Three UK is down – here’s everything we know about the network’s outage

A statement from Three UK

We contacted Three UK earlier and have just had this statement back from a spokesperson.

“We are aware of an issue affecting a small percentage of voice services and are working hard to fix it. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused. Data services and 999 calls are unaffected, please bear with us”.

So it’s confirmed that the main problems are with Three’s voice services, rather than mobile data or texts. Three says the issues are affecting a “small percentage” of voice services, but the number of reports on Downdetector continues to grow – the number now stands at almost 11,000.

Other Three networks also hit

Three UK’s problems are naturally also hitting its related networks, or so-called MVNOs (Mobile Virtual network Operators). I’m on Smarty and can’t currently make phone calls, though mobile internet is fine – issues have also been reported on iD Mobile on the TechRadar team.

Unfortunately, even Three’s network status checker is down, so I wasn’t able to check if my issues are definitely due to the outage – but given the widespread problems (with reports on Downdetector now crossing the 10,000 mark), that seems almost certain.

What to do

If you’re having issues with your Three UK signal, it’s highly likely to be due to the outage that’s now affecting thousands of customers – but Three has some advice on other things you can try.

At its coverage and network status checker you can click the ‘network status’ tab, enter your postcode and see if there’s an outage in your area. Three also recommends turning airplane mode on and then off, turning your device off then on, and also double-checking that your mobile data is switched on.

It also says to update your phone’s software if needed – however, the network has confirmed that there is a technical problem that’s particularly affecting calls, so it will likely be a case of waiting for its engineers to fix that.

Three UK responds

The @ThreeUKSupport account on X (formerly) Twitter is responding to frustrated customers with fairly generic responses, like the one above.

The network has acknowledged that there are issues for “some customers” but hasn’t yet confirmed what’s causing them. Like on Downdetector, most are reporting that phone calls are the main issue, with internet data and texts proving less of a problem.

We’ve also contacted Three directly to see if we can get a more detailed explanation of what’s happening and when it might be resolved.

The story so far

It’s still early days for this latest Three UK outage, but Downdetector reports are continuing to spike. In the 45 minutes since the reports started at around 1.05pm, the number has almost hit the 6,500 mark – a fairly sizable number.

Most people (77%) are reporting issues with voice calls, with a minority also stating that they have no signal. On the TechRadar team, some members on Three’s spectrum (like ID Mobile) say they have signal but are unable to make phone calls.