BT: Storm damage fully cleared, broadband orders can flood Wales again

BT engineers have succeed in clearing all storm and flood damage, meaning customers across the UK can order new broadband and phone services again. 

Last week employees of Openreach, BT’s network division, announced that customers in north Wales, mid Wales and Shrewsbury areas can now order new services from ISPs including Sky, TalkTalk and EE. 

Bouts of extreme weather which blasted the UK in late 2013 and early this year saw BT burdened with a record number of faults. 

Extensive damage caused by flooding and storms meant that in many places, new orders were not possible. An Openreach spokesperson said: “Some repairs can be complex, time consuming and involve the replacement of substantial sections of underground or overhead cabling. 

“Flooded manholes and extensive road closures are also preventing our engineers from carrying out repair work in parts of the worst affected areas.”

In a bid to get customers reconnected as quickly as possible, teams of BT engineers formed hit squads which proactively targeted properties which could be easily fixed in flooded areas. This resulted in BT getting the last remaining customers back online in exactly a month.