Virgin Media down – latest: Broadband down again after provider apologises for earlier outage

Virgin Media has gone down again for many customers just hours after the internet service provider apologised for outages which plunged thousands offline.

Problems first started at around 2am, according to data from Downdetector, a site which tracks outages. At that point, there was a big spike in reports to the website of problems with Virgin Media, with another peak coming at around 7am.

“We’ve restored broadband services for customers but are closely monitoring the situation as our engineers continue to investigate,” the company later said on Twitter. “We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

But Downdetector showed another huge spike in loss of service starting at 4pm, with tens of thousands of outages reported – nearly double the peak seen earlier.

The website found that three quarters of users were having problems with their landline internet while 23 per cent said they were suffering from a total blackout.

Earlier this morning, many claimed Virgin Media’s website was also down. It now appears to be back up and running, though in a reduced form.

Read More: Best Broadband Providers in the UK

How to know if the internet has stopped working – or if it’s just you

Key Points

• New: Virgin Media issues update on ‘unfortunate repeat of an earlier issue’

• Tens of thousands of Virgin Media customers report more outages ...

• ... After provider says broadband services have been restored

• Earlier: Broadband provider acknowledges problems on Tuesday morning

• Virgin Media website faltered amid internet outages

• Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit files for bankruptcy after axing 85% of workforce

Mapped: Virgin Media outage hotspots

23:04 , Andy Gregory

Here is the latest map from Downdetector showing the hotspots for Virgin Media outages over the past 24 hours.

Edinburgh, London, Cardiff, Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds all appear to have been particularly affected.

Hundreds still appear to be impacted by outages

22:09 , Andy Gregory

There appear to still be hundreds of people affected by outages, according to the Downdetector website.

In this report on the Virgin Media blackouts earlier today, my colleague Anthony Cuthbertson reported:

Affected customers can check their service status on Virgin Media’s Help page.

Some users reported that they were able to reconnect to the internet by rebooting their router or modem, while others claimed it was possible to circumvent the issue by using a virtual private network (VPN).

Councils, utility firms and football clubs impacted by Virgin Media outages

21:21 , Andy Gregory

The widespread Virgin Media outages today have impacted a range of local services and businesses across the country.

Among those affected were a number of councils, South East Water, and Leicester City Football Club.

Virgin Media customers face 13.8% rise in bills

19:52 , Andy Gregory

Today’s outages come as Virgin Media customers face their bills rising by an average of 13.8 per cent.

They are by no means alone. According to the MoneySavingExpert website, BT, EE, Plusnet, Shell, TalkTalk and Three have all announced April price hikes of up to 14.4 per cent for mobile and broadband customers.

Virgin also plans to introduce annual inflation-linked price rises from next April, which will be nearly 4 per cent above RPI inflation.

The company has some 5.8 million home broadband users in the UK, according to its latest figures.

Reported Virgin Media outages fall significantly from peak of more than 55,000

19:37 , Andy Gregory

The problem appears to be tapering off, with the number of outages reported falling significantly again, according to the Downdetector website.

ICYMI: Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit files for bankruptcy after axing 85% of workforce

18:58 , Andy Gregory

Virgin Orbit has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after failing to secure the funding needed to recover from a January rocket failure.

It comes just days after the California-based satellite launch company said it was laying off 85 per cent of its 750 staff and ceasing operations for the foreseeable future.

My colleague Thomas Kingsley has the full report:

Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit files for bankruptcy

18:33 , Andy Gregory

The Downdetector website has been picking up a fluctuating number of reported outages since Virgin Media went down again at 4pm.

How to know if the internet has stopped working – or if it’s just you

18:14 , Andy Gregory

While it’s clear that thousands of Virgin Media customers are experiencing outages this evening, our technology editor Andrew Griffin has previously written this explainer on how to tell when your internet provider has actually gone down:

Is Virgin Media down? How to check for outages in the UK

Internet ‘watchdog’ shows ‘second nation-scale outage’ for Virgin Media customers

17:54 , Andy Gregory

NetBlocks, a company describing itself as “the Internet’s Observatory”, has this graph showing the “second nation-scale outage” suffered by Virgin Media customers today.

Virgin Media laments ‘repeat of an earlier issue'

17:38 , Andy Gregory

Virgin Media has issued a statement on the new outages.

The company tweeted: “Unfortunately we have seen a repeat of an earlier issue which is causing intermittent broadband connectivity problems for some Virgin Media customers.

“We apologise again to those impacted, our teams are continuing to work flat out to find the root cause of the problem and fix it.”

The Independent has approached the company for further information.

Reported outages approach 55,000

17:33 , Andy Gregory

The fresh outage appears to be affecting nearly double the number of customers hit earlier today prior to the Virgin Media’s apology.

The Downdetector website is highlighting nearly 55,000 reports of outages as of 5:13pm – compared to the peak of 28,565 seen just before 8am.

Map shows Virgin Media outage hotspots

17:23 , Andy Gregory

Here is Downdetector’s map of Virgin Media outages reported over the past 24 hours.

It shows large hotspots in London, Birmingham, Cardiff and Edinburgh, with outages reported across much of the country.

17:17 , Andy Gregory

Virgin Media’s website appears to be struggling again too.

The homepage and press enquiries pages initially failed to load when The Independent attempted to access them, before eventually loading after a lengthy delay upon a further attempt.

Chart shows huge new spike in reported outages

17:13 , Andy Gregory

Here is the huge spike in outages picked up by the Downdetector website, which hit a peak of nearly 35,000 reported issues, larger than those seen previously on Tuesday.

Broadband down again after provider apologises for earlier outage

17:00 , Andy Gregory

Tens of thousands of Virgin Media customers have reported outages once again, just hours after the internet provider said its services had been restored.

The Downdetector website showed a huge spike in reported outages – even larger than those seen previously on Tuesday.

According to the website, 75 per cent were related to broadband outages, 23 per cent were total blackouts, and 2 per cent related to TV streaming.

Broadband service restored, says Virgin Media

11:57 , Emily Atkinson

Virgin Media has confirmed it has restored broadband services for its customers after this morning’s outages left thousands unable to access the internet.

“We’ve restored broadband services for customers but are closely monitoring the situation as our engineers continue to investigate,” the company said on Twitter.

“We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

Virgin Media down: Service not working for users across UK

10:56 , Emily Atkinson

More on this morning’s top story from our video team:

Virgin Media outage and reported problems map

10:12 , Emily Atkinson

Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit files for bankruptcy after axing 85% of workforce

09:53 , Emily Atkinson

And in more bad news for Virgin...

Virgin Orbit has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after failing to secure the funding needed to recover from a January rocket failure.

It comes just days after the California-based satellite launch company said it was laying off 85 per cent of its 750 staff and ceasing operations for the foreseeable future.

Virgin Orbit is 75 per cent owned by Sir Richard Branson‘s Virgin Group. It lodged the filing in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware seeking a sale of its assets.

My colleague Thomas Kingsley reports:

Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit files for bankruptcy

Virgin Media website falters amid internet outages

09:29 , Emily Atkinson

Amid sweeping internet outages this morning, many customers also complained that Virgin Media’s website was down.

It now appears to be back up and running, though in a reduced form. As of 9.30am, we were unable to access the local service status tool.

Virgin Media acknowledges problems

09:22 , Emily Atkinson

Virgin Media has acknowledged there had been problems with its systems and said it is working to fix everything as soon as possible.

Virgin said: “We’re aware of an issue that is affecting broadband services for Virgin Media customers as well as our contact centres.

“Our teams are currently working to identify and fix the problem as quickly as possible and we apologise to those customers affected.”

Virgin Media down: Service not working for users across UK

09:19 , Emily Atkinson

Virgin Media has stopped working for thousands of users around the UK, leaving customers without access to internet services.

Virgin Media users complained on social media that their WiFi and broadband were not working, while internet outage monitor DownDetector showed thousands of reports.

“We’re aware of an issue that is affecting broadband services for Virgin Media customers as well as our contact centres,” Virgin Media said in a statement on Tuesday morning.

More on this story here:

Virgin Media down: Service not working for users across UK