Vodafone UK experienced a major outage today that affected thousands of customers across its broadband and mobile networks.
The issues started at around 2.38pm BST, when the website Downdetector showed an enormous spike in reports. At its peak, almost 135,000 Vodafone customers simultaneously reported problems, making it one of the biggest network outages of 2025.
The problems were so widespread that even the official Vodafone website and customer service phone numbers went down. The network later commented on the wide-reaching problems, stating that it was "aware of a major issue" and was working to resolve it "as soon as possible".
Vodafone seems to be largely back to full health and a spokesperson told us that "the network is now recovering". Still, thousands continue to report continuing issues – here's how one of the biggest outages of the year played out and all of the latest news...
Vodafone outage – the latest news
- Vodafone experienced a nationwide outage of its broadband and mobile networks today
- The problems started at around 2.38pm BST, according to Downdetector
- Vodafone said it was "aware of a major issue", but that "the network is now recovering"
That's quite an outage
The Vodafone problems, which are hitting both its mobile network and broadband, started about an hour ago at 2.38pm BST.
That Downdetector spike (above) is one of the biggest I've ever seen in terms of concurrent reports – it stands at 126,905 reports and is still on the up.
There's been no official statement about the outage yet, but I'll be getting in touch with the network to see what might have happened – and more importantly, when it might be fixed.
Who's been hit?
Our Computing editor Christian Guyton first noticed the issues when his Wi-Fi and mobile network abruptly stopped working this afternoon – and that's been an experience shared by many.
According to Downdetector, most people (65% of reports) are reporting issues with their landline internet, but a significant number (27%) are also saying their mobile internet is also down.
In other words, this is a wide-reaching outage that also appears to be nationwide – the coverage map is spread across the country from London to Glasgow. I've asked Vodafone for comment and will report as soon as I hear back.
No word from Vodafone yet
⚠️ Confirmed: Live network data show that operator Vodafone UK is experiencing a national outage with broadband and mobile data impacted, corroborating widespread user complaints 📉 #VodafoneDown pic.twitter.com/fsfpVccZaQOctober 13, 2025
Vodafone is currently trending on X (formerly Twitter) and that's rarely a good sign for a mobile network. Sadly, we won't be getting any official answers on X, as Vodafone customer care isn't on the platform due to a "technical change".
I've asked Vodafone directly for a response or statement and will post it hear as soon as I get one.
However, it's clear there's a serious problem – for example, the cybersecurity watchdog NetBlocks has reported above that there's a "national outage" with "broadband and mobile data" impacted.
An official statement from Vodafone
I've just heard from Vodafone about today's issues. A spokesperson told me: "We are aware of a major issue on our network currently affecting broadband, 4G and 5G services. We appreciate our customers' patience while we work to resolve this as soon as possible.”
So there we have it – no estimate of a timescale for the fix yet, but Vodafone has admitted that it's facing a "major issue". That's unusually strong language during an outage, which networks tend to play down – but it's a certainly an accurate description given the numbers affected.
Even Vodafone's customer service is down
I haven't seen a network outage as wide-ranging as this for some time. Not only are Vodafone's broadband and mobile networks down, the issues have also taken out its website and even its customer service phone numbers.
A TechRadar reader alerted me to the latter and I can confirm the 0333 304 0191 number isn't working for me – the problems also seem to be affecting the 191 number that customers can call from their Vodafone mobile phone.
On the plus side, the number of reports on Downdetector appears to be dropping, so it seems some are now at least getting reconnected.
The knock-on effect
A high number of customers on other broadband and mobile networks are also reporting problems today – that isn't a huge surprise, given how interconnected the UK's broadband and mobile networks are.
Voxi, which is owned by Vodafone, and Lebara (which is a so-called Mobile Virtual Network Operator that also uses the Vodafone network) are both showing significant spikes in reported issues on Downdetector.
We're also seeing spikes on Virgin Media (currently around 1,000 reports) and Sky (about 400 reports), although these may well be a reflection of Vodafone's issues rather than a sign of a wider outage. So far, only Vodafone has stated it officially has issues – if that changes, I'll update this liveblog.
Positive signs?
There are some potentially promising signs on progress on Downdetector – though the falling number of reports (above) might simply mean large numbers of Vodafone customers have already reported their issues, or simply can't due to their network problems.
Right now, the number of reports has dropped to 30,845, from a staggering high of about 135,000 (one of the highest I've seen on Downdetector for a UK outage).
Still, on the TechRadar team, those affected have been without internet or phone service for well over an hour, and there's no word on Vodafone yet on a fix.
I'll be chasing it up for an answer to see if its engineers have made any progress on an outage that continues to take out its own website...
A double whammy for many
Vodafone broadband going down across the uk is a great reminder to never have your phone and broadband with the same providerOctober 13, 2025
The worst hit in today's outage, which has now lasted over two hours and counting, are those who are on both Vodafone's broadband and mobile networks.
Unfortunately, Vodafone makes that a highly tempting proposition with its bundle deals that it says can save you "up to £400 a year".
But many households are now tethering off other networks, which must be experiencing some significant extra strain. Let's hope Vodafone has an update for us before the demand for evening TV streaming picks up...
What might have caused this?
Without any official comment from Vodafone, we can only speculate about what's caused the biggest network outage since The Great Voice Calling Wobble of July 2025.
But Jake Moore, Global Cybersecurity Advisor from the cybersecurity company ESET, says it's still more likely to be an internal issue than a big cyber attack.
“Outages will always naturally raise early suspicions of a potential cyber incident, though current evidence points more towards an internal network failure than a confirmed attack," he said in a statement.
That's apparently still the front-runner explanation, even though it has the symptoms of something more malicious. "The sudden outage, combined with the inability to access customer service lines, mirrors classic symptoms of a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, where attackers overwhelm the network so the site or systems collapse," he admitted.
"However, malicious or not, this once again highlights our heavy reliance on digital infrastructure, especially in an age where we increasingly depend on mobile networks for everything. Ultimately, resilience is essential, whether the cause is a direct cyberattack, a supply chain issue or a critical internal error," he added.
Vodafone is back for some
I'm hearing some positive anecdotal reports from some that their Vodafone broadband and mobile services are now back up and running.
This has come from both inside and outside the TechRadar team, and seems to be reflected on Downdetector – although reports remain high, at just over 19,000 at the time of writing.
The Vodafone homepage and customer service number are also both still down for me, as is the network status checker (which was working earlier). Clearly, there are still issues to resolve, but there are glimmers of hope for those who may have been contemplating an evening without TV streaming.
Virgin Media confirms it has no issues
With Downdetector graphs spiking across multiple networks this afternoon – and not just MVNOs who piggyback on Vodafone – you might have concluded that Vodafone wasn't alone in having issues today.
But as I mentioned earlier, it's common during outages like this to see spikes elsewhere as other customers attempt to call or connect to the troubled network. And Virgin Media has just confirmed to me that "our network is operating as usual and has been all day".
That's likely to be the case for other networks like Three and O2 – right now, this is solely a Vodafone issue. The best example is that WhatsApp also saw a spike in reports this afternoon, which will have likely been confused Vodafone customers wondering why they couldn't even get a single grey tick in the messaging app.
Could paydays be hit?
While many Vodafone broadband customers will have been worried about the hit on their TV streaming plans tonight, today's outage could be more serious for businesses – and also staff waiting for payday.
If your payday is soon, you might want to brace yourself for a delay, according to Melanie Pizzey, CEO and Founder of the Global Payroll Alliance. "The timing, on a Monday rather than a critical payroll cut-off like Friday, may have softened the blow, but the potential impact remains serious and if any kind of disruption persists over the coming days, people could find their paydays being delayed," she said.
"If this turns out to be more than just a technical issue, such as a cyber attack, the ramifications could be far-reaching. Business continuity could be affected well beyond the initial outage window, and it would raise serious concerns about the vulnerability of the UK’s core digital infrastructure," she added.
So far, Vodafone hasn't commented on the cause and cybersecurity experts say it's still more likely to have been an internal issue, rather than an external attack. But whatever the cause, let's hope those paydays aren't affected.
Vodafone seems to be recovering
There's still no official statement from Vodafone (I've asked again to check), but the evidence is growing that today's network issues are drawing to a close. Phew.
Across the likes of X, relieved customers are reporting that their broadband and mobile service is back, which is something we've also seen on the TechRadar team.
And the Downdetector graph (above) is looking a lot more healthy, after the cardiac arrest-style spike earlier that saw 130,000 customers simultaneously reporting that everything in their digital world was broken.
That was still quite an outage, lasting a good two hours, and we're likely to see some knock-on effects this week (see 'Could paydays be hit?' below). For now though, we can all return to Chad Powers, KPop Demon Hunters or whatever our Monday night survival plans are.
A new Vodafone statement
Vodafone has now confirmed that today's almighty wobble should now be fixed and normal Monday service can resume.
A spokesperson said: “This afternoon, for a short time, the Vodafone network had an issue affecting broadband, 4G and 5G services. 2G voice calls and SMS messaging were unaffected and the network is now recovering. We apologise for any inconvenience this caused our customers."
Your definition of a "short time' might differ from Vodafone's, particularly if you were frantically trying to tether for two hours as you contemplated a dark evening without broadband. Vodafone has also only said the network is "recovering" rather than fixed.
Still, that's positive news on an afternoon that Vodafone customers will be hoping has packed in all their bad luck for the week.
So was it a cyber attack?
Vodafone told us its network is now "recovering", but didn't elaborate on what caused its broadband, mobile network, website and customer service phone lines to go down for over two hours today.
Without an official statement, we'd of course just be speculating. But during the outage earlier Daniel Card, a cyber expert with BCS (The Chartered Institute for IT) agreed with an earlier statement from the cybersecurity company ESET that it was more likely to be an internal issue.
"Incidents like this are often caused by a technical fault or configuration error rather than a major cyber-attack, so until more details are confirmed it’s best not to speculate. What we can see is that Vodafone UK’s network traffic has effectively dropped to zero, suggesting a significant connectivity issue. It’s not yet clear whether their DNS or routing systems are accessible outside Vodafone’s own network, and even their online status page is currently offline" he said.
Most of those things are now fixed, so it'll be interesting to see if an official explanation materializes in the coming days.
Can you get compensation?
Vodafone's broadband and mobile internet may only have been down for a couple of hours today, but that's still enough time to cause a considerable amount of bother for customers – particularly those working from home.
So can you get compensation? As always, the process is more complex than you might hope, but the short answer for most people from today's incident is 'probably not'.
Sabrina Hoque, telecoms expert at Uswitch.com, told us: “If your broadband connection goes down for more than two days, you could be entitled to compensation of £9.76 for each calendar day that the service is not repaired". Clearly, the length of today's outage means most Vodafone customers won't qualify for that.
What about mobile customers? “Ofcom advises that compensation for mobile signal outages is ‘dependent on the circumstances'. But in extreme cases where repairs take much longer, you may be entitled to an additional refund or account credit," she added.
Again, with today's issues lasting a couple of hours, you're probably out luck. But that doesn't mean you can't casually look into switching your broadband provider instead.
Recovering but not fixed...
The Vodafone reports on Downdetector have settled to a base level of about 3,300 – a lot better than the peak of 135,000 reports at 3.20pm BST, but not insignificant either.
I haven't received any more statements from Vodafone since the last one at about 7pm BST, so we'll have to assume the network is still "recovering" rather than fully fixed. That would seem to be the case, with thousands still reporting residual issues.
I'm signing off for this evening, but will report back in the morning when there'll hopefully be better news and that Downdetector graph will be back to normal. Until then, let us all pray to the broadband and mobile internet gods for better internet tomorrow.
