Residents live 'in the old days' after broadband loss

A wide image of the junction into Llangwnnadl village. On the left there are road signs attached to a pole. On the right of the image are houses.
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Residents in Llangwnnadl estimate around 40 homes have been without broadband since 4 July

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Residents in a village in north Wales say they feel like they're living "in the old days" after losing broadband for most of the month.

Locals in Llangwnnadl, Gwynedd, estimate around 40 homes have been without the internet since 4 July, but some in the village still have a connection.

One woman said her husband, who has blood cancer, cannot get test results from the hospital, while a campsite owner has said she has to drive to another town to place business orders online.

Openreach, which runs the UK's digital network, apologised, saying the issue began after a pole replacement, and work was underway to restore service.

Some villagers said they relied on broadband for all their TV and phone services.

One of them, Helen Griffith, said her husband needs regular blood tests at Bangor hospital every three weeks, but without phone service, they cannot receive his results.

"I can't make calls either... if something serious happens, how would we get help?" she said.

"We're totally dependent on it. It's dreadful - we feel like we're back in the old days."

Close up image of Helen smiling looking at the camera. She is sat on a bench outside.  Helen is wearing a long sleeve top with white, blue and pink stripes. She has short grey hair and wears purple glasses. It is a head and shoulders shot of her.
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Without phone service, Helen Griffith says her husband, who has blood cancer, cannot get test results from the hospital

Joanna Smith, who runs Moel-Y-Berth campsite and café, said: "We rely on customers' patience.

"It's slowed everything down - bookings, payments - we're now asking most people to pay in cash.

"It's stressful, really stressful."

Close up image of Joanna smiling looking at the camera. She is stood in her campsite shop. She is wearing a cream linen shirt, a black floral top and a blue bandana around her neck. Joanna has short brown hair with a fringe. It is a head and shoulders shot. Behind her you can see shelves with sweets on.
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Joanna Smith, who owns a local campsite says she has to drive to another town just to place business orders online

Ms Smith said she can only place café orders by driving 30 minutes to Pwllheli to use someone else's wi-fi.

"I had to go into town today to get good wi-fi in another café to make my orders there, so it takes a lot of extra time," she added.

A graphic showing a map of Wales with the country's main towns labelled in white. Llangwnnadl village is labelled in red, just below the Llŷn Peninsula.
Image caption,

Llangwnnadl is a village in Gwynedd, north Wales

An Openreach spokesperson said it understood how "frustrating" this was and thanked those impacted for their patience.

"Our engineers are working to get everyone back up and running as quickly as possible."