BT, let your Welsh people go (online)

In rural north Wales, the arrival of broadband has been a lifeline for many. It’s transformed Tesco from being the greedy out-of-towner into a £5 delivery service for the elderly living in isolated places, it’s provided an affordable form of telecommunications for those whose relatives moved away and it continues to provide entertainment, news and information to places where even radio can be a challenge.

So when it goes wrong it’s serious.

This week it went wrong.

In a small, isolated village (which is two and a half miles on single-lane track from the nearest badly maintained B-road) download times dropped to achingly slow rates. Groceries couldn’t be ordered, emails couldn’t be received and calls couldn’t be made.

The residents got together and all agreed – ring BT. Regardless of which ISP they were with, they all require the BT line and the fault has happened before. They knew what was to blame.

When it’s gone wrong in the past, all the ISPs tell these people to ring BT – that can be after spending £40 plus on holding, transferring and generally being bounced about by ISPs seeking to pass the buck.

Calls were put in. Overseas calls centres were baffled. BT continued to insist they required the appropriate notifications from the individual ISPs. The exchange is a long way from the houses. You don’t say!

The runround continued throughout the Bank Holiday weekend.

Until, fed up with it all, an 80 something year old woman got in her car, drove half an hour plus to the nearest BT exchange and banged on the door.

Normal service is back on the way now.

Perhaps there’s a better way?