O2 suffers another outage throughout UK

O2 suffers another outage throughout UK
You're probably not reading this on your phone
  • Update: July 12, 14.40
    O2 has confirmed that 3G service has now also been restored:
    "Our tests now show that all our 2G and 3G services have been fully restored for affected customers. If any customers are still having problems we recommend they turn their phone off and on again. Once again, we are sorry."
  • Update: July 12, 12:30
    An O2 spokesperson has told TechRadar: "Following the previous update that our 2G network service has now been restored, our 3G service has been restoring gradually. We expect full service to return this afternoon. In the meantime customers should now be able to make and receive calls (and may wish to try switching their mobile phones off and on as service returns).

    "We are sorry again for the inconvenience this has caused some customers. We continue to deploy all possible resources, and will do so until full service is restored."
  • July 12, 10:00 - O2 tweet: "We expect full service to return to all affected customers this afternoon. We'll continue to update"
  • July 12, 09:30 - O2 tweet: "As of 8am today (July 12), our 2G voice and data service has been restored. We're continuing to work on the 3G service."

UK network O2 has confirmed voice and data is intermittently failing on customer's phones throughout the country.

TechRadar has contacted O2 to find out more, but the only statement currently available is from the network's Status Centre:

"We are currently seeing a problem on our network affecting some of our customers. Those customers affected will have difficulty making or receiving calls, sending texts or using data.

"Our Engineers are dealing with the problem as a priority and we hope to restore full service as soon as possible."

UPDATE: An O2 spokesperson contacted TechRadar with the following statement:

"We are currently seeing a problem on our network affecting some of our customers, who will have difficulty making or receiving calls, sending texts or using data.

"We apologise to those customers who are inconvenienced by this.

"The problem is an issue within parts of our core network that is preventing some mobiles from successfully connecting. It is not location-specific.

"All possible resources across our and our suppliers' engineering teams are being deployed to restore service as soon as possible."

Stealing signal

O2 has told TechRadar it is (obviously) working at full speed to restore the issue, but this isn't the first time voice and data has failed.

Previous issues have been down to thievery on certain sites, but given this is a nationwide issue it's unlikely to be for the same reason.

O2 has promised TechRadar it will send us an update as soon as the issue is fixed, so we'll let you know when you can get back online… although being able to read the site on your phone will be a clue.

Gareth Beavis
Formerly Global Editor in Chief

Gareth has been part of the consumer technology world in a career spanning three decades. He started life as a staff writer on the fledgling TechRadar, and has grown with the site (primarily as phones, tablets and wearables editor) until becoming Global Editor in Chief in 2018. Gareth has written over 4,000 articles for TechRadar, has contributed expert insight to a number of other publications, chaired panels on zeitgeist technologies, presented at the Gadget Show Live as well as representing the brand on TV and radio for multiple channels including Sky, BBC, ITV and Al-Jazeera. Passionate about fitness, he can bore anyone rigid about stress management, sleep tracking, heart rate variance as well as bemoaning something about the latest iPhone, Galaxy or OLED TV.