Credit where credit is due

All hail Fastweb!

I know this is going to annoy some people, and I never thought I’d write the following sentence. Today, Fastweb, purveyors of internet access and telephonic services to the patient, delivered more than they promised.

This morning our modem went pfft. With it died the telephone. All connections worked perfectly; power left the plug and entered the modem, but got no further. In a slight panic, I called Fastweb. (With the cellphone, obviously.) After the usual long delays, compounded by appalling hold music, I got through to a guy who told me a technician would arrive at around 3. I tried, in vain, to get some additional phone numbers, names etc., just in case, by some remote chance, this technician did not arrive. No point, said my man on the phone, he will.

After rejigging my day a bit to ensure I would be here at 3, I went down to the bar to steal some wifi. While there, the cellphone rang. It was the technician. My heart sank.

“Do you mind if I come a little earlier,” he said. "At about 1:30?”

“No, no, no,” I managed, trying to regain my composure. “That would actually be better.”

“OK.”

Nervous Nellie that I am, I asked him whether he had the correct address. He sighed and confirmed.

Forty minutes later he was here. Fifteen minutes after that, he was gone. And in his wake, a shiny new modem, excellent access, and a promise that, because it is a new model, a call to customer service would enable me to connect more than three devices.

I’m almost inclined to believe him, but I’m not going to push my luck today.