Businesses and members of the public were brought to a standstill after mobile phone services in Borehamwood collapsed.

The town become a black zone for people using EE, T-Mobile and Orange, with some customers complaining they were unable to use their mobiles for four days.

While some services have been restored, many people have still been left with intermittent signal or none at all and have been unable to access data services.

Daniel Linton, who works at Winkworths Estate Agents in Shenley Road, said the whole office had been severely disrupted by lack of phone signal.

He said: “The signal was down on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and yesterday and there were problems before Christmas as well.

“It’s made life very difficult in the office as most of us are on these networks. Many of our clients call us on mobile phones rather than using the landline and we have been unable to receive incoming or outgoing calls. We’ve lost a lot of business because of this.

“Everyone is so reliant on their mobile phones and it’s so frustrating not to have them.”

He said he had reported the problem to EE’s customer service department but had got nowhere.

“The customer service is a nightmare, everyone seems to be passing the buck. It doesn’t look as though we’ll get any compensation either. I expect there will be a mass walkout.”

Helen Minn, who lives in Oakwood Avenue, said she has had little or no service since Friday.
She said, while she was now able to make calls, she was still unable to use the internet and other services.

She added: “I’m fed up basically, I’ll certainly think of finding a new operator when my contract runs out.”

Deborah Shaw, who lives in Furzehill Road, said her friends had been unable to call her and she had been having a lot of problems texting as well.

She said: “I have been having problems since before Christmas and it has been very frustrating. I am on a friends and family tariff at the moment but would be reluctant to renew with them if I can’t get signal where I live. They can’t sort out the problem and no one is admitting liability.”

Simon Linden, who works at Fonehouse in Shenley Road, said he had had a number of customers coming into his shop complaining about lack of mobile signal, which was caused by a broken down mobile phone mast. He added EE engineers had been working to fix the problem.

He said: “I have tried to help customers as much as I can. I am glad the phones seem to be working now and I hope this issue does not happen again.”

A spokesman for EE said: “We’re aware that some customers have experienced problems with service in the Borehamwood area. The technical fault has now been fixed and service has been fully restored for all customers. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”