HUNDREDS of internet users were fuming after BT's broadband service was suspended without warning.

Surfers unable to log on to the internet swamped BT switchboards to find out what had happened - only to be told there was no problem.

Janette Belton, 61, even went to the expense of calling out an engineer who, after several hours of testing, discovered it was a BT fault after all.

Mrs Belton, of Elmhurst Avenue, Benfleet, said: "I lost a signal at 2pm on Monday and assumed it was a small fault. I eventually called BT and they insisted there was no fault on the line so, at 5pm, I called a BT engineer out.

"He eventually found out from engineers in India this had been preplanned to upgrade urban phone lines.

"I have now been told it is going to be out for two to three days."

Mrs Belton, the treasurer of Boyce Hill Golf Club, said if the shutdown had been planned, customers should have been told.

She said: "I could have re-arranged my work accordingly. I look after the finances of the club and regularly use the internet, as well as keeping in touch with friends and family.

"The engineer has a £20 call-out fee and thereafter it is £40 an hour. He was here from 5pm to 7pm trying to find out what the problem was because they kept telling him there was no fault on the line."

Jim Robbins, a freelance photographer from Canvey who relies on the internet to send his photographs, also had problems with his connection.

He said: "After a lot of time and effort I finished up talking to someone in India. I was eventually told the problem affected all 01268 numbers.

"We were given no warning at all about this and it has been very disruptive."

However, BT insisted the shutdown had not been planned in advance, but was instead the result of a fault in one of their fibre cables on Monday afternoon.

A spokesman said: "It would have begun to affect broadband service to some end users served by the exchange at South Benfleet.

"Engineers urgently worked on the fault into the night and managed to clear the problem at about 4.30am Tuesday morning.

"We would of course wish to apologise for any inconvenience during the period that this work was being done."

However, Mrs Belton was still without an internet link yesterday afternoon.