Three down: Internet data and phone calls stops working for some users

(Getty Images)

Phone network Three stopped working on Wednesday, with a rush of users complaining they were unable to get online.

The problems have since been resolved and the network is back online.

Users right across the UK complained of problems with the network, according to tracking website Down Detector, which saw a surge of problems just after 9am local time.

The network had initially said that it was aware of the problem and that it was working to fix it, noting that the issue had come at a particularly difficult time

“We are aware of an issue with the network and are working hard to fix it," a Three UK spokesperson said. "We know how vital communications are at the moment and are sorry for any inconvenience caused.”

It later said that the issue had been fixed.

“Three’s services have now been restored for affected customers," a spokesperson said. "We apologise for any inconvenience caused by the issue.”

Three’s support account replied to some affected users asking them to switch their phone on and off in an attempt to restart it, but had not shared any public information about any possible outage.

Checking the network status on Three’s website showed a warning that there may be issues, when entering a whole variety of postcodes from across the country.

The note indicated that there could be “disruption”, because “engineers are working on masts nearby, which means the rest of our network is handling more traffic than usual”. It is not clear whether that warning was related to the more general outage.