Vodafone is down in a major outage – here's what we know

Virgin Media confirms it has no issues

With Downdetector graphs spiking across multiple networks this afternoon – and not just MVNOs who piggyback on Vodafone – you might have concluded that Vodafone wasn't alone in having issues today.

But as I mentioned earlier, it's common during outages like this to see spikes elsewhere as other customers attempt to call or connect to the troubled network. And Virgin Media has just confirmed to me that "our network is operating as usual and has been all day".

That's likely to be the case for other networks like Three and O2 – right now, this is solely a Vodafone issue. The best example is that WhatsApp also saw a spike in reports this afternoon, which will have likely been confused Vodafone customers wondering why they couldn't even get a single grey tick in the messaging app.

Vodafone is back for some

I'm hearing some positive anecdotal reports from some that their Vodafone broadband and mobile services are now back up and running.

This has come from both inside and outside the TechRadar team, and seems to be reflected on Downdetector – although reports remain high, at just over 19,000 at the time of writing.

The Vodafone homepage and customer service number are also both still down for me, as is the network status checker (which was working earlier). Clearly, there are still issues to resolve, but there are glimmers of hope for those who may have been contemplating an evening without TV streaming.

What might have caused this?

Without any official comment from Vodafone, we can only speculate about what's caused the biggest network outage since The Great Voice Calling Wobble of July 2025.

But Jake Moore, Global Cybersecurity Advisor from the cybersecurity company ESET, says it's still more likely to be an internal issue than a big cyber attack.

“Outages will always naturally raise early suspicions of a potential cyber incident, though current evidence points more towards an internal network failure than a confirmed attack," he said in a statement.

That's apparently still the front-runner explanation, even though it has the symptoms of something more malicious. "The sudden outage, combined with the inability to access customer service lines, mirrors classic symptoms of a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, where attackers overwhelm the network so the site or systems collapse," he admitted.

"However, malicious or not, this once again highlights our heavy reliance on digital infrastructure, especially in an age where we increasingly depend on mobile networks for everything. Ultimately, resilience is essential, whether the cause is a direct cyberattack, a supply chain issue or a critical internal error," he added.

A double whammy for many

The worst hit in today's outage, which has now lasted over two hours and counting, are those who are on both Vodafone's broadband and mobile networks.

Unfortunately, Vodafone makes that a highly tempting proposition with its bundle deals that it says can save you "up to £400 a year".

But many households are now tethering off other networks, which must be experiencing some significant extra strain. Let's hope Vodafone has an update for us before the demand for evening TV streaming picks up...

Positive signs?

There are some potentially promising signs on progress on Downdetector – though the falling number of reports (above) might simply mean large numbers of Vodafone customers have already reported their issues, or simply can't due to their network problems.

Right now, the number of reports has dropped to 30,845, from a staggering high of about 135,000 (one of the highest I've seen on Downdetector for a UK outage).

Still, on the TechRadar team, those affected have been without internet or phone service for well over an hour, and there's no word on Vodafone yet on a fix.

I'll be chasing it up for an answer to see if its engineers have made any progress on an outage that continues to take out its own website...

The knock-on effect

A high number of customers on other broadband and mobile networks are also reporting problems today – that isn't a huge surprise, given how interconnected the UK's broadband and mobile networks are.

Voxi, which is owned by Vodafone, and Lebara (which is a so-called Mobile Virtual Network Operator that also uses the Vodafone network) are both showing significant spikes in reported issues on Downdetector.

We're also seeing spikes on Virgin Media (currently around 1,000 reports) and Sky (about 400 reports), although these may well be a reflection of Vodafone's issues rather than a sign of a wider outage. So far, only Vodafone has stated it officially has issues – if that changes, I'll update this liveblog.

Even Vodafone's customer service is down

I haven't seen a network outage as wide-ranging as this for some time. Not only are Vodafone's broadband and mobile networks down, the issues have also taken out its website and even its customer service phone numbers.

A TechRadar reader alerted me to the latter and I can confirm the 0333 304 0191 number isn't working for me – the problems also seem to be affecting the 191 number that customers can call from their Vodafone mobile phone.

On the plus side, the number of reports on Downdetector appears to be dropping, so it seems some are now at least getting reconnected.

An official statement from Vodafone

I've just heard from Vodafone about today's issues. A spokesperson told me: "We are aware of a major issue on our network currently affecting broadband, 4G and 5G services. We appreciate our customers' patience while we work to resolve this as soon as possible.”

So there we have it – no estimate of a timescale for the fix yet, but Vodafone has admitted that it's facing a "major issue". That's unusually strong language during an outage, which networks tend to play down – but it's a certainly an accurate description given the numbers affected.

No word from Vodafone yet

Vodafone is currently trending on X (formerly Twitter) and that's rarely a good sign for a mobile network. Sadly, we won't be getting any official answers on X, as Vodafone customer care isn't on the platform due to a "technical change".

I've asked Vodafone directly for a response or statement and will post it hear as soon as I get one.

However, it's clear there's a serious problem – for example, the cybersecurity watchdog NetBlocks has reported above that there's a "national outage" with "broadband and mobile data" impacted.

Who's been hit?

Our Computing editor Christian Guyton first noticed the issues when his Wi-Fi and mobile network abruptly stopped working this afternoon – and that's been an experience shared by many.

According to Downdetector, most people (65% of reports) are reporting issues with their landline internet, but a significant number (27%) are also saying their mobile internet is also down.

In other words, this is a wide-reaching outage that also appears to be nationwide – the coverage map is spread across the country from London to Glasgow. I've asked Vodafone for comment and will report as soon as I hear back.

That's quite an outage

The Vodafone problems, which are hitting both its mobile network and broadband, started about an hour ago at 2.38pm BST.

That Downdetector spike (above) is one of the biggest I've ever seen in terms of concurrent reports – it stands at 126,905 reports and is still on the up.

There's been no official statement about the outage yet, but I'll be getting in touch with the network to see what might have happened – and more importantly, when it might be fixed.