Tens of thousands of Vodafone customers in the UK were unable to access internet and mobile services on Monday afternoon, according to outage monitor Downdetector. Reports of disruption began around 3pm, with numbers exceeding 135,000 by 3.20pm.
More than two-thirds of reported incidents involved home broadband services, while nearly a quarter related to mobile internet access. About 8% of customers reported being unable to make calls due to no mobile signal. Some also reported issues accessing the Vodafone app and website.
The outage affected customers across major cities including London, Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow and Manchester. Vodafone confirmed the issue affected broadband, 4G and 5G services, but stated that 2G voice calls and SMS were unaffected. The company apologised and said the network was recovering, though the cause was not disclosed.
Vodafone has over 18 million UK customers and more than 700,000 broadband users. The outage did not affect customers of Three UK, despite the recent merger of Vodafone and Three's British operations. Other networks, including BT, EE and VirginMediaO2, reported no issues.
Sabrina Hoque, a telecoms expert at Uswitch.com, reminded customers that under Ofcom regulations, compensation may be available for outages lasting more than two days, with £9.76 per calendar day for broadband. Mobile signal compensation depends on circumstances, potentially including refunds or account credits.
