worth for the trip down to Mexico and another month’s worth on the way home.
Wow, you really did have to jump through all the hoops, didn’t you !!
We are still researching our options, but one thing is for sure…. we are lost without our internet !!
Take care, and good luck with your repairs…..TnT
humm I purchased a US verizon air stick in bangor the last time we crossed for an extended period….there was no rebate so didn’t have that problem..did take forever to set up tho….I did take my macbook in with me..only problem I had was they could not ‘use’ our canadian address (but didn’t tell me this)..they didn’t ask for our SIN # either..I was told I could load it online..not gonna happen…wouldn’t work…went to a verizon store in TN and loaded there..apparently the clerk in bangor put in my address as her store address on Stillwater Avenue..and it didn’t match my creditcard hence why I couldn’t load online..but it wasn’t a big deal for me because I could just go into any verizon store and load there..the biggie for me was doing what she did and not telling us…
love the pic of Colin and the furkids…stay safe out there..hugs