Just the latest update in the saga.....eventually got the web working a few weeks ago, after a BT engineer turning up unannounced at 9am on a Saturday morning to drill through walls....but I digress.

So now, to email. Apparently if you're on BT Business Broadband, you can't send mails through their SMTP server unless it's coming from a @btconnect.com address or you submit the name of your personal domain name to go on their 'approved' list or you transfer your domain name to them (to which my response was "If you think you muppets are going anywhere near my email you've got another thing coming").

So, we go down the get-domain-on-list route. To do this, you have to submit a registration certificate or a letter on company paper. Now seeing as 1) God knows where that is and 2) this is personal, not corporate, the insanity of this staggers even me (and remember, I learnt to drive in Bahrain...)

So...I...ahem...faked a company letterhead and faxed it off to them on the assurance that as soon as they got it (10am yesterday) they would action it and it would at most take 24 hours to work.

Now, I can tell they've done something, as the error message says "server does not accept authentication" rather than "server does not accept mail relay" but, dear readers, this is obviously not of assistance.

So, I call the "24 hour, seven-day" tech support. Option 2, "I have a problem with my email", line goes dead followed by engaged tone.

BT: The digital networked economy. EXCUSE ME WHILE I DIE LAUGHING!!!!!