Monday, Jul 4, 2016

I signed up with Direct TV Friday, and they showed up this morning for the install. Good bye ETAPA! There are things to learn when moving to Ecuador that aren’t completely obvious. One of those is who to have as your TV provider.

We are not huge TV watchers but we want access to interesting, informative, and entertaining programming. ETAPA looked like it would work, but alas, the picture on most of the stations was blurry, the only two English speaking channels played the same movie almost every day, and the package I was paying for was missing channels they stated were part of it.

I had both of the realtors we worked with tell us to use ETAPA. They both also had personal contacts at ETAPA to sign us up. It makes me wonder if there was a kick-back involved. Our friends however have Direct TV and based on their report of quality, channel selection, and programming it seemed like the way to go. It costs $20 more a month, but it’s like driving a Ford vs a Mercedes.

Direct TV knocked $10 off the install fee and also discounted my monthly charge $10 per month for the first six months. I didn’t even ask, he just offered it. ETAPA on the other hand charged the full install which was $20 more than Direct TV’s regular install charge.

This is just business and it’s important to know who you want to do business with. If I had to do it over again I would have asked who or what all my options were, and then try to find people who had each service and get information to make a decision. But that is the crux of it right there…decisions.

When you move to Ecuador so many unknowns get encountered. Where exactly to live, who to learn Spanish from, where and who to buy groceries from, which restaurants to go to, which internet provider to use, how to get around town, and the list goes on. And the list is all in Spanish.

Because of this, going with one person’s recommendation is tempting because it eliminates effort around a decision. However, as more data is gathered and information obtained, it may not be the right decision. This whole move is a learning experience for me, and I am learning. It’s just a pain in the ass sometimes.

Tomorrow PuntoNet is coming to hook up fiber optic internet service. When they are finished I will be going to ETAPA to cancel my TV and Internet service with them. This should be an interesting…and time consuming event. Maybe I will have something for a blog post tomorrow.

Chau.