Creativenonfiction #139 - Network Saga

“Nooooooo!, I screamed out loud. My sister, Omotola, came rushing inside looking frightened.

“What's wrong sis?”she asked, worried that I had been hurt.

I pouted my lips, hissing as I ignored her as if she was the one that offended me.

“What's wrong?”, she asked again, my body language not putting her at ease.

“I am tired of these telecommunication network providers”, I responded while scrolling frantically through my phone, not looking at her.

She rolled her eyes, finally understanding the reason for my little drama. Everyone is going through the same thing after all. She left to go back to what she was doing since it was clear that I was not in harm's way.

"I am really tired of going through this over and over again",I muttered under my breath. Ever since the telecommunication networks in my country increased their tariff for data plans, it has been from one hassle to another. It is one thing to increase the data plans, it is another for the plans to be renewable.

I can't do without mobile data, so not subscribing is not an option for me. It's so frustrating to keep paying a huge amount for data plans all the time.

“Omotola!!!”, I called my sister, hoping to get her help. She came inside, wondering why I was calling her.

“What is it this time?”, she asked, placing her arms akimbo.

“What's the code for your data plans?”, I asked her. “It's the same code everyone uses”, she answered, trying to keep herself from laughing at my dilemma.

“I think they gave everyone different prices for the data plans based on how often they recharge”, she explained.

“You are a big woman na, too much money”, she teased while I gave a weird look.

“Just do the data plans you can afford, remember you need it for your upcoming exam”, she concluded. I thanked her while I continued scrolling through my Phone to see which of the data plans I could subscribe to.

After scrolling for some time, I finally settled for one. It was a 7-day plan. It was costly but then I had no choice.

I started using it to browse the internet for the materials I needed for my exam which mostly consists of some videos. It was a professional exam and I still had a lot to cover because the exam will be held in three days time.

I studied late into the night before allowing sleep to take hold of me. I woke up the next day, did some chores before I continued with my reading.

My sister came in, holding a tray containing a plate of food and some soft drinks.

“So how's going?”, she asked, setting down the tray and taking a seat across from me.

“It's going on well”, I said, thanking her for the things she brought. I took a little break and we ate some of the food together. When we were done, she took the plates back to the kitchen.

I continued with my reading and I decided to use my phone to download two more videos. On the course of downloading the second one. I got a notification that my data plan had been exhausted.

“What?”, I exclaimed, wondering if I was seeing things. I dialed the code used for checking data balance, only to get a response that I had no available data.

To say I was furious would be an understatement as I wondered what I have done to deserve what I was facing from these telecommunication providers.

My sister upon hearing my voice lamenting, came in as she wondered what the problem was again. I told her what had happened and she couldn't believe her eyes.

“I thought it was a 7-day plan?”, she asked as she also checked my data balance and got the same response I did.

She quickly dialed the customer care agency number on my phone and we were put on hold as they “claimed” they had lots of customers to attend to. After waiting for ages, it was our turn. By then, my anger had subsided.

I relayed my complaints to the agent and couldn't get a positive response. The agent claimed I used a high volume of data the previous day.

The few videos I downloaded on YouTube weren't even of high quality. I explained everything but got a “there's nothing we can do” response. I was advised to buy another data if I needed more.

“Thank you for using………”, I didn't even listen to the end of that sentence before I dropped the call. These telecommunication providers are nothing but thorns in my side. I tried not to let what happened sour my mood further as I don't want to let it affect my exam but I hope they can find ways to adjust so we can be able to fully enjoy their services.

Thank you all for reading.

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