We're back

We’re back. Or at least I think we are. Where have we been? Nowhere.

Last Saturday morning we suddenly lost our landline & internet connection. By the evening, we tried ringing British Telecom (BT) but were told we had to go through whoever we pay for the phone service. We duly used our mobile phone to contact our ISP both by phone & by email. Their technical support office was closed so we left messages.

By Monday afternoon, as we’d had no response from our ISP, we went along to the library to use their free internet services. We couldn’t even find the website for our ISP. We presumed they must have gone bust. We decided the only thing we could do was initiate the transfer to another ISP.

Then Wednesday morning we had a message from our old ISP asking for more details of our problems. We explained. Both Wednesday & Thursday evenings we had brief internet connection but no phone connection.

Finally, yesterday, BT sent an engineer around to sort things out. We now have internet & landline services. However, we also have some dangling wires near our back door. If you don’t take care, when you open the back door you can catch the wires & presumably disconnect them, losing presumably services in the process. We’ll be getting back to BT about that.

The whole process has been worrying. When we did hear from our old ISP we did consider whether to stay with them. We’ve used them for years. However, we feel being left without services, or even any sign they were even still going, for nearly a week is too long for us. Hopefully the new company will be a bit swifter if we ever have another problem.

What worried us most, was the loss of land phone line. We don’t usually give people our mobile phone number as we rarely switch it on. We have it only as an emergency facility e.g. we’re out & the car breaks down. At this time we were half expecting several important phone calls e.g. my new wheelchair coming. Just before the loss of phone I’d filled a form in to claim my pension. They said they may phone if they needed further details. I’m changing care provider & was awaiting details of the new service & when and with whom it would begin.

Above all what worried me was that I had thought if anything happened to the Fox I might get a Lifeline buzzer in case I had a fall (which I frequently do). However, with the phone down there is no way the buzzer could work. I could have been lying there injured, possibly in pain, even dying, before anyone else would even know. From what the BT engineer said, I get the impression that in that case the Lifeline people would have contacted BT & we would have priority treatment. But how would the people know I needed help rather than that all was well? It does make you wonder how effective the buzzer would be in such circumstances.

We discovered how much we depend on the internet these days. We were hoping to book an autumn/winter/Xmas holiday. I was just looking for some more details before booking. Now I suspect we’re too late for autumn. With being so ill on our Norwegian holiday, the Fox is feeling he hasn’t had a real holiday yet this year. We also have bills to pay which can only be done on-line. I recently got my new Blue Badge for disabled parking. You are obliged to send back the old one but there was no address on the accompanying letter to set it to. Another look on-line. Even when it comes to entertainment, we enjoy some games that require internet connection. And so it goes on.

Well we’re back & hastily trying to get the urgent things sorted out. Let’s hope we stay back.