People living in the NR5 postcode area of Norwich claim they are still having problems with broadband two months after Virgin Media said the issues had been resolved.

The Evening News reported in August that some people in the area had been experiencing problems with broadband since November last year.

A Virgin Media spokesman said at the time that it was aware that a small number of people were experiencing difficulties accessing the network, but added that the issue had been resolved and full service resumed.

However, customers claim that the problems still persist and broadband user Matthew Katos, 25, from Beecheno Road, North Earlham, said the service was getting 'beyond a joke'.

He said: 'The issue of the fault has been delayed so many times without an actual fix. The dates for it to be resolved have been pushed back from March to several dates in October, and now it's next January.

'Virgin Media has over-subscribed so much in this area, and has so many broadband customers, that it means that from about 7am to late at night, it's completely unusable.'

Virgin Media acknowledged that there was unusually high internet usage at key times of the day in the area, with some heavy users, but a spokesman said it was adding significantly more capacity to its network. A spokesman said: 'In recognition of the unusually large increase in demand for our services in the NR5 area of Norwich, we are currently undergoing major upgrade work to ensure that customers can get the best from their existing broadband services whilst also enabling the network in the area to deliver our cutting edge 100Mb broadband.

'This upgrade work will significantly increase available bandwidth ensuring that more of our customers are getting the speeds they are expecting, even at peak times.

'The full upgrade to services in the NR5 area is due for completion in the new year, however, in the meantime, we are conducting some additional works in the area which will gradually improve affected customers' service.'