Unable to make a phone call? You're not alone.
Millions of Three UK customers have been left unable to make or receive phone calls.
The mobile carrier has acknowledged that an unknown glitch is plaguing thousands of users nationwide, leaving them unable to make or receive calls to landlines and mobile numbers from a Three SIM card. Text messages are also impacted, with Three users unable to send or receive SMS on a mobile network.
According to the brand, mobile data services should work as normal, with the issues only linked to voice services.
That means you should be able to continue browsing the internet via a 4G or 5G internet connection. You can also continue to use services like WhatsApp, Signal, or Messenger that rely on an internet connection to make voice and video calls, send text messages or voice notes. This is something that Three is now advising in an updated statement to customers, informing users who are stuck without access to its voice services that "calls can be placed via third-party messaging apps"
@gbnews Mobile network Three is suffering severe outages across the country. GB News Technology Editor, Aaron Brown, has the latest. #Three #ThreeUK #Mobile #Tech #ThreeDown #Technology #GBNews
It's not only Three UK customers who have been left unable to make or receive calls and text messages today. Several Mobile Virtual Network Operators, more commonly referred to as MVNOs, rely on Three UK's nationwide network of masts to provide mobile coverage for their customers. These include:
- iD Mobile
- SMARTY Mobile
- Superdrug Mobile
- Honest Mobile
If you have a SIM from any of these networks, you'll be in the same situation as those signed up for a pay monthly or SIM-only deal with Three UK, so you can continue using a mobile internet connection, but voice services remain offline. For those who don't know, MVNOs offer pay-monthly or SIM-only deals with calls, texts, and data, but don't own the network infrastructure that enables this service.
Nonetheless, this is a serious issue. According to one video shared on social media, anyone with a SIM card from Three UK in their handset will be unable to make calls to the emergency services.
Other Three UK users have notices on their devices saying that it can only make "Emergency Calls Only," so the most critical 999 calls will go ahead.
Speaking to GB News, a spokesperson for Three UK said: "We are urgently investigating a small number of reports of three customers that may have had trouble connecting to 999. The 999 system is designed to automatically reroute customers unable to connect via their own network, to another network to make their emergency call.
"Live industry data shows a normal amount of 999 traffic is being successfully connected today. We apologise to any Three customers affected while we work to quickly resolve issues on the network."
In a statement about the widespread issues posted on X, formerly Twitter, the mobile network wrote: "We're aware of an issue affecting voice services and are working hard to fix it. Data services are working normally. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused."
DownDetector UK, an independent service that monitors websites and services for outages by tracking mentions across social media, has recorded a surge in complaints around Three UK. At the time of writing, 9,229 reports about problems with Three were tracked every minute across the UK.
Independent monitoring site DownDetector has recorded a spike in complaints around Three UK
DOWNDETECTOR
Data tracked by DownDetector UK about the nature of the issues tallies with the explanation from the Three UK customer service team. According to DownDetector UK, 80% of all problems are related to voice calls, 17% of those logged by disgruntled Three UK customers were linked to signal, while just 3% were linked to mobile data.
The outage comes days after newly-merged VodafoneThree has promised better coverage to its 27 million customers “at no extra cost”. The brand pledged that boosted network coverage would roll-out soon as a result of the £15 billion mega-merger between Vodafone and Three.
VodafoneThree has now toppled EE and O2 as the biggest mobile network in the UK.
Following the merger, Vodafone and Three customers will now be able to access both networks, bolstering signal nationwide. If you're somewhere without a strong signal from Vodafone's nationwide network of masts, it's possible that Three will have better coverage. Switching between these networks will take place in the background, with no action needed.
Most Read
