A 77-year-old man who was left without phone or internet for more than three weeks has said the experience exposed serious risks for vulnerable rural residents — and fears little has changed months after the problem was finally resolved.

Clive Corner, who lives alone on Frensham Lane between Headley and Churt, lost his landline and broadband in early January after reporting a fault to BT.

With no mobile signal at his rural home, he said he was effectively cut off and unable to contact emergency services. The situation was particularly alarming because Mr Corner had suffered two brain bleeds following a fall the previous year, leaving him at higher risk and especially vulnerable while living alone.

Without a working phone line or internet connection, he had no reliable way to call for help if his condition worsened or if he suffered another medical emergency.

The fault continued for more than three weeks until the Haslemere Herald intervened, highlighting his case and putting questions to BT. Shortly afterwards engineers attended and replaced a damaged cable between two poles that had been affected by a fallen tree, restoring the service on January 23.

At the time Mr Corner said it should not have taken “a newspaper article, Twitter and an MP” to prompt action on a fault that engineers were able to fix within a few hours.

Months later he says the incident still raises concerns about the risks facing people in rural areas with poor connectivity.

“Hopefully BT has learned a few lessons from this and will use it as a case study in their training,” he said. “Since your article appeared, a number of people have contacted me to say they are in the same boat.”

During the outage Mr Corner had to drive away from his home simply to find a mobile signal and visit hospitality venues to download emails.

“This whole episode has shown just how dependent we are on the internet,” he said. “Without it I was completely hamstrung.”

He praised the engineers who eventually fixed the fault, describing them as “manifestly more competent than the managers”, but criticised what he said was poor communication between BT and Openreach.

A spokesperson for BT Group said the fault was caused by a damaged cable requiring specialist repair work and confirmed Mr Corner received automatic compensation along with a goodwill payment.

The company said it is continuing to invest in improving connectivity in rural areas, expanding its mobile network to more than 1,800 rural communities over the past five years and adding back-up power generators at network sites to improve resilience during outages.

But Mr Corner believes the wider issue of poor mobile coverage in rural areas remains unresolved.

“The mobile signal deserts we have in rural areas are a disgrace,” he said. “The last time I was in Africa you could get a signal in some of the remotest places.”

His partner, Izzy Hutchinson, said they had hoped the incident would prompt wider action.

“This kind of situation could easily become a life-and-death issue for people living in rural areas with poor mobile coverage,” she said.

She added that the support from the Haslemere Herald had made a real difference.

“You have done more for us than they have,” she said. “I’m truly grateful.”