UPDATE: 29/04 - Virgin Media says it has fixed issues across the UK, however some customers are still reporting a lack of connection, with a further spike in complaints recorded at 20:30pm BST on April 28.
Virgin Media says it has fixed a fault which saw Virgin broadband deals customers across the UK and Ireland unable to access broadband yesterday evening.
The outage began around 17:00 BST on Monday, with customers flocking to social media to complain about a lack of connectivity.
The problems were not constant, with users reporting drops in connection every few minutes.
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Virgin Media outage
Given the current reliance on telecommunications during lockdown, frustration was perhaps more amplified than usual. Mobile and broadband networks have been essential for communicating with colleagues and loved ones, accessing business applications or education resources, and for entertainment purposes that lessen the constraints of restricted movement.
“An intermittent broadband issue that started yesterday evening was fixed in the early hours of this morning,” said a Virgin Media spokesperson. “This was not caused by increased usage or a lack of capacity. We know how frustrating this was for customers and we sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
No explanation has yet been given for the problems with an investigation currently ongoing. There have been continued complaints about the service on Tuesday morning but it appears as though these are unrelated to the wider outage.
The outage is the first significant hiccup to affect the UK’s broadband infrastructure since lockdown measures were implemented by the UK government last month. Broadband and mobile providers have enacted a series of measures to support spikes in demand.
There had been fears that these networks would struggle under the weight of additional data traffic but any predicted meltdown has failed to materialise. Most networks have been built to withstand peak demands, while major streaming services have reduced transmission quality at the request of the EU. The signs are that the dramatic growth on traffic has now plateaued.
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