What’s really got Anne Fordham’s goat is Telstra’s failure to have a technician turn up at her Baker Street house when they said they would. Three times.

“I wouldn’t mind [going without a landline] so much if they didn’t keep promising to come out here,” Mrs Fordham said.

“I don’t know how many times I’ve been onto Telstra about this. I’m just fed up.”

Despite her frustration, Mrs Fordham hasn’t wanted to make a fuss.

Her neighbours, friends, and carers, however, have taken up the matter on her behalf.

They’ve contacted Telstra seeking answers and a speedy resolution.

Mrs Fordham said she could neither make nor receive calls on the landline.

It means when family and friends dial her number, it rings out at their end, and they become concerned for her welfare.

Mrs Fordham also had a basic mobile phone, but she said it was faulty.

When she took it to a Telstra store they told her the phone was OK and sold her a pre-paid starter kit which she said didn’t work.

She has since bought a new basic phone, an Akai, from another retailer, but is not confident or comfortable using the new handset.

She misses the simplicity and peace of mind that came from using her familiar landline phone.

“I’ve just always had a landline, and I’ve been here for 40 years. It was a quiet little street then,” she said.

“It seems they don’t want to sell you an ordinary phone any more. They only want to sell you a smartphone or an iPad,” she said.

On Tuesday night, Telstra said it would apologise to Mrs Fordham for the “issues she has had” with her service.

“This is not the experience we want for our customers and we are investigating exactly how this happened,” a spokesperson for Telstra told The Herald.

“We will be contacting Mrs Fordham to personally apologise and we will do all we can to have her service restored as quickly as possible.”