- I had to break my resolution never to buy stuff from PC World
- I got an overpriced Belkin wireless router rather than the very nice Draytek one I really wanted
- I had to be bitterly sarcastic to the guys at Zen to prevent them from charging me a 'restocking fee' for a router they had failed to deliver as promised (I was: they withered).
- I had to spend what felt like WEEKS in a BT queue, then explain my problem to Bangalore, then to Edinburgh and finally to Birmingham. Birmingham was the only one who didn't reply with terrified incomprehension.
- I learnt that 'modem' has become industry parlance for 'thing what connect you to internet' even if it don't modulate / demodulate any more. Like Hoovering with a Dyson.
- IT WORKS!