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Three investigating loss of phone services Three phone services restored 'for majority'
(about 4 hours later)
Mobile network Three has acknowledged it is experiencing "technical difficulties with voice, text and data", leaving many customers offline. Mobile network Three has acknowledged "technical difficulties with voice, text and data" that left many customers unable to use their devices.
The problems appear to have started on Wednesday evening, according to the Down Detector website.The problems appear to have started on Wednesday evening, according to the Down Detector website.
Customers across the UK have taken to social media to complain about the loss of service. On Thursday afternoon, the company said it had managed to restore service for a "majority" of its subscribers.
Three apologised for the problem and said it was "sorting this out right now".Three apologised for the problem and said it was "sorting this out right now".
"Our engineers are working to fix the issue and the service is returning to normal, and we expect it to be resolved over the course of the day. On Thursday afternoon it said: "For the majority of customers, the network has been restored so they can make calls, send texts and use data. We are aware that some customers are still experiencing issues and our engineers are continuing to work to fix this.
"We advise our customers to turn their phones off and on or turn airplane mode on and off, which may resolve the issue," it said in a statement."We advise our customers to turn their phones off and on or turn airplane mode on and off, which may resolve the issue," it said in a statement.
The problems, which are nationwide, started after some maintenance work on Three's network infrastructure. Three has about 10 million customers in the UK.
It is not sure how many of its 10 million customers are affected. ID Mobile, a virtual network that uses Three's infrastructure, was also affected.
ID Mobile, a virtual network that uses Three's infrastructure, is also experiencing problems. The problems, which were nationwide, started after some maintenance work on Three's network infrastructure.
On Wednesday, rival network O2 switched on its next-generation 5G service in a number of UK cities.On Wednesday, rival network O2 switched on its next-generation 5G service in a number of UK cities.
Three tagged O2 in a tweet saying: "Oi, did you unplug our network so you could plug in your 5G? not cool guys."Three tagged O2 in a tweet saying: "Oi, did you unplug our network so you could plug in your 5G? not cool guys."
One customer said the joke would have been "cute" if the problems had not been ongoing for more than nine hours.One customer said the joke would have been "cute" if the problems had not been ongoing for more than nine hours.
So many customers tried to access the status checker on Three's website that it was temporarily unavailable on Thursday morning.So many customers tried to access the status checker on Three's website that it was temporarily unavailable on Thursday morning.
A queuing system has been switched on, to limit access to the tool. A queuing system was switched on, to limit access to the tool.
"History shows that once service is restored people quickly forget about the issues," said Ben Wood, an analyst at the CCS Insight consultancy."History shows that once service is restored people quickly forget about the issues," said Ben Wood, an analyst at the CCS Insight consultancy.
"The challenge for Three UK will be getting its network back online reliably. Often it can take time for things to stabilise after such a massive outage, which can lead to intermittent service for a period of time after the original problems.""The challenge for Three UK will be getting its network back online reliably. Often it can take time for things to stabilise after such a massive outage, which can lead to intermittent service for a period of time after the original problems."