HUNDREDS were left furious after GiffGaff users reported issues with their mobile phone network.
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 use 02's technology, but that company does not seem to be suffering an outage.
Read our GiffGaff down blog below for the latest news and updates…
With user complaints on DownDetector now falling below 200, we have paused our GiffGaff outage blog.
Find out more about today's outage below:
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.
User complaints have fallen to just above 500 now, indicating issues are beginning to be resolved.
In a recent community update, GiffGaff confirmed its engineers are still working hard to resolve today's problems.
GiffGaff has told users its engineers are working hard to resolve today's issues as complaints skyrocket.
A statement said: "Thank you for bearing with us whilst our technical team continues to work to restore call and text services.
"Although full service has not yet been restored, our technical team have been carrying out work as quickly as possible.
"Some members may notice an improvement in their call services, and that some queued text messages have now gone through. If you are able to send a text message successfully, there may be a delay in the recipient receiving the message.
"We will update you further as our technical team work through the backlog of delayed messages and as they work towards fully restoring both call and text services.
"Thank you for your continued patience, and we apologise for any inconvenience this may be causing."
User complaints have soared in the last hour, surpassing the numbers we saw earlier today.
Over 1,000 user complaints have been made via DownDetector.
GiffGaff has responded to customers to say they are "currently investigating" the issues plaguing its network today.
Responding to one disgruntled customer, GiffGaff support wrote: "We are aware of some members that they are currently experiencing issues with SMS and Voice services.
"Our technical team are currently investigating."
Fans have taken to DownDetector to rage about today's GiffGaff outage.
One wrote: "What's happening with giffgaff, can't send texts absolute crap."
While another said: "Having probs here too, waiting to pay bills but can't receive txts for otp. Sort it out!"
Despite complaints dropping for a number of hours, they have now begun to soar once again.
GiffGaff is not the only company seeing a new rise in complaints, with Sky Mobile and EE also seeing complaints.
GiffGaff's temporary issues have seemingly been resolved as complaints drop to 200 on DownDetector.
User complaints peaked at over 900 but have now fallen to around 200.
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."
If you think your bills are too high and want to drive them down, the first thing to do is find out what the cheapest deal on the market is.
You can use this rate as a bargaining tool to get a better offer from your provider.
Get in contact with your provider to see if they can match this rate – if not, you might want to switch instead.
Sites like MoneySuperMarket and Uswitch all help you customise your search based on price, speed and provider.
This should make it easier to decide whether to renew your contract or move to another provider.
If your home broadband is down, you can always use your smart device as a hotspot.
This will let your computer, TV or games console connect to your phone’s mobile data.
However, make sure to be careful with your usage, as it is very easy to run out of mobile data if you are on a contract.
User complaints have begun to drop in recent minutes. according to DownDetector.
User complaints peaked at over 900 but have now fallen to just over 400.
Sky Mobile and EE have also seen user complaints drop.
Giffgaff Tweeted: "We are aware of some members are currently experiencing issues with SMS and Voice services.
"Our technical team are currently investigating."
GiffGaff customers have taken to social media to fume amid today's reported outage.
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."
Downdetector has published a heat map showing where issues reported by users are concentrated over the past 24 hours.
It is common for some problems to be reported throughout the day, according to the site, but there have been thousands of issues reported across the UK.
The website says: “Downdetector only reports an incident when the number of problem reports is significantly higher than the typical volume for that time of day.”
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.
GiffGaff is just one of many mobile and internet providers experiencing issues today.
Sky Mobile, EE and Virgin have all faced complaints this morning as their services face outages.
However, while both Sky and GiffGaff use O2's network, that company has seemingly been spared from the technical difficulties.
Over 900 hundred complaints were recorded by GiffGaff customers this morning, according to DownDetector.
However, in recent minutes the number of complaints began to fall, suggesting the issue may be resolved.
Two mobile networks are down for thousands of customers leaving them 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.
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.
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