TWO MAJOR mobile networks are down for thousands of customers leaving them unable to make calls and send texts.
Sky Mobile and Giffgaff are suffering an outage with some customers struggling to get any phone signal at all.
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The issues started just before 11am this morning, with more than 1,000 Sky and 900 Giffgaff customers reporting issues, according to Downdetector, which measures outages.
Both networks piggyback off the O2 mobile network, which doesn’t seem to be affected by its own outage.
But the Sky and Giffgaff outage appears to be widespread, impacting users across the UK.
Frustrated customers have been taking to Twitter to complain about the outage.
One Sky Mobile customer said: “Looks like Sky Mobile is down again as my husband can’t text, make calls etc.
“After the last issue with them, I ported to an EE provider, a much better network and service.”
Another customer said: “My husband is on Sky Mobile. He cannot make calls or send or receive texts.”
“Sky Mobile down again! Absolute joke. Was on an urgent call with my consultant regarding my health and the call just dropped and now no signal.
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“Too many issues, too often! This needs sorting Sky Mobile,” said a third customer.
One Giffgaff customer said: “The call went down during a really important call. I’m fuming. It’s so patchy and unreliable at the best of times.”
The telecom providers have started responding to complaints on Twitter and acknowledged the outage.
The Sky Help Team Tweeted: “We apologise for any inconvenience this has caused.
“Our support teams are aware of a wider issue with Sky Mobile services and are investigating this now.
“Please be assured that the team will do their utmost to get service restored ASAP.”
Giffgaff Tweeted: “We are aware of some members are currently experiencing issues with SMS and Voice services.
“Our technical team are currently investigating.”
We’ve contacted Sky Mobile and Giffgaff to ask when it expects the issue to be resolved.
Am I entitled to compensation?
You may be entitled to compensation if you have suffered issues with your internet, call or mobile services.
Internet firms usually pay out £8 for each day broadband and home phone services are not repaired after two full days of no service.
They will also pay £25 for each missed appointment, or for appointments cancelled with less than 24 hours notice.
Plus, you’ll get £5 for each calendar day delay to the start of the new service. This is usually automatic.
If you’re a mobile customer and you suffer from a lack of service then depending on the circumstance you may be entitled to a refund or account credit.
If you’re without service for a sustained period of time then you may also have the right to leave without incurring a fee, although neither of these are automatic – you will need to ask your provider.
If your problem is still unresolved after eight weeks, you can complain to an independent Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) scheme.
Sky Mobile launched in January 2017 and currently has over three million customers.
