Part 5, Delays and installations

DELAYS

Well now that we actually have hosts ready and waiting, there has been a problem with the next batch of miners, we contacted the supplier in South Africa and they had actually forgotten to send out our delivery. To make matters worse they have no more in stock and it is going to be a while before they get more in stock. The antennas we ordered with 3 day delivery are also delayed. We spend the next few days sending emails back and forward, phoning South Africa to find out where our miners are and when they are likely to arrive.  We also have to contact the company sending the antennas as the tracking says they are nowhere!

These delays are very frustrating and time consuming, but we need to keep on top of it.

THE HALVING

If some of our miners had arrived on time, we may have had some in before ‘The halving’. This is quite standard and it is done to control the amount of tokens in circulation and to help keep the token stable. When they do this, there is less to earn but the price per token should in theory rise. This is supposed to happen every 2 years. We had none in before the halving in the end so this will be another wait and see.

INSTALATIONS

Our first install in the next village was also delayed; we are juggling now, with installations, possible hosts, and possible delivery dates of more miners and trying to find days and times that suit hosts. After much research again we know how to set up the antennas on a pole, with a lightening arrestor and earthed to a stake in the ground. We know what cable to use and what connectors (even this was not easy to determine!) Setting up the miner takes about 1 hour but an antenna done properly is probably around 3 or 4 hours.

George and Carole’s installation

This seemed to go well, the antenna was up and all was looking good, we connect the miner, do all the usual and it did not seem to work, we followed the same procedures as before (I have it all written down step by step…….an idiot guide really). We are very conscious of taking up people’s time, and try to keep any disruption to a minimum. We clear up and leave the miner as it is and go home to see if we can work out what the problem is, sometimes they just need an hour or 2 to catch up with the entire network.

  We spend the next few days back and forward trying to sort it out to no avail. Eventually David realises that there is no static IP address, which is strange as all the others have so we phone the hosts service provider to see if they could provide a static one, which we were prepared to pay for. At first the ISP was wary and evasive even though the host had given him the OK to do what was needed. We explained why we needed a static IP and what we were doing and he said it was complicated but he would walk David through it on the phone.

 We arrange a day to do this, phone him and he is not there. We are all due to go to a party that evening too! Eventually though he is available and he tries to set it up but it still does not work. It seems like we have wasted everyone’s time, all the work setting up the antenna and digging a hole for the earthing stake (not soft ground in our area at all) and although these hosts have been great we are very aware that we have taken up a lot of their time.

 We have also spent a lot of time on the phone with their ISP to try and sort it out but eventually he arranges a day to go to our friend’s house to sort it out. It is frustrating for us too as every day that the miner does not work, costs us money and we are constantly spending on more miners,  import tax, antennas, cables, routers and paying the hosts weather the miner is working or not. We realise that we have over stretched ourselves financially just enough to take us out of our comfort zone, so we have to make it work!

 Finally though their ISP has told us that 5 people are sharing the same IP address and he would have to port forward all of them but he thinks it will work so again we wait. Another week passes and it still does not work so we decide our options are either take out the miner and dis- assemble the antenna or get a new internet supplier, luckily they allow us to change their internet supplier so we arrange a date for this to happen. Thankfully then it was simple and everything worked. Also good for them their internet is much better too! It has taken a month but everyone is happy.

South Africa

The miners that were supposed to be already here from South Africa have finally been sent after us being given at least 3 different delivery dates, constant calls and emails and some truly awful customer service. This time with UPS but we expect them to follow the same procedure regarding import tax as DHL but as of yet we have not received an email asking for any details. We email them and phone them and all they will tell us is that our delivery is in a secure location. We wait!

We have sent more emails to South Africa to find out what is going on, they say they will get back to us, they don’t, we phone them, they still don’t know, we phone UPS they tell us they are still waiting for 3 more of our packages, the plane is due in today so they will let us know. 27 emails back and forth and we are still unsure where our parcel is! We phone South Africa again and they tell us that they put shipping labels on our 3 antennas and then attached that to the box with the miners in but covered over the shipping labels! UPS are thinking we still have 3 more packages for that consignment and are not allowed to separate the delivery! Again after a long wait this gets resolved and the package is finally released for delivery, we just have to go to the bank to pay the import tax as they no longer take visa! We go to every bank in town and they tell us we have to go to a specific bank in the city so off we go. We have finally managed to pay the tax and our miners should be here in a few days.

Still to be continued......