Homes still without landline and internet connections after telegraph pole crash
A community could be without its internet and landline phone connections for more than three weeks after a telegraph pole was damaged in a crash.
Resident Colin Hargis said the pole carried lines supplying about 30 homes around Bwlchyddar, near Llanfyllin.
"It was damaged and all the lines broke on January 22 and we are being told it is scheduled to be repaired on the February 14," Mr Hargis said.
"This means we have no landlines nor internet for that time, and many of us have no mobile phone signal either. Some of us can use our mobile phones but with limited bandwidth and high data charges.
"There are people trying to work from home, children who use internet for their homework, all seriously disrupted because this one pole has fallen."
Mr Hargis said it had been very difficult to get any action because all the service providers were dependent upon Openreach to do the work.
Huw Jones, Openreach director of service delivery for Wales, said: “We can confirm that one of our telegraph poles that serves properties in Bwlchyddar was badly damaged following a recent road traffic collision.
“We visited the site to make the area safe as soon as the incident was raised with us but the telegraph pole was badly damaged and will need to be replaced.
“In order to ensure that our contractors can safely carry out this work we will need to have traffic lights in place. This is currently being arranged and we hope to have the work completed this week.
“We’re sorry that the damaged telegraph pole is taking slightly longer to fix than usual but the safety of our engineers and contractors is paramount and would like to thank those that have been affected by this loss of service for their patience.”
