Thousands of Virgin Media customers across Greater Manchester have been left without internet service following a major outage that began on Thursday night. The company confirmed that a break in a fibre cable is the cause of the disruption, which has affected areas including Newton Heath, Pendleton, Little Hulton, Broughton, Chadderton, Middleton, and Walkden.
Reports on Down Detector surged on Thursday evening, with many users taking to social media to express frustration. One customer, Teraza Tray Denniston, commented: "Mines been down since half 9 last night. Still not back on when I've got up this morning." Another user, Paul Mills, wrote: "Mines been off from 7pm last night still not working."
Virgin Media engineers have been working overnight to repair the damaged fibres, but many customers are still reporting issues on Friday morning. The company has informed some customers that the problem is expected to be resolved by 4.12pm today. A Virgin Media spokesperson said: "We’re aware of an issue affecting services for customers in the Manchester area which has been caused by a break in a fibre cable. Our engineers have been working flat out overnight to repair the damaged fibres and will continue to do so to restore services as quickly as possible. We apologise to those affected."
Down Detector continues to receive hundreds of outage reports this morning, and some customers have threatened to leave the provider. On X, @SalfordRedKev posted: "@virginmedia 9 hrs so far without Internet. Absolutely shocking. Goodbye virgin media!!!!"
