Vodafone down: Network explains outage that left people without internet for hours

Vodafone has explained the outage that left its home and mobile customers without internet for much of Monday.

The problems were the result of “a non-malicious software issue” rather than a cyber attack, the network confirmed.

Vodafone’s connection issues began on Monday afternoon, at around 2pm UK time, according to tracking website Down Detector. The problems were present right across the UK, the same site showed.

For much of the rest of the afternoon, users of the company’s home broadband as well as its mobile internet services were unable to get online.

“On Monday afternoon, for a short time, the Vodafone network had an issue affecting broadband, 4G and 5G services,” a spokesperson said. “This was triggered by a non-malicious software issue with one of our vendor partners which has now been resolved, and the network has fully recovered.

“We apologise for any inconvenience this caused our customers.”

Vodafone has more than 18 million customers in the UK, according to its website. Some 700,000 of those pay for its home broadband offering.

The problems also affected Vodafone’s website, including a page intended for tracking service outages.

And users of Voxi, which uses Vodafone’s network, also reported that they were unable to get online.

Vodafone is currently in the process of merging with rival UK phone network Three.