Vodafone[1] customers were plunged into chaos today after a nationwide blackout meant more than 130,000 people had no broadband or phone signal.
The telecommunications giant confirmed it was aware of a ‘major issue on our network affecting broadband, 4G and 5G services’.
Downdetector, which monitors web outages[2], showed more than 130,000 people have flagged problems impacting their Vodafone broadband or mobile network this afternoon.
Furious customers took to social media to complain of ‘complete outages’ in their area – impacting work from home, social media usage and online banking.
The issues appears to have started shortly after 3pm this afternoon, and have continued for several hours.
One angry user wrote on X: ‘Yeah it’s actually time to leave Vodafone. How can I have zero access to internet for 2+ hours because both the Wifi AND 4G is down?!! Ridiculous. Had me feeling like a flintstone.’
Another wrote: ‘Vodafone showed me hell today.’
Of the customers who have been experiencing issues, 69 per cent said they had a problem with their landline internet, 23 per cent with their mobile internet, while eight per cent said they had no signal.
According to Down Detector, Vodafone service disruption has affected customers from all across the country.
A spokesperson for Vodafone said: ‘This afternoon, for a short time, the Vodafone network had an issue affecting broadband, 4G and 5G services. 2G voice calls and SMS messaging were unaffected and the network is now recovering. We apologise for any inconvenience this caused our customers.’
Vodafone is now down in a crash that is already affecting hundreds of thousands of users
Furious customers took to social media to complain of ‘complete outages’ in their area – impacting work from home, social media usage and online banking
There are reports of issues in major cities and towns, including London, Birmingham, Manchester, Cardiff, and Glasgow.
The Vodafone website is also experiencing problems and is frequently inaccessible, potentially due to extremely high levels of traffic.
While Vodafone is yet to issue a statement explaining the issue, customers have flocked to social media to vent their frustrations.
On X, one commenter wrote: ‘How can the whole of Vodafone be down? Someone better be getting fired in the morning.’
Another added: ‘@VodafoneUK seems to be completely down! No internet whatsoever and the customer service numbers aren’t working at all, yikes!’
‘I guess @VodafoneUK haven’t put out a statement yet because, well, their internet is down,’ one customer chipped in.
While one commenter joked: ‘Vodafone down in the middle of my work day, that must mean I’ve got the rest of the day off.’
Sabrina Hoque, telecoms expert at Uswitch.com, told Daily Mail: ‘For those affected, the quickest way to check if the internet is down in your area is by searching for your provider on a site like DownDetector.
‘If your broadband connection goes down for more than two days, you could be entitled to compensation of £9.76 for each calendar day that the service is not repaired.’
Melanie Pizzey, CEO and Founder of the Global Payroll Alliance, said: ‘Today’s Vodafone outage in the UK, while seemingly resolved in a relatively short time, was nonetheless a significant disruption.
‘For businesses reliant on Vodafone for mobile and internet connectivity for day-to-day operations, it likely caused widespread delays and a noticeable dip in productivity.’
On Down Detector, it appears as if this disruption has coincided with major outages at a number of other service providers.
Currently, 135,995 customers have reported experiencing problems with their internet connection, according to Down Detector
One commenter joked that they should have ‘the rest of the day off’ as the service disruption arrived in the middle of the work day
Vodafone’s service disruption is widespread across the entirety of the UK, affecting cities including London, Birmingham, and Manchester
Vodafone’s outage appears to be so large that it is having a knock-on effect on the Down Detector pages of other providers, despite services operating as normal
BT Down Detector page also began showing reports of disruption starting at 14:30 BST, peaking at more than 3,200.
Voxi Mobile currently has more than 2,300 reports of disruption on Down Detector, with 77 per cent of reports complaining that mobile internet is not working.
Likewise, Virgin Media has over 1,000 reports mostly concerning landline internet, while Three has over 400 reports of service interruptions.
However, it appears that Vodafone’s outage has been so large that it is having a knock-on impact on the Down Detector pages of other providers.
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A spokesperson for Virgin Media O2 told Daily Mail that the network was ‘operating as normal and has been all day’.
They added that their social and customer service teams have not received the volume of calls that would be expected for an outage of this size.
This suggests that the disruption is likely limited to Vodafone customers, rather than being a more severe multi-provider outage.
The cause of the outage is unclear; Vodafone has been contacted for comment.
Daniel Card, a cyber expert with BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT said incidents like this are often caused by a technical fault or configuration error rather than a major cyber attack.
‘What we can see is that Vodafone UK’s network traffic has effectively dropped to zero, suggesting a significant connectivity issue,’ he told the Daily Mail.
‘It’s not yet clear whether their DNS or routing systems are accessible outside Vodafone’s own network, and even their online status page is currently offline.
‘That said, events like this underline just how critical strong digital resilience and cyber skills are, not only for telecoms providers but across every sector.
‘Having teams capable of diagnosing and responding rapidly to network failures is key to maintaining public trust and keeping the UK’s digital infrastructure running smoothly.’
HOW CAN YOU PROTECT YOUR INFORMATION ONLINE?[3]
Because hackers are becoming more creative, security experts are warning that consumers need to take all possible measures to protect their identities (file photo)
- Make your authentication process two-pronged whenever possible. You should choose this option on websites that offer it because when an identity-specific action is required on top of entering your password and username, it becomes significantly harder for fraudsters to access your information.
- Secure your phone. Avoiding public Wifi and installing a screen lock are simple steps that can hinder hackers. Some fraudsters have begun to immediately discount secure phones altogether. Installing anti-malware can also be beneficial.
- Subscribe to alerts. A number of institutions that provide financial services, credit card issuers included, offer customers the chance to be notified when they detect suspicious activity. Turn those notifications on to stay informed about credit card activity linked to your account.
- Be careful when issuing transactions online. Again, some institutions offer notifications to help with this, which will alert you when your card is used online. It might also be helpful to institute limits on amounts that can be spent with your card online.