BY tomorrow it will be Good to Talk again for 35 BT customers in Sunniside, near Crook, whose telephones have been cut off for a week.
Phone lines to Gladstone Terrace, on the edge of the village, were severed in two places by contractors working in the area last Thursday.
Yesterday, BT blamed the complexity of the work for the unusually long delay in repairing the fault and promised to discuss compensation once the service was restored.
Gladstone Terrace resident Chris Davidson said: "Those of us who have had mobiles could have their calls diverted, but there are some elderly people who have been completely isolated.
"We can't understand why it has taken so long to fix."
A BT spokesman apologised for the delay in the repair work.
He said: "It has taken significantly longer than usual, but we believe work will be completed by the end of Friday.
"It has been quite a complex repair because there appears to have been damage to the cable in two places."
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