UK: Three confirms phone call network down

UK mobile operator, Three has confirmed that the phone network is down, with users unable to make or receive calls.

In a post on X, the network said there was “an issue affecting voice services” but did not say how many of its 11 million customers are affected.

Outage website DownDetector reported a spike in issues at 09:30 BST on Wednesday, with over 9,000 reports made by users.

Data services such as 4G and 5G are working as normal, according to Three.

Three phone call network means that users might not necessarily know that they are affected by the outage, since there is no way of knowing whether they are missing incoming calls.

As well as Three’s own customers, the outage also affected iD Mobile and Smarty, both of which rely on its network.

The statement read, “We’re aware of an issue affecting voice services and are working hard to fix it.

“Data services are working normally. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused.”

It gave no information on what might have caused the problem or when it would be fixed, only that it is “working to resolve it.”

For landline and broadband accounts, Ofcom runs an automatic compensation scheme that pays out to customers when certain networks are offline. There is no such scheme for mobile networks such as Three, but customers have in the past been offered refunds in return for complaints over substantial outages.

The company recently completed a merger with Vodafone to create the UK’s largest phone network with around 27 million customers.

Vodafone services are running as normal.

However, other phone companies which piggyback off Three’s network are affected.

Some customers have posted on social media saying they have been unable to return missed calls from the hospital or to call a car breakdown service.

Others also said on Wednesday morning they did not have access to data services, though in a statement, Three has said data is “working normally”.

In January, Three announced an investigation into a small number of users not being able to call 999 during a network outage.

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