[graf_von_anonym]

Do you know if you connect through what used to be Telewest or what used to be NTL? If it's the former, then you're stuck until the modem has been installed, and I'd recommend waiting for the technician. The ex-Telewest platform doesn't support anything other than legacy STB broadband connections. The codes can't be put back on accounts, not even by retentions, because they don't exist within the provisioning system. Those that are there already work, but they can't put them back on if they get taken off.

If you're ex-NTL then don't worry about that part. I suspect that whatever Retentions have said is what they've perceived as the case, probably on the basis of misinterpretation of package codes. These things happen.

As regards getting you out of this mess, when is your V+ install scheduled?

It usually takes two to three days for a replacement modem to arrive. If one were sent out to you seperately odds are the tech bringing your V+ box would also bring you a modem, which wouldn't be too much of a problem but is a bit of a book-keeping nightmare. The way the systems work, removing the modem from what he is bringing you isn't impossible, but it is a pain.

So, two options, depending on how long you have to wait - the first is wait, let the tech sort it out if he's coming in the next two to three days. The second is to phone up and ask someone to send you a modem, explaining that you'd like to get back online as soon as possible. Now, odds on you won't get a splitter unless they send you what is usually refered to as the 'quick start consumables' pack, so you'd be looking at getting telly or internet but not both, until the technician arrived.

As for how all this came about, it's probably just the usual mixture of pressurised staff making a mistake due to inattention, with the added bonus of a connection type that's now vanishingly rare among the user base. Either that or the formless beast-man pressed into service at the telephonic mill was not fed the requisite quantity of mica, resulting in lowered cognitive response. Doubtless the robotic overseers will rectify that situation with their ceaselessly whirring motor-shovels, or he will be forced to challenge to single combat and then best his nearest colleague, for to feast upon his fallen comrade's stony exo-skeleton, crying loudly to the heavens in triumph.