I could cry....

I did not know whether to laugh or cry when I read the self-congratulatory article about faster broadband for Exmouth, by Gavin Patterson, chief executive officer for BT retail, in the Exmouth Journal.

I did not know whether to laugh or cry when I read the self-congratulatory article about faster broadband for Exmouth, by Gavin Patterson, chief executive officer for BT retail, in the Exmouth Journal.

May I, through your newspaper, invite Mr Patterson to explain to me why it is that, 24 days after the supposed "upgrade" took place, BT have failed to reconnect me to broadband.

I have a letter from BT, dated May 18, in which they advised me that on May 21 my "upgrade" would take place and that I would (quote) "lose your broadband and telephone service for a very short time - no more than 10 minutes". The letter went on to say: "Once your upgrade is complete, your telephone and broadband services should restart automatically so you may not even notice any loss of service."

I have had to make well over a dozen phone calls to BT, go through numerous time-consuming procedures on my computer and all the BT operatives I have spoken to refuse to see any link between my "lost" broadband connection and whatever has been going on at the Exmouth Exchange. I am currently waiting on a call from a BT operative in Newcastle who is, in turn, waiting on an "engineer's report..." Over to you, Mr Patterson.

David Baldwin,

Portland Avenue, Exmouth.