Phone network EE appears to have gone offline for thousands of users this morning for ‘more than two hours’.
Frustrated customers have taken to Twitter to complain that they are unable to use the provider’s mobile internet network as well as being restricted from making or receivng texts or calls.
The outage is thought to have started at around 8am BST, according to Down Detector, a site which tracks issues and outages in internet services.
A huge spike in reports can be seen on the outage report on the website between the hours of 9 and 10am.
A map shows the widespread outage appears to have affected much of England and Scotland, however it seems that not all EE phones are affected.
Numerous users have been contacting the company to ask them to ‘sort it out’.
It started around 8:00 am BST and the influx of complaints has increased in the last few hours
Outage affects London, Birmingham, Glasgow and Nottingham among others
Mark Follos wrote on Twitter: ‘hey @EE nothing works! Sort it out. Been down last 2 hours’
Users have also complained to Down Detector, with one writing: ‘Unable to make calls, text or no mobile data… slightly frustrating. Unsure why I pay £50 a month for a service that isn’t provided!’
One customer posted a picture of the EE message that appears on his screen when he tried to use the app which read: ‘There seems to be a problem… Sorry we’re having a difficulty right now. Try closing the app and coming back a bit later.’
The problem seemed to persist despite shutting down his phone and uninstalling the app.
Another wrote: ‘EE is the network down? I can’t make any calls today, same happened yesterday!’
Another said: ‘EE unable to make or receive calls today. Is network down?’
Tahir Hussein wrote: ‘@EE is your system down ? Not letting me make a call? Keep saying call failed.’
Mark Follows said: ‘Hey @EE nothing works! Sort it out. Been down last 2 hours.’
Jenna Bray also complained: ‘Is your service still down @EE.’
The official EE Twitter account recommends that users restart their smartphones, but doesn’t seem to know why the issue is occurring.
One user posted a picture of the EE message that appears on his screen when he tried to use the app which read: ‘There seems to be a problem… Sorry we’re having a difficulty right now. Try closing the app and coming back a bit later
Tanya Blake wrote: ‘#EE Internet down for an hour and counting – any other people experiencing problems @EE’
Jenna Bray also complained: ‘Is your service still down @EE.’ EE has not released a public statement on the matter
The company has not released a public statement on the matter and MailOnline has approached them for comment.
In one reply to an EE customer, the company tweeted: ‘Thanks for your Tweet. I appreciate how important it is to stay in touch with your friends and family. I’d love to help here. Could you please send us a DM with your postcode, so we can check the area?’
In a message sent to several customers who contacted the company on Twitter, EE said: ‘We’re aware that a small number of customers are unable to make some calls over 4G.
‘We’re doing our best to fix this quickly. Please keep retrying and we apologise for any inconvenience. WiFi calling, as well as text and data services, are not affected.’
Ru Bhikha, mobiles expert at uSwitch told MailOnline: ‘This outage has the potential to affect a huge number of people.
This EE user said: ‘Can’t make any calls or texts. Anyone know if it’s just #virginmobile that’s not working? They use #EE’s network, is that down too? What’s going on’
‘@EE is your system down ? Not letting me make a call? Keep saying call failed’, wrote customer Tahir Hussain
‘Our reliance on our mobile phones for all manner of things in our work and social lives makes even the shortest amount of time without reception a stressful and damaging one, and it is concerning that EE has not yet identified the cause of the problem.
In a further statement, an EE spokesman said: ‘Some of our customers have experienced intermittent problems making calls on 4G this morning. This issue has been resolved for the majority of those affected and normal service for all customers should resume shortly.
‘Calls over 3G, data services and text messages have not been affected, so customers have been able to get online and use apps and messaging services as normal. We apologise to our customers for the inconvenience caused.’