Vodafone reveals cause of massive internet blackout

Vodafone has confirmed that a massive internet blackout yesterday, which left hundreds of thousands of customers without broadband, $4$G, and $5$G services, was caused by a “non-malicious software issue” from a vendor partner, rather than a cyber attack.

The outage, which peaked with over $130,000$ user complaints logged on the internet status checker Downdetector, paralyzed more than just internet access. Vodafone’s app, website and customer service lines were also reportedly inaccessible during the disruption on Monday afternoon.

“On Monday afternoon, for a short time, the Vodafone network had an issue affecting broadband, $4$G and $5$G services,” a Vodafone spokesperson stated. “This was triggered by a non-malicious software issue… which has now been resolved, and the network has fully recovered. We apologise for any inconvenience this caused our customers.”

Following the restoration of service, the focus immediately shifted to compensation. Customers flooded social media and contacted news outlets asking if they would be reimbursed for the downtime, with one X user demanding, “We all better get some compensation or I’ll be cancelling my contract.”

According to Sabrina Hoque, a telecoms expert at Uswitch, standard Ofcom rules mean customers are typically entitled to £9.76 for each calendar day their broadband is down, .but only if the outage lasts for more than two full days. Given the outage lasted only a few hours for most, the majority of users may not be entitled to an automatic payout.

However, the situation remains complicated. Melanie Pizzey, chief executive of the Global Payroll Alliance, warned that Vodafone could still face “a wave of compensation claims” from customers, particularly businesses who can prove financial losses directly resulted from the service failure.

Customers should also remain vigilant; reports have emerged of scammers exploiting the situation by impersonating Vodafone staff, calling customers and directing them to download apps under the pretence of processing compensation.