BT Broadband suffering widespread problems

BT Broadband has been beset with a phalanx of problems of over the past couple of days – some of which aren’t set to be fixed for a few days yet.

For the past 48 hours, many BT customers have had trouble getting websites to load, in what appeared to be a problem with BT’s DNS servers (which convert web addresses such as www.experteviews.co.uk into the IP addresses required to fetch the pages). A message on the @BTCare Twitter account suggests the problems are now fixed. “We’ve fixed the problem some BT Customers were having loading websites over the last two days,” the tweet reads. “Sorry again to all those who were affected.”

However, one look at the BT Service Status page reveals a littany of other unsolved problems with the broadband service. More than 20 areas are experiencing problems with BT Broadband, including Manchester, Newquay, Redhill, Hereford and Hackney in London.

BT doesn’t specify what the problem is, and claims only a “small number of customers” in each of the areas will be experiencing a “loss of telephone and/or broadband service”. Services “can be affected by a variety of reasons such as damage caused by 3rd parties or cable theft,” BT rather unhelpfully explains.

Many of the problems aren’t due to be fixed until early next week, leaving customers without service for days on end.

In a statement sent to Expert Reviews, BT said: “A small number of customers were experiencing problems yesterday when trying to load some websites. This issue was fixed overnight. We apologise to those customers affected.”

“The issues mentioned referring to local areas are generally because of cable damage that usually requires underground work and traffic management.”