Lost $200 on a backup fiber line I didn't need

About 8 months ago, I signed up for a second fiber connection from a different provider as a backup for my home office. Thought it was smart since I work remote and can't have downtime. Paid $200 upfront for installation and then $80 a month for six months before I realized my primary ISP had a 99.9% uptime SLA I never checked. Turns out the fiber backup did exactly nothing because both lines shared the same physical conduit near my street. One construction crew cut both at the same time last spring and I was down for 4 hours anyway. Anyone else ever double up on connections only to find it's all a waste when the real problem is just city digging?

2 comments

2 Comments

lindareed25d ago

Lost $200" - is a couple hundred bucks really worth getting this worked up over?

roberts.troy25d ago

$200 is nothing to sneeze at for most people, especially if you're living paycheck to paycheck or trying to save up for something important. There's also the frustration factor where you feel like you did everything right and still got ripped off, which stings way more than the dollar amount. Plus, if this was something like a concert ticket or a reservation that got canceled last minute, the lost money is just the start of the headache because you probably also wasted time planning around it. Nobody wants to feel like a sucker, and that feeling alone is worth getting worked up over even if the cash itself isn't life changing.