Residents in Sauchie have found themselves without broadband for weeks due to a telephone pole which is in “poor condition”.
Andy Rankin, a resident in Auchinbaird, told the Advertiser that his home has been completely without broadband service since August 4.
This means that his home is without broadband service, a television service, with the issue also affecting his smart home equipment.
Three members of his household have also been left unable to work from home and have had to travel elsewhere to do so. Many of Andy’s neighbours are also experiencing problems.
Initially, Andy was told the service had been affected by a “wider network incident” at the Alloa exchange area, but other people were told that the issue was with a pole.
The problem has still not been resolved despite Andy being given numerous estimation completion dates, which have now all passed.
Andy said that “the situation is no-longer acceptable”.
He added: “You don't realise how dependent you are until something like this happens, because it’s attached to the TV, it’s attached to the lights, the plugs, working from home, it includes everything”.
He is an EE customer, and says he is still being charged for a service he has not been provided with.
However, Andy was given a device, which is like a phone with a sim card, which gets a signal and can then in turn give Wi-Fi to some of his devices.
But Andy says that it is “not strong enough to do the whole house” and isn’t secure.
Originally, he was going to be charged for this, before it was agreed he would receive the device for free.
Openreach spokesperson said: "We're sorry for the disruption Mr Rankin and other residents living in Auchinbaird are experiencing.
“The fault was caused by damage to equipment attached to a pole which has since been found to be in a poor condition and needs to be replaced before we can safely carry out repairs.
"The pole is on private land, so we needed to apply for permission to access the pole site which has meant the repair work has taken longer.
“Survey work of the site is now underway and we’re working to get the new pole installed as quickly as possible. Once that’s complete, we’ll also need to replace a large section of cable before services can be fully restored.
“We know how important a reliable connection is, particularly for people working from home, and we'd like to thank residents for their patience while we complete this work."
EE said that if a customer is experiencing a loss of service, while they will continue to be charged for the service, they also automatically qualify for compensation.
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