Frustrated neighbours across a North Ascot community have been left without broadband and landline services over the last month.

Due to the rising number of metal and cable thefts, Openreach reported that 290 homes and businesses have been affected in the local area.

After the surge in copper prices, authorities and communities are seeing a sharp rise in these cable thefts in the South-East.

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This has become an issue of grave importance for the communities affected, with some saying it has isolated people from friends and family.

An Ascot resident, who contacted the News about the service outage said: “This has been affecting several streets and hundreds of people in North Ascot and it’s been going on for around three weeks now.

“It is especially difficult for my 95-year-old neighbour who relies on his landline to stay connected with his friends and family.

“He doesn’t have a mobile, so the loss of the service means he now feels like he is trapped in his home without anyway to contact anyone.”

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The Telegraph spoke to Jo Ramsay, security operations manager at Openreach, who said the impact of the crimes on customers was “brutal”.

She added: “They’re the real victims of this and we just try to pick up the pieces afterwards.”

Security teams at Openreach, BT’s network division, have partnered with Thames Valley Police to deploy additional security measures to protect the network against further attack.

This includes fleets of drones which have reportedly been deployed by BT to catch criminals attempting to rip these copper broadband cables from the ground.

An Openreach spokesperson said, “We are disappointed that people in and around Ascot and other parts of the Berkshire are regularly bearing the brunt of criminal behaviour.

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“These attacks on our network have caused significant damage and unacceptable disruption to the lives of local people through the loss of phone and broadband services. 

“Our engineers are just finishing replacing the cable and all the damaged infrastructure and hope to have everyone back online this weekend.”

Advice to customers who are experiencing problems with their connectivity is to report it to their provider who will advise Openreach.

They added: “It’s also worth remembering that vulnerable status (which can prioritise repair work) is determined by broadband providers; if you think you or a family member should be given this status, please register with your provider.

“We urge people to call 101 to report any suspicious activity to the Police.  Examples of this activity include seeing people lifting manhole lids or unusual activity around our network in fields late at night, particularly if it involves 4x4 vehicles. 

"If members of the public do believe a crime is in progress, then they should dial 999.”