Internet outage continues 12 days after fire

People in Ellesmere have had no internet connection or landlines since a fire at the BT box

Residents and businesses have been left without internet and landline for 12 days after a fire at a BT box in Shropshire.

The communications box, near Ellesmere Marina on Birch Road, caught fire on Friday 29 August, but more than a week later there is still network outage.

An Openreach spokesperson said: "One of our cabinets was damaged by fire, disrupting service for customers in the area. Repair work is due to start this weekend, and we're doing everything we can to restore service as quickly and safely as possible."

Chloe Halsall, who works for Narrow Boat Hire at the marina, said the internet problems had affected their business.

"Our card machine runs through the internet and all bookings are through the internet," Ms Halsall said.

"At the moment still can't currently see bookings so we have to call the bookings office."

Chloe Halsall, who does administration for Narrow Boat Hire at the marina, said the signal outage had caused problems for the business

The 27-year-old said the business had bought a USB adaptor in order to use the 4G internet signal on the manager's mobile phone.

"We're just relying on hotspots at the moment and the signal, which isn't brilliant around here anyway, so it's a struggle," she said.

"It drops out every now and again but we're getting by and able to use the card machine, which is the most important thing, and gain access to our emails."

'People must feel isolated'

The company's phones also run through the wi-fi, so calls have had to be diverted through another line.

Ms Halsall added: "You do feel cut off from everybody trying to get a hold of you. We're very lucky to have 4G on our mobiles, but a lot of people don't.

"I imagine it's very hard for them they must feel quite isolated at home by themselves not being able to talk to anybody."

She added it was difficult to contact BT without being a customer and the only contact she had had with the firm was when she reported the issue to them.

"It's actually quite hard to get a hold of them and talk to them," she said.