Rats chew through internet cables leaving almost 2,000 Brits without Wifi leaving users fuming

CUSTOMERS were fuming after rats chewed through internet cables leaving almost 2,000 residents without Wifi across Devon.

Openreach, who run and maintain the digital network used by providers such as BT, Vodafone, Plusnet and Sky, said engineers were working to solve the problem, but had no estimated repair time.

google mapsRats chewed through cables leaving customers in Torridge, Devon, without internet[/caption]

The rodents, reportedly rats, left approximately 1,800 customers across Torridge without internet over the weekend.

An Openreach spokesperson said: “Our telephone and broadband network in and around the Bideford, Clovelly, Hartland and Horns Cross exchange areas has been damaged by rodents.

“Our engineers are working hard to get the repairs done quickly and safely; we don’t have an estimated repair time yet but will keep you updated as they progress.

“We understand how frustrating this must be for anyone is affected and thank residents and businesses for their patience.

“We encourage anyone experiencing any disruption with their service to report it to their provider who will then inform us. Damage to our network can also be reported online here”.

Because of the pandemic, more people across the country are working flexibly from home, increasing their reliance on stable internet connections.

In June 2021, Openreach announced their plan to provide ultra-fast broadband to 25,871 premises in North Devon in their mission to connect rural and coastal communities.

Affected properties have been confirmed in exchange areas around Bideford, Clovelly, Hartland, Horns Cross, with reports of outages in Parkham, Woolfardisworthy and Buckland Brewer.

The disruption comes a week after Torridge household suffered a 22-hour outage between October 9 and 10.

It comes days after another BT outage left hundreds of customers without email access, while EE users are also facing service issues.

Users of BT Mail were unable to login to their email accounts and EE customers have had trouble accessing the provider’s My EE app and website. Other BT broadband and phone services aren’t affected.

Downdetector reported problems with both BT and EE.

BT users had been reporting problems with accessing BT email accounts since 10am on October 14.

The outage reports were mainly focused around London but concerns have also been raised across the country such as in Glasgow, Birmingham and Nottingham.

Issues included not being able to login to services or not being able to send or receive emails.

Social media users on Twitter have said they cannot access BT Mail.

And further BT outages have been happening in recent months.

On August 12, for example, almost 900 people reported problems on outage site Down Detector.

BT tweeted to say severe weather caused an outage at its Edinburgh exchange.

On July 23, thousands of BT, Plusnet and TalkTalk customers complained of outages.

The companies said this was due to a fire at an exchange – the point where your home broadband connects to the network in your area.