Technology hates my new place.

I have, in theory, ADSL2+. That's what I'm paying for, anyway. What I'm getting is, as of five minutes ago when I ran the rest again, 40kps. Less than dialup speeds. I've been through all the troubleshooting they can do over email, they need me to call them to work on the problem.

Okay... but my phone gets a maximum of two bars of reception in my house (note to self: check reception when next househunting). Which is apparently not enough to hold a call - I've not yet managed a complete phone call without it either dropping out or breaking up beyond comprehendability.

I don't have a landline. I never used the one at my last place, and everyone who may call me has my mobile number. And for the record, I don't live in the sticks (much as my partner's folks insist it is). This is the mid-suburbs, about half an hour from the city by train or car.

So I can't call these people. Okay, not to worry, I've borrowed a USB modem dongle that I can attach to my laptop and use Skype to call the internet people. (I can't use the main internet because not only is it too slow to hold a skype conversation, as soon as they want to test or reset the line, the call will drop.)

Except the dongle, ostensibly an ADSL modem, gets 12kps here. It's the same provider as my phone; go figure.

So I have no way to call these people other than waiting for my partner to rock around for the weekend and using his phone, which is with another provider. That strikes me as a tad ridiculous. 

I won't even get into my psychotic gas oven which I suspect is secretly plotting to murder me.

What aspects of our techno-world drive you bonkers or always seem to trip you up?