Thread by @profmarkreed

My worst Zoom challenge yet...

I'm due to deliver a webinar to Australian colleagues at 2.00 in the morning.

1.05: My Internet dies. Plan A: technical support. They're closed.

Plan B: Wait. It will come back. It doesn't.

Plan C. 1.30: Give up waiting, get in car and drive 5 miles to the nearest town in case I need a last resort. I connect to my mobile hotspot. While I'm waiting I set up my phone torch to light my face and choose an image to use as a background so it won't look like I'm in the car

1.45: Can't get my hotspot to work. Restart phone and computer. Still nothing.

1.55: Plan D. Park outside house of friend/colleague who knows I'm training tonight and use their wifi from my car. It connects but I am too far away and the connection is crawling really slowly

2.00: Email organiser to say I'm having technical difficulties and I'll be with them soon. Remember I have no Internet.

2.01. Plan E (last resort). Knock on friend/colleague's door. 5 times. Call up to open window.

2.03. Light goes on, door opens. I try and explain.

2.05: I join the webinar to the relief of my host. I apologise for being late and explain we never start till 5 past anyway so that everyone is there (which is true).

3.30: It's over. One of the participants thanks me and says how smoothly everything ran.

If only they knew.

Update: Turns our home mobile broadband and the 4G network in town work from the same mast that was undergoing maintenance yesterday and they scheduled the system reset for the early hours.

Had some sleep and now ready for an afternoon of - wait for it - Zoom calls!