Forfar residents have been promised by BT that their communications black-out will come to an end this weekend.
More than 20 houses in Forfar’s South Street have been left without a telephone link since Sunday May 5, a day which coincided with technicians for the firm finalising broadband works for the town.
However, homeowners on the north side of South Street have slammed the operator for leaving them without any connection since the fault occurred and are seeking answers.
Evelyn Hendry, who stays near the top of the street, said: “The last time I spoke with them was last Thursday and they said they would keep me updated by text but I haven’t had any from them.
“I normally have a landline that I can phone any 01 or 02 number for an hour and it doesn’t cost anything but I have to use my mobile phone now and it is making me go over my minutes.
“I just want them to get it sorted as soon as possible. It’s ridiculous to have gone on so long. I’m disappointed in BT. They are boasting about the broadband but what about the disconnection of lines on the whole side of a street?”
Umar Sher, manager of the One Stop to Shop convenience store at the top of South Street, said the shop has lost business since the phone lines went down and BT keep pushing back the date to fix the issue.
“I have about four lines for this shop,” said Umar, “and I could tell that as soon as one goes that there’s something wrong.
“I phoned BT right away as I had seen them working at the bottom of the road but they said they didn’t know where the fault was.
“Every couple of days they are updating me now but it should have been fixed by last Thursday that was their 48-hour commitment.
“Then they started saying they had not been able to get permission to put traffic lights up on the road to do the work but if it’s an emergency you just need to notify the council.”
Umar has managed to get BT to re-direct calls to the shop’s landline to his mobile phone but that still hasn’t stopped him losing customers as his card-payment facilities are all down.
He added: “I’m not mad about the phone line so much but the bill payment machines and credit card machines none of them are working.
“If people come in to get their bill payment and can’t, then they will go somewhere else. It should have been resolved in the time they gave to resolve it and it’s more frustrating that it is a problem that has been created by them that hasn’t been solved by them.”
A spokesman for BT confirmed that a fault has been discovered in the street and the operator will have to replace 80 metres of cable.
However, the company said it “could not be certain” if the fault was linked to the broadband works.
The spokesman added: “The fault has been traced to a wet length of cable, which requires replacing. Openreach will have to remove and replace a section of around 80 metres in length and have to put traffic management measures in place.
“We’ve applied to the local council to carry out the work on Sunday, when the work will cause the least traffic disruption.
“The work should be completed on Sunday, when we plan to restore service to the 22 customers who have reported faults. We’ve diverted their lines to their mobiles free of charge, so that they don’t miss any incoming calls. We’d like to apologise to all of them for the inconvenience this fault has caused.”