Slipping through the digital net

Having just moved house, I had the interesting experience of being without a telephone handset. And my current mobile provider 3 [% coverage] can't always manage to find a network for me either.

Luckily, I came across an ancient postbox red "pulse" telephone, which works fine as a handset but which means you can't use the keypad to make a selection on telephone systems. This was more of a problem than I imagined when I dialled up BT -- there is no way to connect to a live human if you have a pulse handset.

On an equally frustrating accessibility tip, I tried phoning up EDF (0800 096 9000) to sort out my electricity bill, and they use a voice activated system. There is no way to connect to a live human unless you speak. If you're dumb or have temporarily lost your voice, well, tough. I'm sure this contravenes accessibility legislation, though I'm not sure if telephony systems are covered by the same legislation as web sites...