Customers still without broadband after Storm Éowyn

A customer who is still without broadband after Storm Éowyn has described the service as "a complete disaster from beginning to end".

Davy Uprichard is one of just over 1,300 customers of broadband company Fibrus still without a connection at 18:00 GMT on Tuesday, following damage caused by the storm more than three weeks ago.

On Tuesday, Fibrus said most of those still without connection were "largely in harder to reach areas. We expect that the majority of customers will be reconnected by the end of this week.

"We will continue to communicate with customers regarding their estimated completion dates, and we would like to thank customers for their continued patience and understanding as we work to reconnect everyone as quickly as we can."

Mr Uprichard, who lives outside Lisburn, said he had received a text message from Fibrus informing him that he would be reconnected on 13 February.

When that date arrived, he said he received a phone call to tell him that his connection date had been pushed back.

Mr Uprichard said that he was "getting slightly frustrated".

"I appreciate the fact that there's a lot of storm damage but really and truly there's no customer service that I can see," he added.

Mr Uprichard's daughter, who usually works from home, has had to relocate to her sister's house in Belfast.

"My two-and-a-half year old granddaughter, who is also staying with us at the moment, is slightly annoyed that she can't watch all the programmes that she normally does," he said.

"You become reliant on having decent connection."

Mr Uprichard said the lack of broadband had also affected his own cider-making business.

"We need to have reasonable internet connection so that we can file VAT returns, file duty returns, things like that."

A spokesperson for Fibrus said: "We understand the importance of a broadband connection to our customers and have over 300 people out in the field, including additional support from teams in GB, firmly focused on getting our customers back online as quickly as possible".

The company will "continue to communicate with customers regarding their estimated completion dates".

The spokesperson said they were working "to overcome additional challenges such as secondary damages and additional poling and cabling work in some areas".

"Some cases require repairs from third parties, and we continue to work closely with our partners in these instances," they added.

Storm Éowyn brought winds of more than 90mph to Northern Ireland when it hit on 24 January.

It resulted in the Met Office issuing its first red weather warning for Northern Ireland.

In total 285,000 households and businesses in Northern Ireland lost power during the storm.

Fibrus have said that 40,000 of their customers were affected at the peak of the storm.