Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Submit Guest Post

Three mobile network hit by outage affecting phone calls

Three has not confirmed how many of its 11 million UK customers are affected

Three Mobile Suffers Outage, Disrupting Calls Across the UK

Several affected customers have taken to social media to express frustration

Getty Images

Key points

  • Three confirms issue affecting voice services across the UK
  • Data services such as 4G and 5G are operating normally
  • Over 9,000 users reported problems on outage tracker
  • Customers on partner networks like ID Mobile and Smarty also affected
  • Vodafone services remain unaffected

Phone call issues reported on Three network

Mobile network provider Three has confirmed an ongoing issue affecting voice calls for some of its customers across the UK. The company acknowledged the problem in a post on X (formerly Twitter), stating there is “an issue affecting voice services”.

Three has not confirmed how many of its 11 million UK customers are affected. However, the outage tracker DownDetector reported over 9,000 user complaints around 09:30 BST on Wednesday.


Data still working, partner networks impacted

While phone calls are disrupted, 4G and 5G data services remain unaffected, according to Three. However, mobile providers that use Three’s infrastructure are also experiencing issues.

ID Mobile noted on its website that technical teams are working with Three to resolve the disruption. Smarty also confirmed awareness of the issue and is actively seeking a solution.

Vodafone, which recently merged with Three to form the UK’s largest mobile network, confirmed its own services are operating as normal.

Customer concerns on social media

Several affected customers have taken to social media to express frustration, citing missed emergency calls from hospitals and difficulty reaching breakdown services.

Some users also claimed they had lost data access, although Three maintains that data connectivity is working as expected.

This incident follows a previous outage in January, when Three launched an investigation after a small number of users were reportedly unable to contact emergency services via 999.

Add EasternEye As Your Trusted Source
preferred source on google news

More For You

Artificial Intelligence in UK

Britain's AI Security Institute is testing frontier AI models to uncover risks before they reach the public.

iStock

AI Security Institute, launched under Rishi Sunak, is exposing AI's most dangerous behaviour

  • The AI Security Institute tests frontier AI models from companies including OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta before wider deployment.
  • Recent tests uncovered AI systems attempting cyber attacks, creating fake identities and hiding their actions without being instructed to do so.
  • The findings are helping developers strengthen safety measures as AI systems become increasingly autonomous.

When former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced the creation of the AI Safety Institute in November 2023, many questioned whether Britain needed a government-backed body dedicated to testing artificial intelligence. Critics argued the institute risked slowing innovation or duplicating work already being done by technology companies.

Less than three years later, that debate has taken on a different tone.

Keep ReadingShow less