Spark has warned cellphone services in Palmerston may not be fully restored for another week.
Some Palmerston residents say they are fed up after having no cellphone coverage for four days.
Locals are hoping to receive compensation for disruption caused to to their businesses.
Lyn Leng, who runs a bed and breakfast along with a gardening business, said ''it's been very, very inconvenient'' and costly.
She had been forced to make expensive toll calls from her landline rather than her cellphone.
Palmerston resident Nicky Oliver said she had been driving 14km from Palmerston to north of Waikouaiti to check clients' voice messages.
Spark spokeswoman Lucy Fullarton said there was a fault with a cellphone tower.
High winds and snow had prevented workers from climbing the tower to fix the fault, she said.
Coverage should have improved considerably yesterday after some work was carried out, but a long-term solution depended on weather conditions.
Apologising for the inconvenience, Ms Fullarton said the company would deal with customers individually, but not compensate for service loss.
She assured customers the issue was being monitored and invited them to contact Spark with concerns.
