British mobile network operators EE and O2 announced that they’ve resolved network problems preventing users from making and receiving calls.
The two mobile phone giants (boasting a combined 50 million customers) received a flood of complaints from customers that their calls were not connecting.
EE and O2 have now said that customers who were affected by the glitch should now be able to make calls without any problems.
The two firms said the issue was caused as a result of a glitch in the fixed line network managed by BT.
The two firms blamed BT, which manages the fixed line network.
A statement on O2’s network checker page said:
“We are aware of an issue where some O2 customers may be experiencing difficulties making calls from their mobile to EE mobiles and to landline numbers. BT, our fixed line partner, have confirmed they are investigating a problem within their network and we apologise for any inconvenience,”
The company later said: “This issue should be resolved now. It was an issue with BT, our call routing partner who resolved this as quickly as they could.”
Many consumers in the UK vented their frustration on social media:
#RushHourBiz Anyone suffering as #EE admit major failure in network this evening?
— MineralDoc (@MineralDoc) January 11, 2016
#ee having a major issue is causing my day to be a lot more difficult
— Lee-Anne (@GeekyLeigh82) January 11, 2016
An EE spokesperson posted the following tweet:
“We’re aware customers from EE (and other networks) are having issues calling landlines. We’re investigating urgently.”
“The EE Network is currently experiencing national technical issues regarding calls and signal.
“Our engineers are fully aware of the problem and they are working to fix it as we speak.
“Apologies for the inconvenience, the network will be up and running as soon as possible.”
EE later said: “Customers of a number of operators have experienced problems calling landlines for a short period. The issue has now been resolved.”
These types of problems are bound to occur from time to time – especially in the telecommunications industry – but can still have a lasting impact on the brand’s reputation.