Demonology

On Thursday evening my internet connection had broken down almost completely. Every site would partially load but never quite finish. It was just about impossible to do any meaningful surfing! How on earth did we cope in the old days?

At first I thought that my new iMac was at fault - and I hadn't even received the credit card bill...

Then I connected the old iMac. Just the same. My Advent 4211 notebook (Windows XP system) showed identical symptoms when connected to the router. Time to phone Demon, but as we all know getting through to a call centre is easier said than done.

After several attempts and after developing a hatred for the same canned music I reached for the nuclear button so to speak. I called the main switchboard and asked to be put through to the Chairman of Cable and Wireless, Demon's parent company. In the past this tactic had worked with Southern Electric, BT and American Airlines. Cutting a long story short I was eventually called by a tech guy. He was extremely competent and eventually diagnosed the likely cause. My router wasn't designed for the Demon system upgrade that had happened on the very day that things had gone haywire. As advised I then logged onto Demon's website and ordered a free updated router which should arrive in a few days.

But here's a strange thing. More or less immediately afterwards I made one more attempt to connect to the web. Everything worked - and at probably double the previous speed.

The question is:

Is this because I signed up for another year when ordering the new router?

Or, is this because I phoned the Chairman's office?

Or, is it because I told the tech guy in Bangalore that I was about to order a curry?