Three down: Customers demand refunds as mobile network outage wipes out data and minutes
Thousands of customers took to Twitter to complain after Three failed to acknowledge a mobile network outage that wiped out data and calls after occurring last night.
People were unable to receive 4G data or mobile phone signal to make calls across the UK, but Three was tight-lipped on the root cause of the problem.
The issues appeared to start at around 11.30pm last night.
Read more: Customers struggle to use online banking after Natwest and RBS outage
Outage tracker Down Detector found a staggering 9,253 reports of issues, spanning major UK cities like London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Sheffield and Edinburgh.
Customers responded with rage on Twitter as Three’s support Twitter account, @ThreeUKsupport, failed to acknowledge the issue.
“Are @ThreeUK seriously not even going to tweet about the fact their network has absolutely crumbled?” Twitter user Chris asked.
Daniel Iqbal pointed out that even 999 calls have failed. “I’m sure the inability to call emergency services will definitely save lives,” he tweeted.
#ThreeDown began trending in the UK as customers pressed Three for answers over the issue.
The main Twitter account, @ThreeUK, finally acknowledged the issues after nine hours of downtime.
“We’re currently experiencing technical difficulties with voice, text and data, meaning some of you will be experiencing intermittent service,” Three UK said.
“Please accept our apologies, we’re sorting this out right now. Check back here for updates.”
One customer, John Donnelly, said the problems began at 11.30pm yesterday.
“It’s been fully down since around 11.30 last night. It’s taken you lot 9hrs to acknowledge this and actually put something out there to update your customers. Expecting compensation for loss of earnings through night,” he added.
Even the Metropolitan Line chimed in to say its minor delays were causing less disruption to people’s mornings than Three’s outage.
“I’m assuming we will get a refund for the loss of service,” wrote Stuart Taylor.
“Will we be receiving bill credit for this outage? Had no network access since half 11 last night!” added Tom Wilson.
Read more: Service unavailable? Don’t let an outage ruin your business
Others questioned Three’s characterisation of the outage as “intermittent”, saying “it’s not intermitten – it’s just not happening!”.
“Don’t try and downplay the situation, this has been affecting thousands of your customers for over 9hrs,” said one Twitter user, Dan.
Main image credit: DownDetector