Hamilton Mountain residents are frustrated after a Shaw-to-Rogers switchover, saying it has left them with spotty Internet and cable service.

After three weeks of problems, Bernard Trest was crossing his fingers that his Internet issue would be resolved Thursday afternoon.

Trest says his difficulties started when the company began its node-by-node switchover of the network, after purchasing Shaw Communication's Mountain Cablevision last year.

Trest — who runs a computer security company out of his Mountain home and has had to tether Internet from his phone to get work done — calls the switchover "ill-conceived."

"I was with Shaw previously and I never had any issue," Trest says. "It's very poor planning."

Rogers Communications spokesperson Jennifer Kett said Thursday that they have brought more staff into the call centre to handle complaints, and have extra technicians on the road.

"There have been some technical issues for some customers who have been switched over to our services, and we're taking every possible step to fix the problems," she said.

Kett did not say how many complaints they've received, only that "a dozen" customers were still affected Thursday night, adding that cable boxes had been "one of the most common problems."

Customer Ron Budai says 40 people were lined up at Rogers' Hester Street office Thursday morning.

"There were a lot of people in that waiting room that are really pissed off," he said, noting his cable had been down for a week. "I had no problems with Shaw, none whatsoever. Now that Rogers took over, it's been nothing but problems."

Rogers announced the $400-million purchase last year, marking the third time in just over three years that Mountain cable customers have had to make a switch.

Shaw purchased Mountain Cablevision, a relatively small, family-owned cable provider in 2009. At the time, there were about 27,000 Internet and 41,000 cable TV customers in a region stretching across Hamilton Mountain, Binbrook, Mount Hope, Caledonia, Hagersville, Jarvis, Cayuga and Dunnville.

"I could care less about the switchover — I just want to watch some TV," Budai says.

Another Mountain resident, Dan Rodrigues, says he opted to cancel his Internet subscription before the switchover, going instead with an independent called Distributel — and he's glad he did.

"My neighbour said it's been nothing but a headache… He finds it very confusing, and I feel bad for him. He's a retired fellow," he said.

Trest said many of the folks waiting in line at the Hester office appeared to be seniors.

"What happens in an emergency if their phone is out and they have to call 911?" he said.

Kett said they hope to have service resumed by Friday.

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"We apologize to those customers whose service has been disrupted and are working to make it right as soon as possible," she added.