This blog post is brought to you courtesy of CenturyLink.  The three previous posts this week were all written on Saturday night and posted on Sunday when we drove 36 miles to Grand Marais to get cell phone service / internet.  We also used the time to make our first phone call to CenturyLink, the only landline phone and internet company in this part of Minnesota.

The first call led to another call on Monday, then another call on Tuesday.  They needed to verify our address and couldn’t do it on the computer, so they needed their address verification office to verify the address.  But the address verification people were not in until Tuesday.  When we finally reached them on Tuesday, they said we needed to call CenturyLink Legacy – a branch of the company that covers this part of Minnesota at a reduced bandwidth.

I called CenturyLink Legacy and got installation scheduled for the next day.  I was pretty excited because, aside from over an hour on the phone, it had been painless.  Tom was excused from training on Wednesday afternoon so he could wait at home for the technician.  The technician never showed up.  Tom returned to the Visitors Center and called CenturyLink Legacy, who said they had our installation scheduled for July 1, not June 1.  Really?  They also said they didn’t have a complete address, so it was a good thing we called.

Installation was rescheduled for today, and Tom got a smaller window of time when the technician would arrive.  Yesterday (Thursday) we called to verify the time just because we were paranoid that they would have another reason not to come.

Today we were out on Lake Superior in the morning, and when we came in there was a message for Tom to call the technician.  After several messages, Tom finally reached the technician who verified the address and time.  At 12:40 this afternoon, Tom and the technician met at our house.  In less than an hour, we had a phone signal and dsl internet.

And it works!  Hallelujah!  Thank you CenturyLink!  The price is reasonable – certainly cheaper than driving to Grand Marais every time we want to use the internet.  We have been online ever since we got off work, catching up on all the things we couldn’t do all week.  We will have a new phone number as soon as we buy a phone (hopefully we can find one tomorrow).

One of the things I think is funny is that  CenturyLink kept asking us for a phone number where they could contact us.  If we had a phone that would work, we wouldn’t need their service!  Somehow that idea seemed very foreign to them.  One person I talked to even said that if I didn’t have a phone number, could she please have an e-mail address so that she could send me an e-mail.  I replied that she could send an e-mail but we wouldn’t be able to get it until their service was installed.

We are hooked up now and connected via landlines once again.  I can go back to writing my blog from the comfort and convenience of our living room.  I’m thankful that CenturyLink is serving this area and that Tom and I are able to use them.