A HOUSEBOUND MS sufferer who relies on the internet was left isolated over Christmas and New Year by a faulty internet and telephone service.

Fi Beacon, 50, of Wigginton, switched to Talk Talk in August, because of the discounted broadband internet the firm offered with its telephone service.

Fi, who has had MS for nine years and is in a wheelchair, relies on the internet for banking, shopping and keeping in contact with friends.

For the first two months her service was fine, but then, at the end of October, she started experiencing problems.

She said: "I started having problems when they switched me to their so-called fast broadband.

"I don't need a fast connection - I need a stable one. Now it either just drops the connection or freezes the internet and email, and I have to reboot the computer.

"I rely on the internet and email, so this situation has made my life very difficult.

"One of my friends, who lives in Easingwold, hadn't heard from me, and because I normally reply straight away to emails, he thought I was dead."

As well as a faulty broadband connection, Fi's phone line went dead for a week.

She said: "In November, the whole thing went off. It was the day after my 50th birthday party, and I needed the phone to let people know I was OK, but I didn't have a phone line for a week."

Two workmen have been out to Fi's home, and have discovered a problem with waterlogging in the phone connection outside her house.

She has now been told her paved front garden will have to be dug up to correct the problem.

"It's awful. I'm having to be dependent on other people," she said.

"I couldn't change my internet food order for my Christmas dinner, and I needed to do a bank transfer to cover my bills at the beginning of January.

"I've had to arrange a temporary overdraft at yet more expense."

Fi spent more than £25 on her mobile phone trying to get through to Talk Talk while her phone line was down.

She said the customer support was not much help.

"I think one of the problems is that there's a different person for every little different aspect of the service," she said.

"It's so frustrating."

Talk Talk were unable to comment after being contacted by The Press.

Left without phone or television

IT IS not just Talk Talk that has let a customer down over the festive period with an unreliable internet service.

Paul Rogan, 41, of Holgate, York, began experiencing problems with his ntl Telewest phone, broadband and digital television on December 14.

The University of York technician said his service had been "absolutely appalling."

Less than a fortnight before Christmas, Mr Rogan's broadband went offline, all his digital channels disappeared and his phone line went dead.

"Every time I rang through to them I got passed from one department to another and then got left on hold," he said.

"I've spent whole days on the phone trying to get through to them."

Engineers have been to his house four times in the past two weeks and his service is now back on. But he still cannot use his video recorder because of an error with the digital television, and although his broadband internet works, his computer keeps issuing installation error messages.

Mr Rogan said his five-year-old son, Harry, had been upset that he could not watch cartoons over Christmas.

An ntl Telewest spokesperson said: "We were very sorry to hear of the problems Mr Rogan is experiencing with his services and we take this matter very seriously.

"A senior manager from our company has contacted Mr Rogan.

"As soon as Mr Rogan returns our call we will arrange for an engineer to visit at a time that is convenient to him and determine the cause of the problem."