Rejoining the 21st Century

Yes, only five weeks and two visits by company technicians after signing the contract with Vodafone I am enjoying the luxury of having internet and telephone service in my home. I do not know why this took so long or what the purpose of the second technicians visit was (besides the fact that after his visit yesterday I had phone and internet service) but I am grateful it did not take the four months that another expat waited back in 2007.

Overall I am pleased with my telecom package, which comes to just under 30 euros a month and includes DSL and unlimited calls to U.S. land lines (and to land lines in 12 or 13 other countries, but to be perfectly honest, I can't imagine myself calling the Vatican any time in the near future). The U.S. calls was an extra 5 euros and after I asked about it the salesman tried to pitch another package that would have added a bunch of other countries (mostly in Africa and Asia if I recall correctly) for something like 14 euros a month but I don't know anyone in those countries either (the salesman assured me that if this changes I can upgrade my telecom package whenever I wish).