Portugal Notes

When you move house, naturally, you then need to get the telecoms in the new place sorted out. Portugal Telecom has a system whereby you can transfer your old account to the new place. Excellent. However, there has been a slight hitch as ADSL at the desired speed is not available (we’re that little bit too rural). So, instead of telling us this the order was simply cancelled.

So, today, off to the Telecom shop to get it all reinstated. Get that done and then ask what number I should be calling to track this new order through the system. I’m given a special, short, free, number to call. I look at it and then ask, "Err, does this work form a mobile phone?". "Oh, no, certainly not, only from a land line".

Well, that’s no good to me, I need a number I can call from a mobile because I don’t have a land line yet. But Portugal Telecom won’t give out any other numbers. You see, in order to phone up and inquire about when you’re going to get a landline you have to have a landline.

7 responses

  1. I take it Portugal Telecom is government owned? Readers of my age and up will remember how appalling the GPO phone service was before it was privatised and turned into British Telecom.

  2. To call up about a landline, you need to ahve a landline. This sounds remarkably like one of our capers over here. In order to draw a salary, you need an INN. You can’t get an INN unless you’re salaried.

  3. They copied that from France Telecom. I think moaned about that problem some time back. Oh and James’s INN caper is also repeated in France…

  4. Good grief, man! What’s wrong with a telephone box? Get a grip. This is your chance to experience England 30 years ago. Remember, the state still knows best in some countries.

  5. You seem to have moved in a temporal timewarp back to the 1970’s. And there’s you thinking that you just moved house.

  6. what’s wrong with the public phone in the local bar? gives you an excuse for a beer too!

  7. gene berman Avatar
    gene berman

    Why would anyone need an excuse for a beer?

Leave a Reply

Discover more from Tim Worstall

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading