BT internet down: Outage takes down Amazon Alexa, Ring doorbells and more

BT internet appears to have gone down, taking down people’s smart devices with it.

Users reported that their Amazon Alexa smart speakers had stopped talking to them, and that their PlayStations were refusing to connect to the PS Network online service, seemingly as a result of the problems at the internet service provider.

Tracking website Down Detector showed a run of problems with a variety of online services: Alexa, the Ring video doorbell system that is also owned by Amazon, PlayStation Network and more.

It was unclear whether all those reports were related to the problems with BT, but all seemed to begin around the same time.

Ring said explicitly that the problem was with the internet service provider rather than its own systems.

Unusually, BT’s broadband services were largely working as normal. But certain third-party apps were unable to be reached.

The company said in a statement that it was aware of the problems and working to fix them.

“We’re aware that some BT broadband customers are unable to connect to some 3rd party applications,” a spokesperson said. “We’re currently investigating this. We’re sorry for any inconvenience caused.”

The issues were not related to the problems at Instagram, which occurred across the world and appeared to be the result of a major change at the social network itself, despite beginning around the same time.