O2 down: millions of customers affected by signal problem

Millions of mobile phone users with providers including O2, Tesco Mobile and Sky Mobile have been unable to get online or use 3G and 4G services after a technical fault caused a UK-wide outage.

The problem was first reported by a number of O2 users early this morning. Many vented their frustration on Twitter, asking why they were unable to access the internet without a wi-fi connection.

According to the website DownDetector, problems with the network began to appear at just after 4am this morning. Users in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and the home counties all reported problems with being able to access services.

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“Thanks O2, I’m a taxi driver and rely on my phone for jobs, now cant work and can't pay bills, very disappointed and will be changing,” wrote William Aderin on the comments section of the DownDetector website.

The problem persisted throughout the day with an O2 spokesperson confirming the problems and saying: “The network issue we are currently experiencing remains a top priority for us and we are working as quickly as possible to fix the issues.”

A note on the company’s service status page added: “All O2 technical teams are working closely with one of our third party suppliers who has identified a global software issue in their system which has impacted data services. As a result of this incident, we are experiencing a high demand on our network which means some customers may have issues making and receiving voice calls.

“We believe other mobile operators around the world are also affected and We apologise to our customers for any inconvenience.”

In total, “about 31 million mobile phone users have been affected as a number of third-party mobile providers that rely on the O2 network, including Tesco Mobile, Sky Mobile, Lycamobile and O2’s Giffgaff have also been affected”, says The Guardian.

The outage has also affected other services such as Transport for London’s live updates of bus arrival times at all bus stops across the capital, as this relies on O2’s network for data updates.