This is why your 4G is down this morning

6 December 2018, 10:18 | Updated: 6 December 2018, 11:55

Mobile networks including O2, Tesco Mobile and Giffgaff and Lycamobile are down

If you spent this morning freaking out you'd used up your data allowance and tried desperately to call O2 to give them a piece of your mind, you're not alone.

Because a worldwide technical glitch has led to the O2 data networks (including Tesco Mobile, Giffgaff and Lycamobile who use their service) to go down, and millions of people have been unable to use their data today.

O2 have assured customers that they are working as hard as possible to get the networks up and running as soon as possible.

They wrote on Twitter: "We are aware our customers are unable to use data this morning. Our technical teams are working on the issue with high priority. We are really sorry and working as hard and as fast as we can to fix this. Please keep an eye on our status checker.

The mobile network then followed their message up with: "Outage Update: One of our 3rd party suppliers has identified a software issue in their system. Our technical teams are working extremely hard to resolve this. We'd encourage you to use Wi-Fi wherever you can and we are really sorry."

O2 has 25 million customers, and supplies network coverage to Sky, Tesco, Giffgaff and Lycamobile, leaving a total of 32 million that use its data.

In addition, London Bus timetables rely on O2's coverage, meaning that these were also down this morning.

TFL said: "The company that updates the data to our network of Countdown Systems is currently experiencing difficulties in providing this service. This issue is being investigated."

uSwitch mobile phone expert Ernest Doku has advised users how to cope without data, saying: "O2 users affected by this mobile data outage will understandably be concerned and frustrated. For the millions of users who are out and about and rely on smartphone maps to get around, it's worth considering that apps like Google Maps allow customers to download maps on Wi-Fi and view them offline.

"With little idea of when this problem will be sorted, it's worth preparing before heading out to make sure you're not caught out by this data downtime." 

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