Internet oh internet, why are you so sporadic?

The internet is a precarious thing in China.  One minute we have facebook, the next we don't.  One day my VPN works, the next it has been blocked.  I only have to move five steps in one direction to lose the wireless internet connection in my apartment.  If I have these difficulties,  I can only imagine my students have the same.  My main concerns for using internet in my class are all related to its sporadic nature.  Even within our school we cannot trust that our classroom will have enough internet "bars" to do what we need to do.  My greatest concern is planning wonders and never getting to achieve them.

There is only one way I can think of to alleviate this concern: ignore it.  If I never planned a lesson that could go wrong, I wouldn't have very many lessons in my book.  I can be understanding for students who lost internet the night before an important project and I can prepare backup lessons for times when the school server is weak, but I can't completely cut out internet use merely because it is erratic.  I'm really taking a step out in my plans for the technology enhanced lesson plan; hopes for grandeur.

So even if I can't use youtube or facebook or blogspot in my lessons, my students will not be lacking in internet proficiency.