Anger over weeks-long disruption to Uig mobile signal
- Published
A mobile phone service relied upon by a Hebridean community for calls and online services has been down for almost five weeks, islanders say.
Uig in Lewis has no alternative mobile provider or broadband connections.
The service from communications giant EE is used by many of the area's 400 residents, as well as the local GP surgery and primary school.
EE said the fault affecting its signal in Uig was complex and repairs had been hampered by bad weather.
Islanders said there have been previous times when the service had been disrupted, and not everyone had access to a landline.
About 100 residents attended a public meeting about the current situation on Monday night.
Local businesswoman Stacey Macdonald said she was making 70-mile round trips to access internet services in Stornoway, but said others were unable to do the same.
She said many people were unable to send or receive emails, or make voice calls and there were concerns retained firefighters and coastguard volunteers were missing messages about call-outs.
Mrs Macdonald added: "EE don't quite understand. When we say we have no internet they think: 'Awww, you won't get your Netflix subscription this month, what a shame'.
"They don't realise how much we rely on this service."
Former local councillor Norman Macdonald told BBC radio's Good Morning Scotland programme people were driving to other parts of the island to get a phone signal.
He said: "People are moving from their houses five miles, parking at the side of the road and finding four or five others doing the same thing."
Western Isles SNP MSP Alasdair Allan, who attended Monday night's meeting, said most people in Uig relied on its 4G signal.
He said: "The local doctors surgery can't access medical notes, or make them, and there are difficulties writing prescriptions. People wanting to pick up a prescription are having to make a 50-mile trip to the nearest alternative site to do so.
"The only shop in the community can't dispense cash and can't take card payments, and the school can't access online materials."
EE said it was aware of an ongoing issue in Uig.
A spokeswoman said: "Following bad weather, engineers will be on site again tomorrow and Thursday to carry out further work.
"We are really sorry for any inconvenience caused. We understand that this fault has been more complex and has taken longer to resolve than we would normally expect, but we are working flat out to get service restored as soon as possible."
The Scottish government said it was aware of the issues affecting Uig and understood the importance of reliable digital connectivity for island communities.
A spokesman added: "While telecommunications is wholly reserved to the UK parliament, we have asked BT and EE to resolve this issue as quickly as possible."