Thousands of UK households lost internet and phone access this afternoon as a major network outage swept across the country. The disruption began around 3pm, leaving users unable to get online or make calls.
Down Detector recorded over 130,000 outage reports at the peak, making this one of the largest network failures in recent months. The monitoring service showed complaints flooding in from across major UK cities.
Users took to social media to express their frustration. LDdex posted: "@VodafoneUK broadband has gone down. None of my apps are working from vodafone and your number is not working have you got issues?"
Another user, Decoded, added: "Vodafone has gone down nationwide, affecting ALL customers." User Aditya highlighted the work-from-home impact: "@VodafoneUK Broadband down, Phone internet down. My personal and work phone and home broadband with Vodafone, realised the mistake, as cannot work from home."
Network chaos spreads
The outage extends far beyond Vodafone, according to Metro reports, with multiple major UK providers including BT, Sky, Virgin Media, EE, and O2 all experiencing connectivity issues. The widespread nature suggests a broader infrastructure problem rather than a single company failure.
Even Vodafone's own website went down, preventing customers from checking their service status or getting updates. This communication breakdown left millions in the dark about when normal service might resume.
Ongoing disruption
Metro reports that WhatsApp and other messaging services have also been affected by the broader outage. The timing during typical work-from-home hours has amplified the impact for businesses and remote workers.
Vodafone has not yet issued official updates about the cause or expected resolution time. The company's social media channels remain the primary source for any developments as engineers work to restore services.
Sources used: "Mirror", "Metro", "Daily Star" Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.