‘Huge relief’ as Oldham internet access restored after 4 days

The outage, which cut off access to around 2,000 broadband connections from the end of last week, was said to have a "massive effect on custom".

Businesses whose payment systems rely on a wired internet connection were forced to go cash only until the problem was fixed on Tuesday.

Those affected have criticised their internet providers for a lack of communication over the issue.

Openreach, which manages the network, has apologised to those affected.

It said the problem was caused by third party contractors damaging cables.

Establishments including Subway, Oxfam, Cash Converters, the Town Hall Tavern, Riga Supermarket, Oldham Bargains, and more were all affected by the outage.

Sign up to our newsletters to get the latest stories sent straight to your inbox.

‘Trying to run a business in Oldham is hard enough as it is’

Richard Simpson has worked in his family jewellers, Simpsons of Oldham, since he left school.

The business has been in the family for four generations. He says the business has been a BT customer for 40 years.

Richard said the internet outage left the business unable to take card payments or phone calls for four days.

The 27-year-old said: “They force you to go on Cloud Voice, so the phone lines are being taken out. If you lose your internet then you’ve lost everything.

“We definitely lost money, 100 per cent. There were two or three customers in the other day who simply couldn’t pay us.

“Thankfully some customers have gotten out cash, but obviously you can imagine in a jewellers not every payment is five or 10 pounds, so people don’t like carrying around a certain amount of cash with them.”

Simpsons of Oldham (Image: Jack Fifield, Newsquest)

Follow The Oldham Times on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, and Threads.

Richard said the business is now looking to switch to rival provider Virgin Media.

He added: “We’ve had no contact from BT. I had to ring them up and go through several different numbers to get through. They just said it would be fixed when it was fixed.

“Touch wood, knock on wood, it’s working. It’s a huge relief. We just want it back working.

“It’s not what you need. Trying to run a business in Oldham is hard enough as it is. You don’t need things like internet not working.”

Simpsons of Oldham's resident dog Emmy (Image: Jack Fifield, Newsquest)

Under the Ofcom compensation scheme, broadband customers are entitled to £9.33 for each calendar day their service is not repaired, if it’s not fully fixed after two full working days.

Richard said: “It probably cost me that in time to ring them up. It’s not worth it.”

Please help support Oldham Foodbank by donating to The Oldham Times' No Hungry Kids This Summer campaign

Openreach van on St Mary's Way (Image: Jack Fifield, Newsquest)

Town Hall Tavern

Over at the Town Hall Tavern pub, landlady’s daughter Gina said they had been comparatively lucky compared to other businesses.

While the business was unable to use their music system due to the lack of internet connection, they were still able to take card payments, thanks to their payment system using the mobile data network instead.

However, Gina said she could see queues for the NatWest cash machine outside.

She said: “I know for a fact it affected down the road, because we had queues from the cash machine all the way to our door, because people were needing cash.

“Envy, Bees Knees, all down the road were all cash only, which has a massive effect on custom.”

The Town Hall Tavern could not play music during the outage (Image: Jack Fifield, Newsquest)

Local residents share frustration

Some residents were also affected by the outage.

Bridget Donaldson, who lives in Higginshaw, had been without internet since the end of last week. She said the first thing she would do now is check her emails.

John Cregan, from Higginshaw, is a director of a young person’s football club, the Bury Warriors.

He said half the pubs in the town centre had gone cash only due to the outage, and added that the outage has made working from home more difficult, with his boss currently in America, forcing him to make international calls.

He said: “It’s a total nightmare, because I’ve got to keep in touch with my boss, so I’ve had to basically take all my stuff down to Bury, do it from Bury and then transfer it all the way back to Oldham again.

“It’s been really hard. We’ve got a club over in Belgium and a club over in Ireland.

"It’s been a nightmare, as you have to do daily contact. They’ve been sending messages to me and not being able to get in touch with me.

“I’ve had to go down to Bury and go on the internet and been getting home about 12.30am at night. It’s a total nightmare.”

One of the damaged cables (Image: Jack Fifield, Newsquest)

John criticised the communication from the providers, saying they should be more proactive in communicating with customers.

He added it will now take him three days to file all the scores which have accumulated during the outage.

Openreach apologises to those affected

A spokesperson for Openreach said: “Our engineers have been busy repairing damaged caused to our underground network, by third party contractors.

“Around 2,000 broadband connections were affected, and it was a complex repair to get everybody back online. Engineers have worked as quickly as they can in the last few days, and the work is now largely complete. We’re sorry for any disruption and thank the local community for their understanding.”

According to highways website one.network, Electricity North West had been carrying out works near the site.

Electricity North West said it was not aware of any damaged cables.