Three UK apologises for network issues affecting calls and texts

If you've been struggling to send texts and make calls this weekend then you're not alone - Three has confirmed a "temporary network issue" has been affecting a number of users throughout the day on Saturday, though the problems should now be fixed.

Early on Sunday morning Three said calls and texts are now back up and running, so any SMSes that went missing should now start dribbling through to the right recipients. If you're still having problems, the operator suggests resetting your phone.

The issue seems to go beyond a simple period of downtime though - Three says "some customers and non-customers may have received a message from an unknown sender" yesterday - which for many of us is fairly standard for a Saturday night.

No cause given

"Our advice is to ignore all text messages that you deem incorrect," the company continues sagely - and indeed many users on social media have reported texts being sent to the wrong person, which is rather worrying. Data services don't seem to have been disrupted however.

Three's statement also includes the usual apologies for inconvenience and a promise that it's working hard to fix whatever's gone wrong, though for now we're still in the dark as to what caused this. We'll update this story if Three sheds any more light on the issue.

For the time being, if you're a Three customer then you might want to reboot your phone and resend any text messages that got lost yesterday - or not, if they were ill-advised texts composed after one too many ales. The @ThreeUKSupport Twitter feed is your best bet for updates.

David Nield
Freelance Contributor

Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you'll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.