Published: Thursday, 11th February, 2010 6:00am

Dead Orange signal until March

by Bryan Copland

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A MOBILE phone user has criticised network provider Orange after she was told a signal may not be restored to the Gifford area until March 31 - more than three months after it disappeared.

West Saltoun resident Debbie Smith, 19, lost her signal on Boxing Day and it has returned just twice since then. She has been in touch with the mobile phone giant four times since December, only to be told, she says, that she may have to wait a further six to eight weeks to receive a signal on her phone.

As previously reported in the Courier, Orange users in the Gifford area were left without a mobile signal due to adverse weather conditions during the winter season causing connection problems between the network provider's Gifford base station and another base station in Fala.

Despite claims of a three-month wait before the signal is restored, Orange was unable to confirm this week when repairs would be completed, and said it was "making every effort" to improve the situation and the re-building of a mast would be completed "as soon as possible". "

But this is subject to weather conditions and parts availability, a spokesperson added.

Debbie was also told that she could only receive £10 worth of credit as compensation for the inconvenience.

"Apparently there's a clause in the contract that means they don't have to provide a signal to their customers at all times," she said. "But I said that three months is taking that a bit far, and they said they wouldn't be refunding any customers if they continued to use their phones.

"You get a different story every time you speak to them and I've lost count of the number of times I've phoned and they've said they would phone back.

"They just don't seem to appreciate that three months is a long time to be without your phone."

A statement from Orange said: "We have now received the necessary approvals to make increase the height of the mast in Fala to improve the connection.

"The work will take place as soon as possible. However, in the meantime, our technical team are trying to improve network coverage for customers to reduce any disruption during this period."

The spokesperson also encouraged affected customers to get in touch with the company directly regarding individual circumstances with regards to refunds.