Sky Mobile is now back online after experiencing problems that left hundreds of users unable to access the internet on their smartphones for five hours this morning.
The tech giant took to X (formerly Twitter) to confirm the issue, writing: ‘We are aware that some Sky Mobile customers are experiencing issues with their 3G/4G/5G services.
‘We are investigating the issue and we are sorry for any inconvenience this may be causing.’
And, on social media, many customers have been left fuming over the internet provider’s ‘patchy’ service.
It’s the go-to mobile network for millions of people across the UK. But it appears that Sky Mobile is having problems this morning that have left hundreds of users unable to access the internet on their smartphones
Sky confirmed that some customers are experiencing issues with mobile internet services and says they are investigating the issue
Today’s outages follow a similar service disruption that left hundreds of Sky broadband users unable to access the internet for five hours earlier this week.
According to Down Detector, disruption may have begun yesterday evening as more than 200 users reported experiencing outages.
Reports dipped overnight as customers slept but leapt back up this morning with 267 outage reports at 9:09am BST.
However, on Down Detector, reports of connection issues have now fallen to just 18 as of 11:01 am BST.
Sky Mobile has now confirmed that the issue has been resolved and services should be returning to normal.
But, on social media, many customers were left furious by this mornings service outage.
On X, formerly Twitter, one enraged Sky Customer wrote: ‘Sky Mobile is down again! Such patchy service this week @SkyHelpTeam what’s going on?!?’
‘Sky Mobile is down for a second time this week. When do you expect this to be resolved please?’, asked another.
According to Down Detector, disruption may have begun yesterday evening as more than 200 users reported experiencing outages
On X, formerly Twitter, Sky customers have complained about the patchy service
The timing of the outage camee as a particular inconvenience for those who work from home or rely on the internet for their work.
On X, one commenter wrote: ‘Sky mobile is down in Leeds.
‘I have a phone that won’t work for anything if I turn off my WiFI and I need to leave for work soon.’
Another added: ‘Sky Mobile is down today too so if I’m not on the work Wifi, no one can contact me!’
Of those who reported disruptions, 68 per cent said they were having issues with their internet, while 26 per cent said they had issues with their mobile phone.
The issues also appear to have affected a very small number of Sky TV customers as five per cent of reports on Down Detector said the problem was with television services.
Others pointed out that this is the second time Sky’s internet services have down down this week
Some customers have complained that the timing of the outage has been particularly disruptive as they prepare to begin work
The service issues appeared to be spread over the country, although Down Detector reports suggest that local disruption may have come at different times.
Manchester appeared to suffer the worst of the service disruption yesterday evening while London saw internet services affected more this morning.
A Sky Mobile spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘We are aware that some Sky Mobile customers may be experiencing issues with their data services.
‘We’re working hard to fix this as soon as possible and apologise for any inconvenience caused.’
EXPLAINED: THE EVOLUTION OF MOBILE BROADBAND UP TO 5G
The evolution of the G system started in 1980 with the invention of the mobile phone which allowed for analogue data to be transmitted via phone calls.
Digital came into play in 1991 with 2G and SMS and MMS capabilities were launched.
Since then, the capabilities and carrying capacity for the mobile network has increased massively.
More data can be transferred from one point to another via the mobile network quicker than ever.
5G is expected to be 100 times faster than the currently used 4G.
Whilst the jump from 3G to 4G was most beneficial for mobile browsing and working, the step to 5G will be so fast they become almost real-time.
That means mobile operations will be just as fast as office-based internet connections.
Potential uses for 5g include:
- Simultaneous translation of several languages in a party conference call
- Self-driving cars can stream movies, music and navigation information from the cloud
- A full length 8GB film can be downloaded in six seconds.
5G is expected to be so quick and efficient it is possible it could start the end of wired connections.
By the end of 2020, industry estimates claim 50 billion devices will be connected to 5G.
The evolution of from 1G to 5G. The predicted speed of 5G is more than 1Gbps – 1,000 times greater than the existing speed of 4G and could be implemented in laptops of the future
