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

'3 Self Service options impacted'

Désiré Athow, taking over from Mark Wilson for the next half hour or so. It is 1822 in the UK and the issue hasn't been solved yet. I just tried to call from my 3 number and there is no ringtone.

Three's coverage checker has been paused for now due to the sheer amount of people trying to use it in the past 4 hours. Three posted a message there saying "Some customers may be experiencing issues with our network. Our engineering teams are working hard to fix it. This issue is impacting some of our self-service options, so you won't be able to check your coverage at this time. We are very sorry for the issues with service and sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused."

Uswitch chimes in on compensation

The price comparison website Uswitch knows a thing or two about phone networks and has sent us its thoughts on this whole Three UK debacle.

Simrat Sharma, Uswitch mobiles expert, said: "Three’s reported outages will be incredibly frustrating for customers. Signal outage issues have been reported since around 1pm this afternoon and it remains unclear what the issue seems to be, who is affected and how long it may last".

If you (understandably) feel you deserve compensation, though, Uswitch emphasised that this isn't guaranteed. “Ofcom advises that compensation for mobile signal outages is ‘dependent on the circumstances’, however in extreme cases where repairs take much longer you may be entitled to an additional refund or account credit", Simrat Sharma added.

Given the length of this outage (approaching five hours), we'd hope Three would consider the circumstances serious enough for compensation, particularly if you use the network for business. But the best route is still to open a case on the Three complaints page...

999 isn't working for some...

This afternoon a number of Three customers reported on X (formerly Twitter) that emergency calls weren't working for them, despite Three stating that "data services and 999 calls are unaffected".

Well, our friends over at Tom's Guide (see the video below) have confirmed that that does indeed seem to be the case for some – when dialing 999, there was no ringing or connection. That's a bit of a problem, to say the least, so let's hope the engineers find a breakthrough soon...

@tomsguide

🚨 this seems like it could be a problem 🚨999 isn’t working on Three UK in a clear outage (include for us) but the company is still saying 999 calls should be working 🥴 #threeuk #esim #outage #networkoutage #999call #emergencyservices #travel #downdetector #mobiledata #unitedkingdom #technews #techtok #tomsguide

♬ memories - leadwave

Problems with emergency calls?

A Three UK spokesperson told us earlier that "data services and 999 calls are unaffected" by the network's issues, but anecdotal evidence on social media suggests some customers are even having issues with those emergency calls.

A number of X (formerly Twitter) users say that they're unable to make 999 calls, with the ThreeUK Support account stating that "we take this extremely seriously" and then asking for DM chats to find out details.

While it doesn't seem too wise to ring 999 unnecessarily in order to check for network problems, these reports (if accurate) do potentially nudge today's issues from the realm of 'frustrating' towards potentially dangerous. This is where satellite-based features like Emergency SOS (above, available on iPhones running iOS 16.2 or later in the UK) can help to plug important gaps.

Let's hope it gets resolved soon, because we've just ticked past the four-hour mark since it all started...

Can you get compensation?

The length of this Three UK outage means that many people who've been looking to make or receive important phone calls today could be out of pocket.

If that includes you, it could be worth using Three's official complaint form to open a case and see if you're entitled to a refund. There's no guarantee of compensation, but Ofcom states that if the matter is still unresolved after eight weeks, you can then complain to an independent Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) scheme.

Hopefully it won't come to that, but I'd advise against using Three UK's live chat to open a case right now – it's currently creaking under the weight of customers who want to know when they're going to get phone calls back...

Still no news about a fix

The Three UK outage has been going for over three hours now (starting at around 1.05pm GMT), but a fix may not be imminent it seems.

In some responses on X (formerly Twitter), the Three UK Support account has stated "at the moment we don't have a timeframe" for a resolution to the problems, which are mainly affecting phone calls.

I've asked Three UK directly for an update and will report back as soon as I hear anything. As a Smarty customer, I'm still unable to make phone calls – and the spikes in reports on Downdetector are continuing to rise for both Smarty and iD Mobile.

Let's hope the engineers work out a fix soon before the January darkness makes some poor Three UK customers feel a bit more marooned...

Where are the problems?

The answer according to social media and Downdetector is... pretty much everywhere. The map above shows the highest concentration of Three UK reports on Downdetector, which naturally congregate in urban areas – with London, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow showing the biggest spikes.

But the smaller hotspots and anecdotal evidence on the likes of X (formerly Twitter) show that this is a UK-wide issue for Three UK. And just as we saw the spike in reports drop, it's gone up again – let's hope that reverses soon, as it's now three hours since the voice calling problems started.

Other UK networks affected?

Well, this really would be a story – according to Downdetector, all the other major UK phone networks including EE, O2, Vodafone have seen a spike in reports of issues this afternoon.

These are, though, highly likely to be related to Three UK's problems. The number of reports on other networks is comparatively tiny (between 100-200 reports, compared to the 11,000+ on Three), so the likely explanation is people on other networks being unable to contact their Three friends.

It might have been a small comfort for Three customers to know that they aren't alone, but I'm afraid it's just us guys (again)...

Signs of progress?

It won't be much of balm to those who are continuing to experience no voice calls (that includes me, on the Smarty network), but the number of Three UK reports on Downdetector is dropping – which is usually a good sign.

At the time of writing, those reports have dropped below the 9,000 mark. During last year's outage, that drop continued to plummet as the network recovered – let's hope that's the case again here.

A repeat of last year

This latest Three UK outage (confirmed in the above post on X) is now almost on the level of its last major one in February 2024.

Those problems, which also affected its customer services, saw over 12,000 people report network problems on Downdetector. At the time of writing, the reports have almost hit the 11,000 mark on the outage service.

Fortunately, today's outage does only seem to be affecting Three UK's voice services rather than the whole network, although that's still frustrating – particularly if your business phones run on the network. We'll update this page as soon as we know more.

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.