2001 – A Space Odyssey (in Jaipur)

Getting Mobile Internet in India

This story is only worth telling because it was so bizarre how much effort it took.

The day we arrived in Jaipur (day 8), a group of us made our way into the shopping district on the way to the main bazaar. I had been on the prowl for some kind of improved internet solution, since my cell phone's data plan had to be rationed daily due to AT&T's roaming costs, and getting Wifi through hotels so far was turning out to be hit and miss.  I found a mobile phone store (Hot Spot) and asked for a data card and temporary data plan for my laptop.  The language barrier was noticeable, but we were able to work it out with lots of pointing and slow/loud speech.  They hooked me up with a Photon+ USB device that reported "lightning speed" of 3.2 Mbps. That would do.  For 2,800 rupees I would buy the device and get a one month plan with 1GB of transfer free.

Cool.  Simple right?  Wrong.

The 6 or 8 shop clerks in this tiny little store kept discussing my sale in Hindi, and shuffling boxes and papers and reading the manual.  They made a few calls, scratched their heads, discussed it some more, and after about 45 minutes of patiently sitting and waiting for them to work things out, one of them turned to me and asked me to produce my laptop.  It was back at the hotel, and I told him that was a long walk to go get it and return.  He said no problem, the salesman will go with you.  He needs your laptop to activate the card.  All right, I thought, let's start walking.

To my surprise, three of the clerks accompanied me out of the store and put on helmets.  They started mounting two motorcycles and indicated the back seat of one of them for me.  No helmet for me though. I jumped on the back (against my better judgment), and we zoomed off into traffic at top speed. The ride to my hotel, the moment to moment risk to life and limb, and the view of India traffic from the back of a motorcycle were all well worth the price of admission. We squeezed our way through pushy, beeping cars that were inches apart, and miraculously I was able to remember what my hotel looked like and direct the 3 store clerks to the right spot.  We disembarked and the four of us entered the courtyard of my hotel.

Once inside, I brought my laptop downstairs and the four of us converged in the dark on one glowing screen. I felt like the apes in "2001 a Space Odyssey", banging on the ground and making noises at this strange object. One of them took the keyboard (he was obviously seen as the techie of the group).  One of them called into tech support, speaking Hindi (he was obviously the communicator).  One of them wanted to socialize with me and ask me about girls in America.  He seemed to fancy himself a lady's man, and claimed to have 5 girlfriends.

I patiently watched them attempt to activate my data plan.  Being technical myself, it was tough for me to be a good customer and leave them to it. After about an hour of watching them struggle to make it connect to the Internet, one of them walked out to the street (Mr. Communicator).  The other one stepped away to pace (Mr. Techie) and Mr. Lady's Man looked worried.  I asked Mr. Lady's Man where Mr. Communicator had gone, and he said he went to call his superior.  I realized that he meant that he went to "get" his superior.  I quickly took the keyboard, and using the tidbits that I had overheard and watched when they were banging on the keyboard, I experimented a bit with the username, password and activation code, and within 3 tries I had it working.  Mr. Lady's Man was most impressed.  Mr. Techie came running over and gave me a high five!  A couple minutes later, Mr. Communicator returned with Mr. Big Boss and realized that their job was done. 

I forked over 2,800 rupees (and an extra 200 for their trouble). I was almost sad to see my friends go. I've never had such service in the U.S.  It was so easy for me to overlook the 3 hours of inexperience and incompetence I endured, because they were so nice, so confident and so eager to be helpful.

I was so happy to have cell-based Internet service for my laptop.  Little was I to know that in just 3 days, I would be entering a part of the country that had no cell service, and that I'd be in radio silence for over a week. 

Drats. Foiled again.