The grandparents who caused an internet blackout in their Welsh village at the same time every morning for 18 months have finally been identified.
Pensioners Alun, 67, and Elaine Rees, 63, were unaware that their old 16′ Bush TV had been leaving their neighbours with poor broadband connectivity and slow speeds every morning at 7am in Powys village of Aberhosan.
However the mystery, which also left engineers baffled, was finally solved when the ‘electrical noise’ responsible was finally traced to the couple’s home.
The retired couple explained that the £30 TV set, which is in their bedroom, was turned on every morning to watch Good Morning Britain.
Alun, 67, and Elaine Rees, 63, were unaware that their TV had been leaving their neighbours with poor broadband connectivity every morning at 7am in Powys village of Aberhosan, Wales
Retired GP receptionist Elaine Rees said: ‘One morning during lockdown at around 8.30am we could hear two men outside talking about signal strength.
‘We looked out of the window and saw they were BT engineers holding some kind of meters. One of them was pointing at our front door.
‘Next thing they’re knocking the door and asking us to turn the telly off at the wall.’
Mrs Rees went on to explain: ‘I love watching Piers Morgan in the mornings.’
Retired farmer Alun Rees added: ‘He told me we’d better get rid of the set immediately because it was interfering with the internet connection all over the village.
‘He said we’d have the whole village on our doorstep if anyone found out we were the cause of the problem.
‘Our son lives next door and he was having building work done so we chucked it on his skip.’
Openreach engineer Michael Jones said the company’s chief engineering team helped to solve the mystery by using a spectrum analyser to look for a phenomenon known as ‘Shine’ (single high-level impulse noise).
Villagers living in the Powys village of Aberhosan (pictured), Wales, were suddenly struck with poor broadband connectivity and slow speeds every morning at 7am
Engineers discovered an old-fashioned TV set in a house in the village (pictured) was emitting a burst of electrical interference in at 7am each day – causing the issue
He said: ‘As you can imagine when we pointed this out to the resident, they were mortified that their old second hand TV was the cause of an entire village’s broadband problems, and they immediately agreed to switch it off and not use again.
‘At 7am, like clockwork, it happened. Our device picked up a large burst of electrical interference in the village.
‘It turned out that at 7am every morning the occupant would switch on their old TV which would, in-turn, knock out broadband for the entire village.’
For 18 months, engineers were left scratching their heads when repeated visits to the village, located near to the market town of Machynlleth, found the network was working perfectly.
Baffled BT workers even replaced a large section of cable that served the village, which is home to around 400 people, in a bid to fix the mystery issue.
After exhausting their options, they were forced to call in the Openreach Chief Engineer team, a crack team described as the company’s ‘SAS’, in a bid to fix the problem.
Engineers were left scratching their heads for 18 months when repeated visits to the village, located near to the market town of Machynlleth, found the network was working perfectly
Engineers discovered the TV set was emitting a burst of electrical interference at 7am each day.
They traced the signal to a property in the village and Mr and Mrs Rees confirmed that they switched on their old television at that time every day – causing the broadband in the village to be affected.
There have been no further issues reported with the broadband network in Aberhosan since.
Suzanne Rutherford of Openreach said such issues are not as rare as people may think.
‘Anything with electric components – from outdoor lights to microwaves to CCTV cameras – can potentially have an impact on your broadband connection,’ she said.
She advised people to ensure their electrical appliances are properly certified and meet British standards.
Aberhosan will be connected to fibre broadband later this year as part of Openreach’s work with the Welsh Government to expand the network in rural Wales.
After the cause of the poor broadband was made, residents said they were determined to track down the owner of the TV to make sure it was thrown out.
One woman, who asked not to be named, said: ‘We don’t know who this person is with the TV but I’m going to find out.
‘We’re not early morning people so we had no idea that the problems were starting at 7am when the telly was being switched on.
‘Openreach say the person has promised not to use the telly any more – I want to make sure it’s been thrown out.’
Her husband added: ‘We’ve had engineers coming to visit all the time and none seemed to know what the problem was.
‘About a year ago one said that there was a strong electrical signal in the village that could be causing the problems but they didn’t know where it came from. Now I suppose they’ve identified this TV.’
Another villager said they were hoping the speed would be improved even more when a new fibre box was finally connected at the village chapel.
Neighbour Sara Williams said she has experienced broadband issues ever since moving into her home.
She said: ‘Just before lockdown it got to the point we couldn’t even use our phones on it.’Nothing would work then the landline would be down.
‘It’s only just the last couple of weeks that is has worked how it should have been when moving in.’
But Ms Williams says she had no idea it was down to an old television – and has no idea of the identity of the neighbour responsible.
She added: ‘I didn’t realise it was anything to do with a TV.’