h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I spent five hours at home yesterday trying to get my ADSL working. A guy came out and spent about an hour or so getting the physical connection working. I hook up my computer and... their DHCP server isn't responding. I tell the guy that there's nothing wrong with the physical connection, and he leaves.

Then I spend the next three hours or so either talking to someone at the phone company on the phone, or waiting for someone at the phone company to phone me, or sitting on hold for ungodly lengths of time (I was on hold for a solid 45 minutes during one call).

In the end, people from the phone company are supposed to take a look at my problem in more depth by friday, although they never specified which year the aforementioned friday would occur.

This is getting frustrating. I mean, sure, I'm getting 2mB/s ADSL, and it's only costing me CAD $39.95 per month, but that would be an even better deal if I could've been using it since Saturday. Feh.

Aah, maybe you shouldn't have said nasty things about them on this web of world-wideness.

Or was that me. I have had constant trouble from the company responsible for my phone line since July (I paid the bill, but they 'lost' the payment).

Since then (i.e. 3 MONTHS ago), they have been threatening to cut me off (at least 2 letters a month). At least somebody has been round to your place to have a look. I have heard nothing from them since, well ... actually they have not phoned / written once about this shenanigans. Outrageous.

I just got home, and to my delight, my ADSL is magically (mystically) operational. Since nobody from the phone company has contacted me yet, I can only assume that this is temporary and my connection will abruptly cease at any moment.

Joy.