Technophilia Sorely Tested

(Activate rant mode)

Well, I'm alive, honest. I've just had not a lot to say.

Except now perhaps. I'm using my lovely new cellular modem, a natty little USB device set up for a modest sum of £10 a month to get me 1 Gigabyte of downloads. Plenty there, I thought, for the times I will use it. After all - I have home broadband, don't I?

Well, at the moment, no. Not for the last few days. Presuming that the diagnostics on the modem/router (a BT Voyager 205 for the techie types out there) are correct, the problem is with the phone line. So thank God for the cell modem.

That's nuisance enough, even getting that far with Holy Week, Easter and the like looming.

So, think I, I'll just sort out an expenses claim for the first two months of the year.

Ha. Firstly I find that BT are still billing me for my previous telephone line (kept to smooth the transition) but sending the bills to this address. I've already paid one without noticing. Now another one has shown up. OK, I can figure that into the accounts and claims.

I find a BT bill (already paid, including a £99 repair fee from last time - long story). But then, as if for the first time I see it was far larger than it should have been as I'm paying Tiscali for an inclusive calls and (currently non-existent) Broadband package.... and BT at the same time, and have been since October!

So I dial up the shiny new modem to check. Online bank statements confirm the Tiscali billing. My email works fine. So why when I try to log in to check my bills with them does it tell me I don't exist?

I really don't need this now!

What I do need is a drink!

(terminate rant mode)