Data network outages hit Vodafone

Vodafone’s mobile network has been plagued by problems today (Friday 21 February 2014), leaving users across the UK unable to fully use their phones and tablets.

The problems began when the mobile operator admitted over Twitter that some customers were “experiencing issues accessing systems” but promised it was working on the problem “as a priority”.

However Vodafone later revealed the issues were hitting its data network, stopping users from accessing the likes of WhatsApp and iMessage, along with specific Vodafone services.

“We’re very sorry that it’s causing inconvenience and we’re working hard to restore full service,” the company tweeted. “We’ll update you as soon as we can.”

Vodafone’s network status checker showed the issue was affecting customers across the UK, including in London, Bristol, Birmingham and Leeds.

Computer Weekly contacted the operator for an explanation of the outage, but the spokeswoman merely repeated the tweeted statement. She would not say when Vodafone expected the issues to be fixed.

UPDATE 16:11 - Vodafone has just come back to us saying the issues with its network have been fixed.

A spokesman from the operator said: “We’ve now fixed the issues that were affecting customer access to some mobile data services and Vodafone systems – all of which have now been fully restored.  We’re continuing to monitor closely and are very sorry to our customers for the inconvenience.”

However, the company has still not revealed what caused the issues in the first place.