The moral here
The person in Doncaster should not rely on a cheap domestic grade supplier if their income depends on it.
This was the week when an ex-Microsoftie said that Steve Ballmer was not the man who could lead the company back to its former rival-crushing glory. Joachim Kempin also claimed that Ballmer held on tight to his seat at the top by tossing out anyone in management who looked like they might replace him: When you work that …
If he's running an e-commerce site or something, then you're probably right, he should use a commercial service with a SLA.
But in this case it sounds more like somebody using dial-up networking from home. This sort of working has the potential to deliver substantial economic and social benefits (social disadvantages, too). I don't know what the current standpoint is, but in the past the government has been very gung-ho about teleworking. In this context, a home broadband connection is more than just a source of entertainment.
I remember a cartoon, way back, perhaps 1950s...
The big man, at a bigger desk, in an even bigger cloud of cigar smoke, says to his sidekick...
I want you to search this whole company, check out everybody. I want you to find the individual that could step into my position at a moment's notice. And when you find him: sack him.
Microsoft has never really been a visionary company in terms of technology. They are or were the visionaries of how to do business though. Of course being in the right place at the right time was lucky for them, it's not hard to sustain a business when you had a monopoly on the business desktop.
Microsoft proposed the tablet computer in 2001 which was a good idea, they just didn't have the right idea about technology and how to bring that vision to the masses.
If you look at the history of the Microsoft tablet you'll see that everyone in the company who opposed the idea just didn't understand it or didn't like it. Probably more obsessed with how much money it would make rather than how good it could be. That's proof of a huge lack of future gazing.
"Microsoft proposed the tablet computer in 2001 which was a good idea, they just didn't have the right idea about technology and how to bring that vision to the masses."
So, only a decade or so after Apple then; and even Apple couldn't get the Newton to sell. Touchscreen driven ARM device - there's just no market for them.