The thieves broke into a BT junction box in Fareham Road, Gosport, on Wednesday and made off with £10,000 worth of copper cables.

Police say 660 metres of cable was taken, affecting about 2,400 telephone lines.

Many residents will be without phone and internet access all weekend and have complained that they have been left without information by BT.

The theft has hit phone services in many roads including Brookers Lane, Tewkesbury Avenue and Fareham Road.

Chris Clark, 65, of Brookers Lane, Gosport, has been without a landline and internet since Wednesday.

He said: 'We haven't heard anything from BT or the police. It's not on. A telephone is a life line for some people, especially the elderly.

'It is rather bad on BT's part. It is annoying, we can't get on broadband and are having to rely on our mobile phones.

'It will be interesting to see if they offer any compensation.'

BT spokeswoman Emma Littlejohn confirmed the lost phone services has been caused by the theft.

She said: 'This has caused widespread disruption to services and around 500 homes and businesses are still without service. Engineers and contractors have been at the scene working all hours of the day in some terrible weather to clear blockages and lay more than 200 metres of new cable.

'We will continue to work tonight and over the weekend and aim to restore all the service by Monday, but this will depend on no unforeseen circumstances.

'We would like to assure customers that we are working as quickly as we can to restore their service and minimise disruption.'

Police have said the thieves struck between 1pm and 2pm on Wednesday, but so far no arrests have been made.

Mr Clark added: 'It wouldn't have been so bad if we had been informed about what was going on but nobody seems to know what is going on.

'We haven't been able to get any information from anybody.'

Anyone with information about the theft should contact Fareham police station on 0845 045 45 45, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.