Hyderabad: Even after more than two weeks, residents across the city continue to face disrupted internet services due to the ongoing removal of overhead communication cables.Broadband users in areas such as Kondapur, Kukatpally, Uppal, and Lakdikapul report that their connections have been down for the past 7 to 15 days. Despite repeatedly raising service requests with their internet providers, many complain that the problem remains unresolved.The impact is most severe in Boduppal, where residents have been left without internet access for 18 days. “I haven’t had connectivity since August 19. Our internet service provider (ISP) keeps saying that the power department is to blame, and requests us to have patience. Every morning, they say the connection would be restored by 9 pm. But nothing happens. Neither does anyone answer the customer care helpline nor does the chatbot work. And on top of this, they sent me a bill for the entire month,” said Victor Babu, a resident of Boduppal.Users also allege that ISPs are failing to even register their complaints. “Our entire community had no broadband service. I was on call with customer care for 30 minutes, but they refused to log my complaint,” Ashutosh, a resident of Kondapur, posted on X.With many depending on high-speed broadband for remote work, online education, and digital transactions, the outage has caused major disruptions. Subscribers complain that ISPs have failed to provide clear timelines for restoration. Professionals working from home say they have to rely on mobile data, which is unreliable as well as expensive. Several users have expressed that the ISP appears incapable of managing large-scale service disruptions, especially when complaints are pouring in from multiple areas across the city.Frustrated customers are calling out one of the city’s leading ISPs for its poor handling of the ongoing broadband outage. Subscribers say the estimated time of restoration (ETR) keeps changing every day, leaving them with no clarity on when services will actually resume. To make matters worse, customer support remains unresponsive, with calls and service tickets going unanswered.”This is unacceptable. Internet cables are being cut without any notice in Hyderabad. People working from home are being forced to skip meetings and miss work deadlines. Before embarking on such activities, authorities should first assess the impact on the public and implement their actions in phases. Internet is a lifeline now, and no longer a luxury,” said B Sairam, an affected user.A leading ISP in the city acknowledged the issue in a message to custoemrs. “Citywide internet services have been affected. We are coordinating with the electricity department to restore connectivity at the earliest. We regret that it has taken longer than we anticipated to resolve your issue due to on-ground challenges,” ACT Fibernet said in a message to its customers.
