Major BT internet outage leaves thousands in UK without broadband [Update: It’s mostly fixed!]

Some BT internet customers in the UK have been left without a broadband connection as a major outage has knocked out connectivity in some of the country’s most-densely populated areas.

According to a currently near-constant stream of frustrated tweets, it’s affecting a whole lot of people, and some service status pages are showing it as down virtually nationwide.

https://twitter.com/jonny_lennon/status/694538754506297345

We’ve contacted BT for a statement and will update when we hear back.

In short, if you’re a BT customer reading this on your phone, or tethered to your mobile, then there’s probably not a lot of point in calling customer services right now.

The unfortunate person with the handle of @BT on Twitter is getting a lot of the misdirected flack. Poor guy.

Update 15:35: The BT Care Twitter account tweeted the following:

https://twitter.com/BTCare/status/694544187413364736

Update 2, 18:02 GMT:

Sorry to everyone having problems with BT Broadband service this afternoon. Service is being restored, we'll keep you updated on progress

— BTCare (@BTCare) February 2, 2016

Update 3, 19:38 GMT: According to a spokesperson, there’s no evidence of a malicious attack behind the outages, and the problems should now mostly be fixed:

 “Large numbers of customers have been experiencing temporary issues with their broadband services this afternoon. Customers can still receive and make calls as normal.

We’ve been working hard to fix the issue and are glad to report that nearly every customer affected is now reconnected, approximately two hours after the problem started.

We apologise to any affected customers for the inconvenience.

There is no evidence at this stage to suggest that we were subject to a malicious attack.”

Some affected users would likely argue that two hour figure.

➤ BT internet [Twitter search]