Broadband campaigners are spitting feathers after reporting that their recently ADSL-upgraded exchanges don"t appear to be working.
Net users in Leek and Irby - which had their exchanges converted to ADSL last week after drumming up enough local demand for broadband - are reporting problems trying to connect to ADSL.
And there are reports that the problems are not isolated and that as many as ten recently-enabled exchanges are also suffering connection problems.
A statement on the broadband4leek campaign Web site says that its exchange is suffering "a major problem".
"So far, everybody I know who"s activated is suffering service outages. Something at BT"s end is broken, whether it be equipment in the actual exchange, or something else," it said.
A similar message on the broadband4irby.co.uk site urges those who cannot get their ADSL service to work to escalate the problem to their ISPs.