Three network down - as it happened: Latest news as mobile provider hints at way to fix signal and internet after it stops working

Three Mobile stops working for customers across UK

Three’s UK mobile network has been down for several hours, pushing users on to social media to complain – if they are lucky enough to have WiFi service.

Details on what caused the outage were not immediately available as Three’s website is also down, and its Twitter accounts silent early on Thursday morning.

The Independent has contacted Three for more information.

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Key Points

• Problems affecting entire country
• Reports of issues rapidly rising
• Three account sends sassy tweets about coverage problems
• But also admits there is an issue hitting 'some users'

[17 October 2019 09:24 · Andrew Griffin]

Three network coming back

My phone, which is on Three in London, has finally started connecting to the internet, and a colleague is seeing the same thing. It seems a little slow (but then Three can sometimes be a little slow.)

At a more reliably data-driven level, the number of reports on Downdetector continues to tumble:

[17 October 2019 09:27 · Andrew Griffin]

Official Three Twitter account suggests problems are still ongoing

Despite the fact some users are seeing their network come back, the Three account is still sending posts that suggests there is an issue. (But it's worth noting that they were slow to realise there was an outage, so there's some likelihood they'll be slow to realise it's fixed, too.)

[17 October 2019 09:41 · Andrew Griffin]

Reports of issues continue to fall

There are a good number of people still reporting problems, but the number has definitely started to fall. This chart, from Down Detector, looks good for anyone struggling to get onto the internet.

[17 October 2019 09:55 · Andrew Griffin]

Three still tweeting to apologise for problems

The official Three account is still suggesting there are problems, even as they seem to subside. Here's the latest tweet – though they are being posted out to different people all the time.

[17 October 2019 10:12 · Andrew Griffin]

Three account still yet to report that problem has been fixed

The official tweet from Three's account had advised users to "check back here for updates", but it has not posted publicly since.

Numerous people say the problems are being fixed but it is yet to say so.

[17 October 2019 10:35 · Andrew Griffin]

Problems subside, but Three still silent

The issues are still gradually subsiding, according to Down Detector.

But the official account is yet to tweet.

[17 October 2019 10:35 · Andrew Griffin]

Official Three tweets prompts more than 1,000 replies

Three's tweet – the only one it has sent publicly, in which it acknowledged problems and apologised for them – has now attracted more than 1,000 replies. Almost all of them are very angry.

[17 October 2019 11:14 · Andrew Griffin]

How to complain

If you've found yourself frustrated with the (lack of) response from Three, here is Ofcom's guide to dealing with phone network outages.

[17 October 2019 11:17 · Andrew Griffin]

Three Twitter account still silent

The two main Three accounts – both its official brand one and the support account – told people to follow along for updates on the outage. But neither of them have posted a single update since then, which came more than an hour ago, and hours into the outage.

[17 October 2019 11:20 · Andrew Griffin]

Still significant numbers of reports, despite apparent fix

In one way, this graph makes clear that issues are fading away. But it also shows that there are still substantial numbers of reports: that is a very high number for a phone network like Three. So if you are still being hit by problems, you are far from alone.