Vodafone and BT compensation rights as internet goes down

Thousands of people in the United Kingdom have been left with no internet connection according to a nationwide outage for many residents.

Customers of several broadband providers have rushed to the website to report issues with their broadband between 1pm and 3pm on Monday (13 October).

Vodafone, BT, Virgin Media, CityFibre and Sky are among those that have received complaints, with issues spanning across the UK, including Manchester, London, Glasgow and Cardiff.

A spokeswoman for Vodafone said: "We are aware of a major issue on our network currently affecting broadband, 4G and 5G services. We appreciate our customers' patience while we work to resolve this as soon as possible."

Virgin Media has contacted LADbible to confirm there are no issues with its connection despite complaints on social media, adding that the spike in complaints on Downdetector were a result of people trying to contact those on Vodafone networks, giving the illusion of a Virgin Media issue.

Am I entitled to compensation?

If you've been left without an internet connection, you could be entitled to compensation, without needing to formally complain.

All you need to do is report the fault to your broadband provider, who should resolve the issue within two days.

Ofcom, the communications service regulator, provides an automatic compensation scheme which most major UK broadband providers are signed up to, including BT, Sky, TalkTalk, Virgin Media, EE, Plusnet, Vodafone, and Zen Internet.

Under this scheme, you don't need to make a formal complaint to receive automatic compensation if certain service standards aren't met.

What compensation am I owed for loss of broadband?

If your provider is part of this scheme, you'll get £9.33 for each day your broadband or landline service isn't working, however there is a catch.

You'll only be eligible for this compensation if your broadband isn't fixed within two days. So if it's only down for a day, or even part of a day, you won't receive automatic compensation.

If you're one of the thousands of people experiencing a loss of services, it's recommended you keep records of the outage, including dates, times and any communication you've had with your provider.

Complaints across social media

Thousands of people have taken to social media to complain about the loss of services, with one customer writing on X: "It's like Vodafone has just been wiped off Earth. Not a single thing works."

A second, rather sympathetic person wrote: "Listen I hate the broadband outages as much as the next person, but let’s all say a collective prayer for the Vodafone frontline call centre staff who are getting an absolute a***holing no doubt."

A third added: "Vodafone are really taking the p*** with that tagline 'everyone connected' aren't they?"