Derby family left without broadband for almost nine weeks after cable damage

Matt Rains, who lives in Westbourne Park, Mackworth, explained that his Sky Broadband service was cut off in July after a cable connecting two telegraph poles was damaged. Despite repeated calls to both Sky and Openreach – which maintains the network – the service is still down.

Openreach has since apologised for the delay, blaming “third-party damage to our cable in Westbourne Park,” and confirmed that engineers are now replacing the damaged line.

Impact on family life

Mr Rains said he was initially told the issue would take around two weeks to fix, but the timescale has been pushed back several times.

“We were okay with that at first because we were going away for a fortnight. But when we came back it still wasn’t fixed. Now, nearly nine weeks later, we’re still waiting,” he said.

The outage has also disrupted his children’s education. His 11-year-old son has just started secondary school and struggles with online homework, while his daughter, studying art at Joseph Wright College, can’t download or print the resources she needs.

“It’s not just an inconvenience — it’s affecting their learning, and I’m angry,” Mr Rains added.

Neighbours in the area have also expressed frustration, with one elderly resident telling the BBC the issue has had a “big effect” on the community.

Provider responses

Sky confirmed it has applied a credit to the customer’s account and said the matter has been “escalated to the highest point” until resolved.

An Openreach spokesperson apologised to residents:

“We know how frustrating and disruptive it is to not have broadband, so we’ll get this done as quickly as possible. We’d like to thank residents for their patience.”

They also reminded customers that any broadband faults should always be reported to their provider (the company they pay their bill to), who will then liaise with Openreach on their behalf.