Virgin Media down – latest: Broadband customers threaten to quit in anger at outages
Tens of thousands of Virgin Media customers reported issues with internet service provider on Tuesday
Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world
Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email
Virgin Media customers are threatening to quit for alternative internet providers after the telecoms provider apologised for outages which plunged thousands offline on Tuesday morning.
Customers complained not only about the break in their internet connections but about frustration with the customer service they had received, too.
However, the issue did not last for long enough for customers to be issued with automatic compensation.
Virgin Media is signed up to the Ofcom automatic compensation scheme in which households are entitled to £9.33 for each day their service is disrupted. However, this only kicks in after customers have experienced two days of disruption.
The telecoms provider said at around 11.30am on Tuesday that it had fixed the problems which first started at around 2am, according to data from Downdetector, a site which tracks outages.
However, at 5:25pm the company apologised again, saying some customers had “seen a repeat of an earlier issue”.
Read More: Best Broadband Providers in the UK
How to know if the internet has stopped working – or if it’s just you
After yesterday’s outages, connectivity is now looking a little more steady for Virgin Media customers.
A small surge in the number of outages reported at 6am dropped off again before midday. Issue reports have near-flatlined since.
A spokesman for Virgin Media said that Tuesday’s issue had been resolved and while a small number of customers may be experiencing connectivity issues on Wednesday – “for which we apologise” – it was not related to yesterday’s incident.
On that note, we will be pausing our live updates. For more on today’s top stories, join us https://www.independent.co.uk/.
Virgin Media down: Service not working for users across UK
Virgin Media has stopped working for thousands of users around the UK, leaving customers without access to internet services.
Virgin Media users complained on social media that their WiFi and broadband were not working, while internet outage monitor DownDetector showed thousands of reports.
“We’re aware of an issue that is affecting broadband services for Virgin Media customers as well as our contact centres,” Virgin Media said in a statement on Tuesday morning.
More on this story here:
Virgin Media acknowledges problems
Virgin Media has acknowledged there had been problems with its systems and said it is working to fix everything as soon as possible.
Virgin said: “We’re aware of an issue that is affecting broadband services for Virgin Media customers as well as our contact centres.
“Our teams are currently working to identify and fix the problem as quickly as possible and we apologise to those customers affected.”
Virgin Media website falters amid internet outages
Amid sweeping internet outages this morning, many customers also complained that Virgin Media’s website was down.
It now appears to be back up and running, though in a reduced form. As of 9.30am, we were unable to access the local service status tool.
Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit files for bankruptcy after axing 85% of workforce
And in more bad news for Virgin...
Virgin Orbit has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after failing to secure the funding needed to recover from a January rocket failure.
It comes just days after the California-based satellite launch company said it was laying off 85 per cent of its 750 staff and ceasing operations for the foreseeable future.
Virgin Orbit is 75 per cent owned by Sir Richard Branson‘s Virgin Group. It lodged the filing in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware seeking a sale of its assets.
My colleague Thomas Kingsley reports:
Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit files for bankruptcy
The company’s January launch failed citing an ‘anomaly’
Virgin Media outage and reported problems map
Virgin Media down: Service not working for users across UK
More on this morning’s top story from our video team:
Broadband service restored, says Virgin Media
Virgin Media has confirmed it has restored broadband services for its customers after this morning’s outages left thousands unable to access the internet.
“We’ve restored broadband services for customers but are closely monitoring the situation as our engineers continue to investigate,” the company said on Twitter.
“We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
Broadband down again after provider apologises for earlier outage
Tens of thousands of Virgin Media customers have reported outages once again, just hours after the internet provider said its services had been restored.
The Downdetector website showed a huge spike in reported outages – even larger than those seen previously on Tuesday.
According to the website, 75 per cent were related to broadband outages, 23 per cent were total blackouts, and 2 per cent related to TV streaming.
Chart shows huge new spike in reported outages
Here is the huge spike in outages picked up by the Downdetector website, which hit a peak of nearly 35,000 reported issues, larger than those seen previously on Tuesday.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies