After a series of very unfortunate events, I found myself without internet for two weeks. Technically, it was three weeks, but I ate all of my phone's data for the first week. I couldn't stream anything on Netflix. I couldn't even shop online. So, these are the things I learned when I had zero internet access at home.
1. McDonald's And Starbucks Are The Best Places To Go To When You Need Internet ASAP
McDonald's was in the lead when it came to places that offer free WiFi. As long as I was eating some chicken nuggets and accessing internet with a download speed of up to 4 Mbps, then I was satisfied.
Starbucks was a very close second when it came to accessibility and speed. However, I would rather spend five dollars on two cheeseburgers and some fries than spend it on one glorified cup of caffeine.
2. You Will Realize Who Your Real Friends Are
I'm not saying that your friends aren't good friends if they don't let you come over everyday to borrow their internet. However, it really says something about your friendship when they constantly allow you to do this and ask for nothing in return.
3. You Start Taking Your Laptop Everywhere
I would usually go around the city to either do family errands, visit relatives, or go do stuff with some friends. In all of these cases, I stashed my laptop in my car. I was basically snooping around places with my WiFi searcher on until I found a reliable and trust worthy hot spot.
4. When You Find Internet Access, Download Everything You Possibly Can
I downloaded as many movies as I possibly could. I also tried to find some of the latest episodes of any shows I missed in the past week.
5. If You Listen To Music With Spotify Premium, Keep The Download Tab On
I prefer downloading music through Spotify because it reduces the amount of gigabytes it takes up in your storage. I noticed that when I deleted all of my music in my phone and downloaded my entire playlist on Spotify, it took up half of what I previously had. After I ate all of my data, I kept my Spotify on offline mode and now I can listen to music easily without having to stress over data usage.
6. Cable Isn't That Bad
Just watching cable wasn't so bad after all; I just had to remember when my shows or movies were airing. Two years ago, I insisted that I didn't need cable in my room because I watched everything online anyways. Once the internet outage happened, I was forced to leave the comfort of my own room and sit on the couch to watch television. I made it a habit to record episodes on my DVR and adding reminders on my TV whenever there was something on that I wanted to watch.
I never realized until then how important the internet was for me to function. Overall, the experience kind of sucked.
2/10, Would Not Recommend