BT's dial-up service is being bugged by an intermittent network problem that is causing frustration for a couple of thousand punters.

A number of readers have complained that they've experienced email problems and difficulty accessing certain sites.

One reader told us how he'd been experiencing problems for the last week or so. "Like others, I've had a lot of problems accessing some Web pages, email, and Internet banking. Google has been causing significant problems but I have had problems on many other sites. The sites just lock up and fail to download/display.

"The main grumble on the newsgroup is lack of information and weak Tech Support. A number of people have stated on the newsgroup that we will be leaving BT if this [problem] persists.

Another explained how while he was able to send email he hadn't received any for more than a week.

A statement on BT's status page confirms that the telco is experiencing problems on its dial-up service.

It reads: "We are aware of an issue that may be preventing customers from accessing their email via an email client such as Outlook Express. Please be aware that your mail should still be available via webmail, available from the BT OPENWORLD homepage.

"We are also aware that some customers have difficulty in accessing the btopenworld and bttogetherinternet home pages. Users may also not be able to access secure web sites such as certain banking sites," it said.

BT denied that the problems - which it claims have been around for the last couple of days although some readers insist it's been longer than that - is related to the migration of punters to its BT Yahoo! dial-up service.

A BT spokesman played down the problem, insisting: "We haven't got major problems but we do have some network problems that are affecting a couple of thousand of our dial-up customers.

"BT apologises for this and is working round the clock to put the problems right," he said. ®