Broadband ISP Be is to issue refunds to its net users after the service went titsup earlier this week.

In an email to punters yesterday BE MD Dana Pressman said the network was "affected by a serious problem" that resulted in "reduction of speed and packet loss that impacted the service for a large majority of our members".

However, the ISP went on to explain that the problem was "caused by an inadvertent mistake by one of our partners". A spokesman for the firm declined to say which partner was to blame or the nature of the problem.

Despite the snafu being down to someone else, Pressman told customers: "I take full responsibility for the impact on your service and the length of time it took to resolve the issue. This is not acceptable and is certainly not the kind of service that we intend to provide to our members."

As a gesture of goodwill, the ISP - which recently won the "Best Sumo Consumer Broadband" gong at the UK's internet industry awards - will be refunding two days' connection fees, which will appear on Be customers' next quarterly invoice. ®

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