Frustrations with Kyivstar and Pidgin

Keeping it short. Turns out, to use Kyivstar’s 3G, you either have to sign a contract or buy a specially marked starter kit that comes bundled with a 3G SIM card. So now I’m stuck with EDGE, though at least in the regional center it’s better than out in the sticks. 5000 MB for 128 UAH, which works out to about 160 MB per day. I think that’ll do for now. And apparently because of the slow connection (I can’t think of any other reason), Pidgin, the pest, won’t connect. Not to ICQ, not to Google Talk. Looked at other clients — I want something multi-protocol, since I never managed to ditch ICQ. Nothing quite like Miranda is out there, Empathy wants to download 35 megabytes, which feels like too long a wait. I miss Kopete.