Netflix and Apple and Prime - oh my

 This blog comes to you courtesy of Digicel, one of two cell phone providers available in Fiji.  And they seem to be very nice people:  They gave me an additional 120 gigs on my data plan plus some other stuff that they gave up trying to explain to me.  I noticed this 'bonus' expired in a few weeks, but didn't care because I still had 120 gigs that I had paid for with my hard-earned $20 Fiji.  That's right, 120 gigs for basically ten bucks US.  

So the extras were not touched and went away.  Then I said to myself..."Self!  What happens to my unused data at the end of the month?  Does it roll over?"  Considering that I had used maybe a half gig at this point I figured maybe I could last all four months out here for ten bucks.  That would be awesome.  They don't call me 'Cheapsney' for nothin'!  I decided to go to the source - the Digicel kiosk at the bus terminal in town.

Now to call it a 'bus terminal' is probably misleading.  There's a shed to protect people from the rain.  And a parking lot.  And a few buses.  But that's where the cell phone providers decided to site their customer service storefronts, so there I went.  And a nice lady came up to me and asked if she could help.  I asked her if my data plan would roll over into the next billing month.  I don't think she had ever been asked that before.  She had to go to her co-workers and there began an animated discussion about whether Dave's unused balance would roll over.  I think the problem is - nobody in Fiji ever puts enough money on their plan to roll over.  There are lines and lines of people 'topping off' their cell plans.  You see them every day.  I think they only put a few dollars on when they can afford to.  Hence the confusion.

So finally my customer service rep came back and told me that no, my data would not roll over and that I needed to 'top off' before Dec 26.  I looked at the gigs I had left and asked her what I was going to do with all that data plan?  She got this big grin and said "Start downloading movies!"

I don't care if I don't use it all up.  It's ten bucks US for a month's worth of internet.  And btw, it's good internet.  Facetime and Messenger calls are seamless.  And I've made it a point to catch up on "For All Mankind" on Apple+.