Virgin Media down – latest: Broadband customers threaten to quit in anger at outages

Virgin Media customers are threatening to quit for alternative internet providers after the telecoms provider apologised for outages which plunged thousands offline on Tuesday morning.

Customers complained not only about the break in their internet connections but about frustration with the customer service they had received, too.

However, the issue did not last for long enough for customers to be issued with automatic compensation.

Virgin Media is signed up to the Ofcom automatic compensation scheme in which households are entitled to £9.33 for each day their service is disrupted. However, this only kicks in after customers have experienced two days of disruption.

The telecoms provider said at around 11.30am on Tuesday that it had fixed the problems which first started at around 2am, according to data from Downdetector, a site which tracks outages.

However, at 5:25pm the company apologised again, saying some customers had “seen a repeat of an earlier issue”.

Read More: Best Broadband Providers in the UK

How to know if the internet has stopped working – or if it’s just you

Key Points

• New: Virgin Media issues update on ‘unfortunate repeat of an earlier issue’

• Tens of thousands of Virgin Media customers report more outages ...

• ... After provider says broadband services have been restored

• Earlier: Broadband provider acknowledges problems on Tuesday morning

• Virgin Media website faltered amid internet outages

• Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit files for bankruptcy after axing 85% of workforce

Broadband customers threaten to quit in anger at outages

14:09 , Martha Mchardy

Virgin Media customers are threatening to quit for alternative internet providers after the telecoms provider apologised for outages which plunged thousands offline on Tuesday morning.

Customers complained not only about the break in their internet connections but about frustration with the customer service they had received, too.

However, the issue did not last for long enough for customers to be issued with automatic compensation.

Virgin Media is signed up to the Ofcom automatic compensation scheme in which households are entitled to £9.33 for each day their service is disrupted. However, this only kicks in after customers have experienced two days of disruption.

The telecoms provider said at around 11.30am on Tuesday that it had fixed the problems which first started at around 2am, according to data from Downdetector, a site which tracks outages.

However, at 5:25pm the company apologised again, saying some customers had “seen a repeat of an earlier issue”.

ICYMI: Virgin Media broadband restored after outage

14:00 , Martha Mchardy

Virgin Media said it has restored broadband to customers after a widespread outage on Tuesday morning left people struggling to access the internet.

Virgin Media said on Twitter: “We’ve restored broadband services for customers but are closely monitoring the situation as our engineers continue to investigate. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

However, in replies to the tweet, several users said they were still having problems.

Virgin Media issues compensation update

13:00 , Martha Mchardy

Virgin Media customers who have been hit by outages, leaving them unable to access the internet since Tuesday morning, will not receive compensation yet.

Virgin Media is signed up to the Ofcom automatic compensation scheme in which households are entitled to £9.33 for each day their service is disrupted. However, this only kicks in after customers have experienced two days of disruption.

A Virgin Media spokesperson said: “Our engineers are continuing to monitor the network and we apologise again for the issues faced by some of our customers yesterday.”

Virgin Mobile amongst most complained-about mobile operators - Ofcom

12:00 , Martha Mchardy

Ofcom has urged Shell Energy to “get a grip” on broadband and landline complaints after the firm attracted significantly higher volumes than other providers.

BT Mobile, Virgin Mobile and iD Mobile are the most complained-about mobile operators, according to the regulator’s latest figures.

Virgin Media continued to generate the most pay TV complaints, Ofcom said.

Ofcom tells Shell Energy to ‘get a grip’ on broadband and landline complaints

Watch: Virgin Media not working for users across UK

11:00 , Martha Mchardy

Virgin Media forced to apologise twice over broadband outages

10:00 , Martha Mchardy

Virgin Media was forced to apologise for a second time in 24 hours on Tuesday over broadband outages that left people struggling to access the internet.

The telecoms provider said at around 11.30am on Tuesday that it had fixed the problems which first started at around 2am, according to data from Downdetector, a site which tracks outages.

However, at 5:25 pm the company apologised again, saying some customers had “seen a repeat of an earlier issue”.

Virgin Media said on Twitter: “Unfortunately we have seen a repeat of an earlier issue which is causing intermittent broadband connectivity problems for some Virgin Media customers. We apologise again to those impacted, our teams are continuing to work flat out to find the root cause of the problem and fix it.”

Virgin Media says internet access restored after broadband outage

09:00 , Martha Mchardy

In case you missed it...

Virgin Media said it has restored broadband to customers after a widespread outage on Tuesday morning left people struggling to access the internet.

The telecoms provider said at around 11.30am on Tuesday that it had fixed the problems which first started at around 2am, according to data from Downdetector, a site which tracks outages.

At that point there had been a big spike in reports to the website of problems with Virgin Media, with another peak coming at around 7am.

Virgin Media said on Twitter: “We’ve restored broadband services for customers but are closely monitoring the situation as our engineers continue to investigate. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

Virgin Media says internet access restored after broadband outage

Virgin Media down: Service not working for users across UK

07:50 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

In case you missed it...

Virgin Media stopped working for thousands of users around the UK on Tuesday morning, leaving customers without access to internet services.

Virgin Media users complained on social media that their WiFi and broadband were not working, while internet outage monitor DownDetector showed thousands of reports.

“We’re aware of an issue that is affecting broadband services for Virgin Media customers as well as our contact centres,” Virgin Media said in a statement on Tuesday morning.

“Our teams are currently working to identify and fix the problem as quickly as possible and we apologise to those customers affected.”

Virgin Media down: Service not working for users across UK

Many users continue to face issues with Virgin Media broadband

07:22 , Stuti Mishra

Many users on social media are still complaining of issues with Virgin Media broadband after the company apologised twice yesterday for outages and services were resumed.

Some users this morning say their broadband was “out again” while others complained of patchy internet, a situation that has been ongoing for thousands of users for the last two days.

“Broadband is down again. Been off most of last evening and this morning. Virgin media are a joke!” wrote one user.

“24 hours without Broadband now, completely unacceptable,” wrote another user who said his services had still not resumed.

Users react to internet outage with memes

06:30 , Stuti Mishra

Virgin media customers who were left in a lurch after yesterday’s internet issues took at their frustrations on the company with memes on Twitter.

One user called the company “pathetic to the point of it being unbelievable” while another spotted a Virgin media balloon and hoped “that’s the engineer on his way to work”.

Users also pointed the company’s website was down, with one user posting a screenshot of the page with only the “Help” page.

“I think they’re trying to send us a message,” a user wrote.

Outage comes after 14% increase in bills

05:34 , Stuti Mishra

The Virgin media outage that left thousands of customers without any internet yesterday came after the company informed people about hike in tariffs.

Virgin media contacted customers earlier to advise them of price increases – averaging at a 13.8 per cent higher bill.

This comes as several broadband and mobile companies, including BT, EE, Plusnet, and Vodafone hiked their prices in April.

Virgin Media forced to apologise twice over broadband outages

04:30 , Stuti Mishra

Virgin Media has apologised for the second time in a day over broadband outages affecting customers.

Customers of the telecoms provider initially suffered outages at 2am, which Virgin later said had been resolved as of 11.30am yesterday morning.

However, Downdetector – a site which tracks outages – reported a large spike in problems at around 4pm, causing Virgin to apologise again.

The company said on Twitter: “Unfortunately we have seen a repeat of an earlier issue which is causing intermittent broadband connectivity problems for some Virgin Media customers.

“We apologise again to those impacted, our teams are continuing to work flat out to find the root cause of the problem and fix it.”

Ofcom opens industry-wide action over delayed broadband ‘One Touch Switch’

03:00 , Josie Clarke

Ofcom has opened an industry-wide enforcement programme over the delayed One Touch Switch broadband switching process.

One Touch Switch – designed by the telecoms watchdog to make it easier for households to change to a cheaper or faster broadband service – has been missed just as millions are facing huge increases to their monthly internet bills.

The new process would also allow seamless switching between physically separate networks, such as from Openreach to Virgin Media, Hyperoptic or CityFibre, allowing consumers to take advantage of more competitive deals.

Once in place, customers would only need to contact a new broadband provider to switch, and would no longer need to speak to their current provider.

Ofcom opens industry-wide action over delayed broadband ‘One Touch Switch’

Big broadband firms ‘mediocre at best’ ahead of inflation-busting price rises

02:03 , Andy Gregory

The biggest broadband firms are providing a service that is “mediocre at best” as consumers brace themselves for inflation-busting price increases, reports Josie Clarke.

TalkTalk has been rated the worst major broadband provider, losing out to smaller firms such as Zen, in an annual satisfaction survey of almost 4,000 customers by Which?

The watchdog found that most of the biggest firms offer little more than unreliable connections, “appalling” customer service and “barely there” technical support despite announcing monthly bill increases of at least 14% from next month.

Virgin Media came 10th in the ranking with 54 per cent, scoring poorly for customer service and technical support. Virgin’s monthly costs will go up by an average of 13.8 per cent in April.

Big broadband firms ‘mediocre at best’ ahead of inflation-busting price rises

Why are broadband and mobile prices rising by 14%?

01:02 , Andy Gregory

Households already struggling with the cost of living crisis this winter could now see their broadband and mobile phone bills rise by as much as 14 per cent from April.

BT, EE, Plusnet and Vodafone broadband deals all reportedly permit price rises in line with the CPI rate of inflation plus 3.9 per cent, while TalkTalk’s stated increase is CPI plus 3.7 per cent.

Sky Broadband and Virgin Media contracts allow similar increases but do not specify a pricing formula in the same way as their rivals.

My colleague Joe Sommerlad has more details:

Why are broadband and mobile prices rising by 14%?

Virgin Media says services are ‘stable'

Wednesday 5 April 2023 00:03 , Andy Gregory

Virgin Media has told The Independent that its services are now “stable”.

A spokesperson said: “Services are currently stable (they have been for a few hours now) and customers can use their broadband as normal. We’re continuing to investigate the issue.”

Here is Virgin Media’s most recent statement, in which it said: “Unfortunately we have seen a repeat of an earlier issue which is causing intermittent broadband connectivity problems for some Virgin Media customers.”

Mapped: Virgin Media outage hotspots

Tuesday 4 April 2023 23:04 , Andy Gregory

Here is the latest map from Downdetector showing the hotspots for Virgin Media outages over the past 24 hours.

Edinburgh, London, Cardiff, Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds all appear to have been particularly affected.

Hundreds still appear to be impacted by outages

Tuesday 4 April 2023 22:09 , Andy Gregory

There appear to still be hundreds of people affected by outages, according to the Downdetector website.

In this report on the Virgin Media blackouts earlier today, my colleague Anthony Cuthbertson reported:

Affected customers can check their service status on Virgin Media’s Help page.

Some users reported that they were able to reconnect to the internet by rebooting their router or modem, while others claimed it was possible to circumvent the issue by using a virtual private network (VPN).

Councils, utility firms and football clubs impacted by Virgin Media outages

Tuesday 4 April 2023 21:21 , Andy Gregory

The widespread Virgin Media outages today have impacted a range of local services and businesses across the country.

Among those affected were a number of councils, South East Water, and Leicester City Football Club.

Virgin Media customers face 13.8% rise in bills

Tuesday 4 April 2023 19:52 , Andy Gregory

Today’s outages come as Virgin Media customers face their bills rising by an average of 13.8 per cent.

They are by no means alone. According to the MoneySavingExpert website, BT, EE, Plusnet, Shell, TalkTalk and Three have all announced April price hikes of up to 14.4 per cent for mobile and broadband customers.

Virgin also plans to introduce annual inflation-linked price rises from next April, which will be nearly 4 per cent above RPI inflation.

The company has some 5.8 million home broadband users in the UK, according to its latest figures.

Reported Virgin Media outages fall significantly from peak of more than 55,000

Tuesday 4 April 2023 19:37 , Andy Gregory

The problem appears to be tapering off, with the number of outages reported falling significantly again, according to the Downdetector website.

ICYMI: Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit files for bankruptcy after axing 85% of workforce

Tuesday 4 April 2023 18:58 , Andy Gregory

Virgin Orbit has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after failing to secure the funding needed to recover from a January rocket failure.

It comes just days after the California-based satellite launch company said it was laying off 85 per cent of its 750 staff and ceasing operations for the foreseeable future.

My colleague Thomas Kingsley has the full report:

Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit files for bankruptcy

Tuesday 4 April 2023 18:33 , Andy Gregory

The Downdetector website has been picking up a fluctuating number of reported outages since Virgin Media went down again at 4pm.

How to know if the internet has stopped working – or if it’s just you

Tuesday 4 April 2023 18:14 , Andy Gregory

While it’s clear that thousands of Virgin Media customers are experiencing outages this evening, our technology editor Andrew Griffin has previously written this explainer on how to tell when your internet provider has actually gone down:

Is Virgin Media down? How to check for outages in the UK

Internet ‘watchdog’ shows ‘second nation-scale outage’ for Virgin Media customers

Tuesday 4 April 2023 17:54 , Andy Gregory

NetBlocks, a company describing itself as “the Internet’s Observatory”, has this graph showing the “second nation-scale outage” suffered by Virgin Media customers today.

Virgin Media laments ‘repeat of an earlier issue'

Tuesday 4 April 2023 17:38 , Andy Gregory

Virgin Media has issued a statement on the new outages.

The company tweeted: “Unfortunately we have seen a repeat of an earlier issue which is causing intermittent broadband connectivity problems for some Virgin Media customers.

“We apologise again to those impacted, our teams are continuing to work flat out to find the root cause of the problem and fix it.”

The Independent has approached the company for further information.

Reported outages approach 55,000

Tuesday 4 April 2023 17:33 , Andy Gregory

The fresh outage appears to be affecting nearly double the number of customers hit earlier today prior to the Virgin Media’s apology.

The Downdetector website is highlighting nearly 55,000 reports of outages as of 5:13pm – compared to the peak of 28,565 seen just before 8am.

Map shows Virgin Media outage hotspots

Tuesday 4 April 2023 17:23 , Andy Gregory

Here is Downdetector’s map of Virgin Media outages reported over the past 24 hours.

It shows large hotspots in London, Birmingham, Cardiff and Edinburgh, with outages reported across much of the country.

Tuesday 4 April 2023 17:17 , Andy Gregory

Virgin Media’s website appears to be struggling again too.

The homepage and press enquiries pages initially failed to load when The Independent attempted to access them, before eventually loading after a lengthy delay upon a further attempt.

Chart shows huge new spike in reported outages

Tuesday 4 April 2023 17:13 , Andy Gregory

Here is the huge spike in outages picked up by the Downdetector website, which hit a peak of nearly 35,000 reported issues, larger than those seen previously on Tuesday.

Broadband down again after provider apologises for earlier outage

Tuesday 4 April 2023 17:00 , Andy Gregory

Tens of thousands of Virgin Media customers have reported outages once again, just hours after the internet provider said its services had been restored.

The Downdetector website showed a huge spike in reported outages – even larger than those seen previously on Tuesday.

According to the website, 75 per cent were related to broadband outages, 23 per cent were total blackouts, and 2 per cent related to TV streaming.

Broadband service restored, says Virgin Media

Tuesday 4 April 2023 11:57 , Emily Atkinson

Virgin Media has confirmed it has restored broadband services for its customers after this morning’s outages left thousands unable to access the internet.

“We’ve restored broadband services for customers but are closely monitoring the situation as our engineers continue to investigate,” the company said on Twitter.

“We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

Virgin Media down: Service not working for users across UK

Tuesday 4 April 2023 10:56 , Emily Atkinson

More on this morning’s top story from our video team:

Virgin Media outage and reported problems map

Tuesday 4 April 2023 10:12 , Emily Atkinson

Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit files for bankruptcy after axing 85% of workforce

Tuesday 4 April 2023 09:53 , Emily Atkinson

And in more bad news for Virgin...

Virgin Orbit has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after failing to secure the funding needed to recover from a January rocket failure.

It comes just days after the California-based satellite launch company said it was laying off 85 per cent of its 750 staff and ceasing operations for the foreseeable future.

Virgin Orbit is 75 per cent owned by Sir Richard Branson‘s Virgin Group. It lodged the filing in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware seeking a sale of its assets.

My colleague Thomas Kingsley reports:

Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit files for bankruptcy

Virgin Media website falters amid internet outages

Tuesday 4 April 2023 09:29 , Emily Atkinson

Amid sweeping internet outages this morning, many customers also complained that Virgin Media’s website was down.

It now appears to be back up and running, though in a reduced form. As of 9.30am, we were unable to access the local service status tool.

Virgin Media acknowledges problems

Tuesday 4 April 2023 09:22 , Emily Atkinson

Virgin Media has acknowledged there had been problems with its systems and said it is working to fix everything as soon as possible.

Virgin said: “We’re aware of an issue that is affecting broadband services for Virgin Media customers as well as our contact centres.

“Our teams are currently working to identify and fix the problem as quickly as possible and we apologise to those customers affected.”

Virgin Media down: Service not working for users across UK

Tuesday 4 April 2023 09:19 , Emily Atkinson

Virgin Media has stopped working for thousands of users around the UK, leaving customers without access to internet services.

Virgin Media users complained on social media that their WiFi and broadband were not working, while internet outage monitor DownDetector showed thousands of reports.

“We’re aware of an issue that is affecting broadband services for Virgin Media customers as well as our contact centres,” Virgin Media said in a statement on Tuesday morning.

More on this story here:

Virgin Media down: Service not working for users across UK