Residents left ‘marooned’ without internet or TV for six weeks

A pensioner says he and his wife feel “marooned” from the outside world, after being left without broadband, TV, or a landline, for nearly six weeks.

Howard Parry, 79, said his home, and a neighbouring property, near Llanelidan, Denbighshire, lost all broadband connection on 6 December.

Howard, who has heart issues, remains anxious he might not be able to call for medical assistance in an emergency, while his wife was “cheesed off” she missed last month’s Strictly Come Dancing final, and has still not seen the Christmas special.

Openreach – which runs the UK’s digital network – said the outage was due to “damaged” overhead lines, with “extra work” required due to the remote rural location.

Howard and his wife, who rely on broadband for all their TV and landline services, said their home was cut off suddenly, and without warning, while Howard was enjoying the football one Saturday afternoon last month.

“We do watch a fair bit of television – I like my sport,” he said.

“My wife likes her entertainment, like Strictly.

“And of course, because of this interruption, we’ve missed out on nearly six weeks of TV viewing.

“She was really cheesed off… to say she wasn’t happy is being polite.

“We’ve felt kind of marooned, if you like – with not much contact with the outside world.”

Howard said he and his wife had “never listened to so much radio in our lives”.

While Christmas was “not completely” ruined by the broadband disruption, the couple usually had the TV playing in the background over the festive period, “so it was a bit of an abyss, if you like – a gap in our lives”, said Howard.

He said both he and his wife had mobile phones with 4G, but the signal had weakened since the outage and “isn’t always great” – exacerbating their sense of isolation.

“Eight years ago I had a heart attack,” said Howard.

“If I had suffered another heart attack during this power outage, and the mobile phones weren’t working properly, it could have been a problem ringing for an ambulance.”

Howard described customer service at Openreach as “inaccessible”.

“For a telecommunications company, there’s not much communication between them and the customer.”

He said the problem only really began to be addressed after he contacted local media, as well as his MP, and Denbighshire Council.

The couple’s neighbour, Christine Conway, also lost all internet service in early December.

She and her husband do not watch TV, but her husband works from home and is “always on the computer”, she says.

“He’s been using a hotspot, which obviously has run the phone down,” she said.

Mobile phone signal can also be poor, she said, adding “if there’s an emergency, you’re stuck”.

When asked about repairs, Openreach “just keep saying ‘oh, it’ll be next week'” says Christine.

“It would be helpful if they could keep in touch with us, and say exactly what they’re planning on doing – and when.”

Approached for comment, Openreach said: “Part of our overhead network is damaged. However, because of the pole’s location, it requires some extra work.

“We’re sorry for the disruption this has caused.”

A spokesperson confirmed two properties were affected and repairs were due to take place on 14 January, but did not respond to complaints the company had not communicated with residents in a timely or useful manner.