Millions of mobile phone owners with SIMs from Three UK, iD Mobile, SMARTY Mobile, Superdrug Mobile, and Honest Mobile are unable to make or receive calls today
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Switch to VoIP services to make sure you don't miss an important call
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Three UK is down across the UK, leaving 10.6 million pay-monthly and SIM-only customers unable to make or receive calls and text messages. The network has confirmed it's "working on a fix", but there's no sign of an end to the trouble yet. Thankfully, there is a trick to continue making (and receiving) calls during the nationwide outage.
@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
Worse still, this outage doesn't onlyimpact Three UK customers, with several so-called "virtual" mobile operators — brands that piggyback on the network infrastructure of another provider — also affected by the same glitch.
The brands that rely on Three UK's nationwide network of masts are iD Mobile, SMARTY Mobile, Superdrug Mobile, and Honest Mobile, to name a few.
According to one video shared on social media, anyone with a SIM card from Three UK of the virtual networks listed above is currently unable to make calls to the emergency services.
A customer service representative from Three responded to a video on X, formerly Twitter, showing a call to 999 not connecting by explaining that "we appreciate that accessing emergency calls is vital" and that the issue was "passed on to the relevant team to investigate this."
But there is still a way to make and receive calls — despite the outage.
Since mobile data services continue to operate as normal, you can use any internet-powered call services, collectively known as Voice Over Internet Protocol, or VoIP. If you’ve ever made a call over Wi-Fi to friends or family on WhatsApp, Skype, or Messenger, then you’re already familiar with VoIP technology.
If you have 4G or 5G signal on your handset connected to Three UK, iD Mobile, SMARTY Mobile, Superdrug Mobile, or Honest Mobile, then you'll be able to call friends and family with services like WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, iMessage and FaceTime, Viber, Google Meet, and many others.
Just remember to double-check that you can be reached via your existing mobile number. For example, Facebook Messenger lets you register an account using a Facebook profile without a UK mobile number. If you haven't added the number in the settings menu, then people won't be able to reach you with this application.
Some services that require a mobile number to register, and therefore will work as a substitute for your regular voice services will Three UK is suffering its nationwide outage. These are:
- Viber
- Signal
- Telegram
- Google Messages
Services that do not necessarily require a number include:
- Facebook Messenger
- FaceTime
This is something that Three is now actively 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"
The full statement reads: "We're aware of an issue affecting voice services and are working hard to fix it. Data services are working normally, so calls can be placed via third-party messaging apps. We're really sorry for any inconvenience caused."
