'I didn't realise how much I needed my landline'

Residents in a rural road have their landline phones back in use, after a month offline due to a fault.

Over 20 homes were thought to have been affected on the outskirts of Ipswich, Suffolk.

Linda, who did not want the BBC to use her surname, said her landline was fixed on Wednesday, but that it had been down since 10 March despite making numerous complaints to her provider.

A spokesperson for phone company Openreach said the fault had been caused by water entering a cable and that efforts to fix it had proved challenging.

Linda, who has lived in her home with her husband Terry for 60 years, said she was frustrated at how Openreach handled the issue.

The 79-year-old said she had faced trouble booking a doctor's appointment on her mobile phone, making her realise how important the landline was to her.

"I didn't realise just how much you need it, until I was without it," she said.

Linda added she had missed calls from friends and family to congratulate her on her wedding anniversary.

Richard Green said customer service had been "non-existent" and Openreach had initially said the fault would be fixed within a few days.

Green said he had missed news that a friend had died as he could not be contacted, and only found out through a voicemail when the connection was fixed.

He said he was relieved to have the service back as it had allowed him to book a dentist appointment.

Linda Chambers, whose phone line was still down, said a landline phone provided her with "security".

She said she had struggled to contact Openreach as "it's all online, you can't talk to people today."

Research published by the communications regulator, Ofcom, showed that 76% of people aged over 65 had a landline phone in their home, but that dropped to only 13% for those aged between 25 and 34.

Landline operators are switching every home phone in the UK to an internet-based connection instead of traditional, copper-wire cables.

North Shropshire MP and chair of the Digital Communities All-Party Parliamentary Group, Helen Morgan, said the government needed to show better leadership and make sure people were not being left behind, particularly in rural communities.

An Openreach spokesperson said: "The fault was caused by water getting into one of our cables in a deep underground chamber.

"Because the space is very confined and sits well below ground level, we had to bring in specialist partners so work could be carried out safely, including the use of breathing apparatus.

"When we first tried to access the chamber it was heavily flooded. Large volumes of water had to be pumped out, but it continued to refill, which meant we had to pause and reschedule the work while we put the right safety measures and equipment in place.

"We're really sorry for the disruption this has caused and appreciate people's patience while we deal with a very challenging and unusual repair."

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