Monday, April 23, 2012

Outage, illness, Vodafone and C&W

The main electric circuit in our kitchen-diner-office failed this morning. This took out our fridge, washing machine, Internet router, computer power and Vodafone femtocell.

By mid-morning I had jury-rigged extension cables and power bars snaking into the kitchen: stuff works again.

The electrician, found via "Rated People", diagnosed water in the socket beneath the sink and a reset fault in the fuse box. Repairs should be complete by Thursday.

Clare caught that horrible cold from me, and is recapitulating my symptoms a few days behind. As we huddle indoors from the rain and clouds, coughing with our eyes streaming,  visitors must think they've arrived at some kind of nineteenth century sanatorium.

Vodafone bought Cable & Wireless today. I wish them luck in fixing a company that has resisted more than two decades' attempts. The underlying problem is lack of scale, which undermines every business case attempting to modernise and simplify their network, products and processes.

Perhaps rich Vodafone can see a return  'out there' for the many millions of pounds they'll now need to invest.