Marshall Court Apartments resident Bea Cardno is one of many residents having phone problems.

All they want is a working landline. But elderly and disabled residents of Wellington City Council flats are being forced to fork out extra money for ultrafast broadband they don't need.

Marshall Court Apartments in Miramar is the council's newest housing development, completed in January this year. The 27 flats have been fitted with fibre-optic cabling, and residents, many of whom are pensioners or have disabilities, cannot opt for a landline-only service.

"All of us have to pay extra because it's got broadband, but I don't use it – I'm legally blind," 76-year-old Bea Cardno said.

Her latest bill was $87.08, up from about $65 when she just had a landline at her previous flat.

After she moved in, the phone line and modem took 23 days to set up, she said. "It was hell. I felt so isolated."

Another elderly resident, who did not want to be named, said her bill had jumped by $20 a month, and her phone took a month to connect.

"Can I say in English? It was bloody awful.

"I'm ancient, and when I asked [the council] for the phone to be connected they said, 'Modem blah blah', and all this jazz, and I don't know anything about that. I've never heard of it.

"All I wanted was a plain phone, I have no interest in computers ... I just wanted a phone."

Tui Papera said her bill had increased from $55 at her Kilbirnie flat to $75 for her ultrafast broadband package at Marshall Court. She does not have a computer or a mobile phone.

Grey Power spokesman Trevor Daniell said the lack of choice in the flats amounted to elder abuse.

"It seems like a pretty disgusting move not to give people the option of choosing whether they have a landline or broadband, or forcing on them an option which is priced at an extra $25 per month which, believe me, can mean a lot to a person on a pension ... to have an extra $300 a year slapped on them is a real imposition."

If he talked to the residents, he would suggest they got mobile phones, but for those without a helper, there were barriers.

"They need a cellphone they can read – they need to know how to operate them ... then there's the cost."

Consumer NZ chief executive Sue Chetwin said: "It's unfair that those people who aren't going to use those services are having to pay for them."

But council spokesman Richard MacLean said it was just following national standards when it decided to install only fibre-optic cabling in Marshall Court Apartments.

"It is now a national requirement – and an understandable one – that up-to-date telecoms equipment should be installed in any new building.

"Given that Marshall Court was a situation where the previous building was completely demolished and we started again from scratch, then we had to follow the rules."

No other council flats had fibre-optic cabling at present, but the same issue would arise as more were built or modernised.

"We're in ongoing discussions with Chorus and other telecoms companies involved to see how we can try to navigate those problems," MacLean said.

Expense to residents had been considered, but the council had ultimately decided it must "move with the times".

"It would be irresponsible and unrealistic for the council to install 20th-century technology into a 21st-century building."

Some Marshall Court residents had been given a one-off $200 payment to help with the extra costs, he said.

"Compensation – we don't use that word – but we have contributed a couple of hundred dollars here and there, because we have tenants into a brand new building and a lot of them have faced considerable costs trying to get just a phone set up, so we have helped them out with installation costs."