HOTELIERS in a remote Highland community claim it is quicker to send emails by tortoise after criticising the quality of BT's broadband coverage.
The business owners in the village of Glenborrodale on the Ardnamurchan peninsula claim the problem is costing them thousands of pounds a day.
Sarah MacKinnon, manager of the Glenborrodale Castle Hotel has just had her second internet breakdown during the area's busy tourist season.
She said other hotel owners claim they are unable to access their own booking system, leading to concerns of double booking problems.
The service broke down in May of this year and despite repairs being made by BT weeks later, the broadband went down again last week.
Mrs MacKinnon said: "We've just spent tens of thousands of pounds refurbishing the castle as a top-end holiday destination, and opened earlier this year.
"In the few months we've been going, business has boomed, generating several thousands of pounds worth of new income every week - but now our broadband has packed up yet again which is preventing us from accessing our on-line booking system.
"This has been an ongoing problem. Our local exchange is an ancient, steam-driven .5Gb affair which gives us a pathetic .3 Mbps speed - but at least we can control our bookings.
"It died in May, and BT, after several denials that anything was wrong, got it going again, but it went down again yesterday and we're told there's no hope of it being mended for two weeks.
"Two weeks in summer is catastrophic both for our income and our reputation. Almost all our bookings are on-line, but without broadband we have no idea who has booked. And there is the awful danger of over- or double-booking and having people turn up to find we've no room."
John Polak, who runs the nearby Nadurra Visitor Centre, added: "The service we have from BT is abysmal. Each time there's a fault - as in May - they say there's no problem, then admit there is, and take over a week to mend it.
"Even when it's mended, sending things by a tortoise would work faster than our broadband."
BT has announced plans to roll-out fibre optic broadband for 84 per cent of the Highland and Islands area by the end of 2016.
The firm laid 250 miles of cable under the sea bed and say that residents connected to the new server can expect to receive high speeds.
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