Virgin Media down: Service not working for users across UK
Virgin Media has gone down again for many customers just hours after the internet service provider apologised for outages which plunged thousands offline.
Problems first started at around 2am, according to data from Downdetector, a site which tracks outages. At that point, there was a big spike in reports to the website of problems with Virgin Media, with another peak coming at around 7am.
“We’ve restored broadband services for customers but are closely monitoring the situation as our engineers continue to investigate,” the company later said on Twitter. “We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
But Downdetector showed another huge spike in loss of service starting at 4pm, with tens of thousands of outages reported – nearly double the peak seen earlier.
The website found that three quarters of users were having problems with their landline internet while 23 per cent said they were suffering from a total blackout.
Earlier this morning, many claimed Virgin Media’s website was also down. It now appears to be back up and running, though in a reduced form.
Read More: Best Broadband Providers in the UK
How to know if the internet has stopped working – or if it’s just you
Hundreds still appear to be impacted by outages
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:
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).
Andy Gregory4 April 2023 22:09
Councils, utility firms and football clubs impacted by Virgin Media outages
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.
Andy Gregory4 April 2023 21:21
Virgin Media customers face 13.8% rise in bills
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.
Andy Gregory4 April 2023 19:52
Reported Virgin Media outages fall significantly from peak of more than 55,000
The problem appears to be tapering off, with the number of outages reported falling significantly again, according to the Downdetector website.
(Downdetector screengrab)
Andy Gregory4 April 2023 19:37
ICYMI: Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit files for bankruptcy after axing 85% of workforce
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:
Andy Gregory4 April 2023 18:58
The Downdetector website has been picking up a fluctuating number of reported outages since Virgin Media went down again at 4pm.
(Downdetector screengrab)
Andy Gregory4 April 2023 18:33
How to know if the internet has stopped working – or if it’s just you
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
The last couple of years have shown just how much we rely on the internet: to connect us to friends when we can’t see them, to work when it’s not safe or convenient to be in the office, to watch sport when we can’t go out, to keep up with goings-on when we can’t be there.
Andy Gregory4 April 2023 18:14
Internet ‘watchdog’ shows ‘second nation-scale outage’ for Virgin Media customers
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.
Andy Gregory4 April 2023 17:54
Virgin Media laments ‘repeat of an earlier issue’
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.
Andy Gregory4 April 2023 17:38
Reported outages approach 55,000
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.
(Downdetector screengrab)
Andy Gregory4 April 2023 17:33
