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AT&T 4g Finally Hits Kuparuk…Many Lives Saved
It’s Been A Long Battle……But it’s all about to come to and end.
As I sat with my crew, burying my face in chicken strips, mahi mahi and flank steak, we discussed the recent events that have gone on these past two days. The Dalton highway from Fairbanks to Prudoe Bay was shut down due to flooding and foul weather. Over 700 loads were backed up as well as dozens of semi trucks carrying fuel, supplies, ect. This in return caused our whole camp to shut down and only allow critical work in order to ration what fuel we had left. It was rumored to be about 3-5 days of waiting but it looks like we will be heading out tonight.
>><< Now back to the point of this blog. >><< AT&T. You bastards. We love you and we hate you. But right now we love you. In my 4 years of employment in Kuparuk, I’ve had AT&T. The sad thing is AT&T doesn’t have 4g and barely even has service. Countless hours of “can you hear me now?”, texts never sending, receiving random messages from strangers, skimming by for weeks on end with a half bar. And lets not forget my favorite “Off Network” message displayed about 98% of the time, kindly reminding you that AT&T is absolute shit up here. “Off Network”……..oh Off Network….I’ll give you “Off Network”. OH! and lets certainly not forget….”E”………..fucking “E”! >><< E stands for Edge (It’s where the 4G icon usually is but it’s absolute doodoo) >><<
Edge……….A perfect name for it, except it might as well mean the EDGE of the solar system, because that’s where “Edge” should be found. Not here. Not an hour and ten minute plane ride from civilization. Among other icons and letters, I’ve seen it all. Everything from O to its little buddy o and even “G”. What the hell is all of that anyway? Do they use the whole damn alphabet? Clearly you can sense my anger towards this problem because not more than 45 minutes away is Prudoe Bay and they have been bathing in AT&T 4g for awhile now. It cuts right off as if we were behind some microwave iron curtain, keeping Kuparuk in some late 90s primitive communication block. I am a child of the late 80s and I do know how to live without cellphones and crap but come on! This is the age of social media and being up here is already extremely secluded and cut off from your average civilization.
Cry no more.
Because as I am typing this, a little man by the name of 4G man, good guy, is standing on a ladder, patching in beautiful blue cables that will connect us to home. The brand new, smooth, sturdy cables that serve as an internet highway for messages, videos, email, everything, is finally being installed. The man installing them…well to him it’s just an average day doing what he does. He has NO IDEA that he is a Kuparuk hero. You sir, will never be forgotten. Rumor has it by end of spring, the whole field should have 4g. It’s still a ways to go……but its happening. It’s really happening.
Small Town Famous 