Purgatory

We are rapidly getting our affairs in order. Of the litany of 'to-do' items on our list, telephone and internet acquisition are obviously at the top. By law all households in Luxembourg must have a land-line. There are several providers for internet and cell connection, but the Standard Bearer here in the Grand Duchy is Enterprise des Postes  et Télécommunications or P&T for short.

The Hotel des Postes - It's hard to gauge the scale of this edifice, but that's a city bus in the lower left corner.

Since all the major carriers are pretty much the same, we thought it a good idea to stick to with Old Lady Luxembourg's tried and true supplier. Originally the Post and Telegraph, P&T now offers everything from fiber optic networks to banking to television broadcasting.  One funny thing about life here is that most businesses don't really worry to much about their web-presence. Check out P&T's own webpage for the Postal Museum (yeah, just keep scrolling down).

I spent an afternoon at the main branch downtown in order to hook up our land-line, internet and cell phone service. This experience is amazingly similar to the trip to the DMV back in the states. You take a number in the lobby and wait your turn. 

That dude's not real, and I think I risked deportation snapping this picture inside the post office!

The board was on number 947 when I arrived...and the number I pulled out of the machine was...

YEEESH!!!

Fortunately most folks gave up once they saw their ticket number, but not me. It was still about a two-and-a-half hour ordeal, though. There are only four desks in the main Teleboutique, and it takes at least 30 minutes to get all of your paperwork in order. I'm glad I did stick it out because I was informed by the super-helpful attendant that in order to do all of this online, you must print off the application and mail it in. They will then contact you by mail to set up the installation date...makes absolutely no sense!? The soonest we can have our lines installed (even though the apartment is wired, it is not wired for P&T) is ten days from 'activation'. Oh yeah, the high speed internet line will be come about four weeks after that! I really think they believe that they still have a monopoly.  Oh well, at least I got a new toy out of the deal.

...my new life-line.

In other news, the car arrived on the 8th of November. I'm certain we'll have lots to report on that topic...let me just say 'snow tires'. Keep checking in. With limited internet access, posts may be even more sporadic than they currently are.