My flat was previously occupied by hookers. The telephone line had not been disconnected. Allow me to borrow a phrase from our American cousins. “You do the math”.
Obviously I have contacted British Telecom to arrange for a new line. All seemed to be going really well. I didn’t need an engineer to visit. Then I did need a visit. The engineer came, and my line seemed to be working. I came back yesterday evening to find that my line was even less functional than before, in fact, I couldn’t even call the engineer. So I called their freephone number from my mobile. Only, from a mobile, it’s not free. I waited for 10 minutes on hold, then gave up. Time I could have spent, minutes I could have better spent, talking with my children.
I called again this morning. After 15 minutes on hold from my mobile, I was hung up on. I had to get my sister to call them from her landline. They called me back. They can’t get an engineer out to me for a week. I was to say the least, disappointed.
I tried Telewest for an alternative. They don’t serve my area. I won’t touch NTL with a bargepole, and certainly not with an ADSL router, never mind my banana phone.
I tried Bulldog Broadband who are an expensive option, but they were able to serve my area and have an 8Mb ADSL connection. They also connect telephone lines. Except that they have to go through BT and therefore couldn’t do anything for a month or more.
You would have thought that 21st century Britain could get its act together in the landline department. That’s what happens when you have an effective monopoly, people get shafted and have no recourse.
The good news is that I finally managed to figure out my gas boiler (I have created fire!) and so finally, finally, I have hot water. I will never take a shower for granted again!
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