Three UK is DOWN — Live updates on nationwide network outage

No changes

Unfortunately, things remain as they were and have been for the last little bit.

We have no updates from Three and tracking is hovering around 900 reports and has done for the last hour or so.

We're still monitoring the situation and will update if anything changes.

Not totally over

Reviewing Down Detector and comments, the Three outage is not totally over.

Currently, DD is hovering around 900 reports. With at least one comment saying their service was down in Gateshead.

Three has not made any statements since that last one that said the company was still working on it.

Don't breath easy now that service is restored

As a reminder, you may be entitled to compensation.

It is not entirely clear what is available, but we did cobble it together earlier from Ofcom's mobile faults guide and Three's terms and conditions.

First check out the company's "how to complain" page as a method of starting the process. Submit a complaint through any of these methods and request a copy of your complaint.

If the problem is still unresolved after eight weeks, a complaint can be made to the Alternative Dispute Resolution scheme (Three UK is part of the Communication & Internet Services Adjudication Scheme).

If you are unhappy with the over 12 hour outage and the response from Three, you can fill out Ofcom's short monitoring form. These aren't investigated individually, but if enough of you do the same, it'll bring about an investigation.

Where we stand after nearly 12 hours of outage

The massive Three outage began nearly 12 hours ago at around 7:45 a.m. BST.

Now, it appears the outage is finally resolving. Reports on Down Detector have swung under 1,500 reports for the first time all day.

Comments reflect that drop with people saying they've been able to ring out. Though, most comments are demanding compensation.

Three has not updated its X account, and the network status page still points you to its homepage. So, it's not totally over, but most people should be getting back on.

We'll keep an eye on the issue for a little bit longer and update as things change or if Three provides any more information.

Mixed results from customers

Looking across social media and the comments on Down Detector reveals a mixed bag when it comes to connectivity for Three customers.

Under the latest Three statement on X, we're seeing some people claiming that their service has been restored.

Others are quite upset and saying they cannot make phone calls.

"ive not been able to recieve calls all day or make any, still can't. Never known it be for this long," one person tweeted.

Over on Down Detector, we're seeing people from Buckinghamshire to West Yorkshire and Newcastle saying that they have now have service..

However, other comments are reporting no service in Sedgefield and Stoke on Trent.

Reports are down, with Down Detector going under 3,000 for the first time all day, after a high of nearly 10,000 toward the beginning.

Latest Three statement - more of the same

Three has shared a new statement on the ongoing outage over on X, which reads:

"Latest update: We’re continuing to investigate an issue affecting voice services on our network. Data services remain unaffected, so customers can make calls using third-party messaging apps. A small number of text messages are also impacted.

We understand how frustrating this is and are so sorry if you've been impacted."

Unfortunately, this message is largely the same as the one sent more than two hours prior.

There is still no timeline on when the problem will be resolved. But we'll keep you updated on all the newest developments as they happen.

999 calls should be working on Three UK networks

Earlier in the day emergency services calls via 999 did not appear to be working.

Some testing done by members of the Tom's Guide staff confirmed that 999 calls seemed to be affected by the outage as well.

This happened back in January, during that major Three outage, and means that something must be seriously wrong. Calls to 999 are of the utmost importance, for obvious reasons, and networks typically share their infrastructure to make sure people can call for help regardless of who their network provider is.

We tested this again 1:09pm and could not connect. Now at 1:57pm in London, we can confirm that a 999 call connected. So whatever Three is doing at least emergency services connectivity has been restored.

ID Mobile and Smarty are "aware" and "working hard" to fix the issue

Smarty and ID Mobile are subsidiary networks of Three UK, so as the main one goes down, of course these two have dropped as well.

Both of these networks have made comments to update users on what is happening.

ID Mobile posted on its service status page: "Please bear with us, our technical teams are working hard with our network partner Three UK to fix this issue and full service will be restored as soon as possible."

Smarty said it was "aware of an issue affecting voice services" and was working to fix it.

Why is restoring service taking so long?

If you look at some of the replies on social media, Three customers are getting rather shirty about why the outage is still ongoing.

You have to remember that a national phone network is a big and complicated beast. The task of solving an issue like this means actually finding it, which is no small task, and figuring out how it can be fixed. Odds are a problem this severe wasn't because someone unplugged the wrong thing.

So the fix could be pretty complex, and will then need to be tested to make sure it's working correctly — and all of this takes time.

As frustrating as it may be, rushing through a fix on the network has a good chance of making things worse. That's the absolute last thing anyone wants to happen.

Staying steady

We're currently 9 hours into the Three outage, and so far things are staying pretty steady. There was an spike of problems reported this morning at around 9.00 a.m., which fell over the next couple of hours and settled in somewhere around 5,000.

Since then the numbers have bounced around a bit, dipping between 4,900 and 5,800. At the time of writing the reports have dipped down to 4,969, but we don't see that slipping down much further anytime soon. Not until Three confirms the outage is over and done with.

What are your rights?

Are you entitled to compensation? It's a tricky situation, so let's turn to Ofcom's mobile faults guide. I'm cobbling this together based on both Ofcom's advice and Three's terms and conditions.

First thing that is recommended is to raise this through the company's formal complaints procedure. While users are indeed getting responses from Three UK via their social media channels, a quick glance at the company's "how to complain" page does not list it as a method of starting the process. Submit a complaint through any of these methods and request a copy of your complaint.

If the problem is still unresolved after eight weeks, a complaint can be made to the Alternative Dispute Resolution scheme (Three UK is part of the Communication & Internet Services Adjudication Scheme).

If you are unhappy with the multi-hour and the response from Three, you can fill out Ofcom's short monitoring form. These aren't investigated individually, but if enough of you do the same, it'll bring about an investigation.

What's happening at the other networks?

If you've been looking at the Down Detector home page today, you'll have seen that the other major U.K. networks are also positioned right at the top — below Three and its related MVNOs.

But while the number of reported issues seems to be out of the ordinary, they don't seem to be nearly as bad as the problems happening at Three.

At the time of writing O2 peaked at 120 reported problems at 12.30 p.m., with an extra spike of 107 reports at 3.47 p.m. Meanwhile EE seems to have had a poor time of it on the reports front, with various spikes throughout the day — peaking at 217 at 2.17 p.m. and 4.17 p.m.

Vodafone, which recently merged with Three topped out at 187 reports at 1147 a.m., and is currently sitting at 83 reports. All of which is pretty small relative to Three's 5,544.

Which areas are worst hit by the outage?

According to Down Detector's outage map, most of the reported problems with Three are centered around the big cities. Which is no surprise considering that's where most of the people live, but it's interesting to see that not all cities are apparently created equal.

The main hotspots seem to be obvious places like Manchester, Glasgow, Birmingham, Cardiff and London. Earlier in the day we also saw faint hotspots in areas like Leeds and Aberdeen.

However, in a surprise twist, Plymouth, Hull and Nottingham also seem to be hit pretty hard by the problems.

Three's coverage checker is down too

In case you were wondering what Three's mobile coverage was like in your area, there is a tool that usually lets you have a gander at the local signal levels. I say usually, because Three is not letting anyone use it right now.

The company's Coverage and Network Status checker page is inaccessible, with a pop-up informing people about the ongoing network issues — and directing them back to the Three homepage.

Three's latest statement

Three has shared a new statement on the ongoing outage over on X, which reads:

"We're continuing to work on an issue affecting voice services which started earlier today. A small number of text messages are also being affected by the issue. Data services are working normally, so calls can be placed via third-party messaging apps.

We know how frustrating this is, and we're so sorry for any inconvenience caused."

Sadly there's still no timeline on when the problem might be fixed. But we'll keep you updated on all the newest developments as they happen.

Here's everything that's happened so far

It's not been a great morning for Three or its customers, and it doesn't look like the outage will be ending particularly quickly. So here's a recap of what's happened so far:

• Reports of problems started at 7:45 a.m. BST
• The network first acknowledged the problem at around 9:35 a.m.
• Three has said it's "working hard to fix" the voice call problems, while promising that data services are "working normally"
• Three-related MVNOs like ID Mobile and Smarty are also affected
• Three doesn't have an estimate on when normal service will resume — but has confirmed 999 calls are working correctly
• Reports are still high, hovering almost 5,500 at the time of writing

Three's official statements are vague and non-committal at the moment, emphasizing that the company is sorry about the ongoing outage.

Hopefully it doesn't last quite as long as the January outage, which saw the network down for over 14 hours.