BT, EE, Sky, PlusNet and TalkTalk are currently suffering a mass broadband outage. Users complained they were unable to get online through their WiFi connections amid what appeared to be a widespread outage.
It appears the bulk of the connectivity faults are in the North-East of England but a significant amount are also being reported outside this region.
Downdetector also shows clear connectivity problems for EE’s fixed internet, with a high volume of complaints in Gateshead, Newcastle and Sunderland.
According to DownDetector, the issues with BT started escalating at 11:41am UK time, while TalkTalk’s issues began at approximately 11:57am UK time.
The worst affected areas seem to be London, Glasgow, Newcastle, Gateshead and Sunderland, according to reports.
The companies are just the latest internet providers to experience problems, following high-profile outages among users of Virgin Media.
Home internet connections appeared to have been largely stable through the lockdown period, though the nationwide reliance on such connections mean even short outages can cause major problems.
“We’re aware some of our customers in the Newcastle area are currently experiencing intermittent problems when trying to connect to the internet using BT Broadband. This is due to a fire at a local site in Newcastle, which has now been contained. Our engineers are on site and working quickly to resolve this. We apologise to our customers for any inconvenience caused,” a BT spokesperson said.
TalkTalk now says it has it fixed the problem and customers should be able to get back online. In a statement sent to Rapid Meta, a TalkTalk spokesperson said:
“Some customers in and around the North East of England experienced a loss of service for a short period of time earlier today due to a fire at a BT exchange in Newcastle, impacting a number of providers. The fire has now been contained, and service has been restored for our broadband customers. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
However, some users are still reporting that their internet connection has not resumed.
