TalkTalk customer goes without for 12 months

A GRANDFATHER living in Cheshire, has been left without broadband for a year by Talk Talk - the fixed line arm of the Carphone Warehouse.

In June 2006, Oswald Connor signed up for a £26 a month service which included broadband - intended to enable his granddaughter to further her studies.

Although the line worked for voice calls, student Chloe Connor was unable to get internet access. After months of complaining, Mr Connor took his case to a national newspaper - The People.

On hearing about the case, a Carphone Warehouse spokesman told the newspaper, "We are very, very sorry. It's out of the ordinary for someone to wait so long. We're now investigating how this could happen."

When a technician duly turned up at Mr Connor's house he found that it was situated too far away from the local exchange to receive service from Talk Talk.

Carphone admitted that they should have realised this from Day One. The company has subsequently offered a refund and compensation.

Sadly it's not the only case concerning Talk Talk's broadband appearing last weekend. The Belfast Telegraph reported that a reader hadn't been able to connect to the internet for more than five minutes at a go.

He was apparently on the phone a total of five hours and 32 minutes just in April. He claims that phone calls to engineers are charged at 10p per minute. That's a bill of £33.20.

Free broadband doesn't look so free if that's the kind of support bill you can run up. µ

More on this story here.