Network troubles
I took a call from a longstanding patient of ours today and the it's what transpired during this phone that reminded me of an incident I went through in Ug. I know some of you have been asking me to pour out more than I've already bored you with on this, but heck, if this poor woman had to listen to me, then all the more for you guys to suffer. To be honest - I'd all but forgotten this incident - I know - I've already remarked on my poor memory...You see I lost some of my stuff when my luggage dilly-dalied on the way back here - stupid cases didn't know where they were heading and even when found they just couldn't stay closed and gave access to all and sundry that cared to feel around. Ming boggles as to how combination locks were picked!!
There's a new tarif about in the UK - well those of you in the States might find this to be old news actually because Iets face it, you guys are way ahead on the freebies when it comes to network communications, on phones anyway. This might explain Big Brother's actions ...and so this patient was sharing her good news with me on having secured a line with BT that allows her free phone calls on all national dial-outs and I'm like - pity this has not caught on in Ug or any African states come to think of it.
You see I bought this international SIM card before leaving the UK. The spiel the sales person gave me was enough to get me to credit the SIM card with as much dosh as I could muster to cover my verbal hankering to my kids etc... Lord behold my excitement at inserting the SIM card when I got to Ug only to find that although it registered Celtel - that's just as about as far as it would function! I tried to take it up with Celtel - what wonderful customer care they have! Basically they asked me to pay for the SIM. I smelt a rat and kindly requested to have my card back to take it up with the guys back in the UK. On attempting to use my handset with a local SIM card - my handset came up as blocked. This didn't half piss me off to no gain I could tell you. Not for luck of trying , the damn cellphone was as useless as a Dodo! Just as well I'd brought two handsets - one to flog off to tide me over my stay - I'd heard there was a market for them you see, well I was fortunate the person who'd promised to buy it was patient to wait until my leaving Ug! Just that those damn issues with security prevented me bringing in a fair number. Ug is quite expensive actually - you spend more but earn virtually zilch.
So I was left to using it as a reminder for taking my medication etc...But wait for it, my vodafone prescriber was still in overload - only my network subscriber in the UK quietly ommited to warn me to cancel or switch off my voicemail box! That safely explains one of my bills on return - I am about to pay a visit to that nice salesperson that sold me that SIM card which proved to be fruitless...and while I'm at it, this bleeding handset needs replacing too. I don't know what the heck is going down with the tech designers for Nokia and SonyErics' - the battery life is crap for the SE, as for Nokia well...