Virgin Media went down in the UK earlier today, leaving thousands without internet access in an unwelcome start to the working week – but it seems the issues have now been resolved.
The first reports of internet issues started at around 9.50am, according to Downdetector – and they peaked at just under 10,000 reports at just after 11am GMT. Fortunately, at the time of writing, the reports have now fallen to around the 300 mark.
This morning at around 11.45am GMT, Virgin Media told us it was "aware that some customers are experiencing intermittent issues with their services" and that it was "working to fix this as a priority".
Later, at 5pm GMT, a company spokesperson told us that services had been "fully restored for all customers, following an earlier outage". Downdetector is still showing some reports of issues, but there's should hopefully now dwindle following Virgin Media's statement – here's how the problems played out today...
The latest news
- The Virgin Media internet issues started at around 9.50am GMT
- Most of the problems were related to landline internet and TV streaming
- Virgin Media says internet has now been "fully restored for all customers"
Welcome to an unfortunate start to the week...
Hello, and commiserations if you're a Virgin Media customer who's having internet issues this morning. You're not alone – almost 10,000 customers have reported problems with landline internet this morning on Downdetector (above).
That includes several people on TechRadar. We've reached out to Virgin Media for comment on what's causing the problems and will report back as soon as we hear – but hopefully that dip in the graph above suggests that there are already signs of recovery (for some)...
And... Virgin's service checker is down
As if Virgin Media customers needed their blood pressure raising any higher today, the company's service tracker – which should tell you about known issues in your area – is currently down for many.
We are Monday and virgin media broadband playing up. Cannot check status and various website takes ages to load. pic.twitter.com/4i9P3Jyp3IFebruary 24, 2025
Looking at the map of Virgin Media reports on Downdetector, though, it's safe to say this is a nationwide issue, with issues reported from Plymouth to Dundee. We're currently bugging Virgin for an explanation and will update you as soon as we hear back.
A statement from Virgin
Virgin Media has just got back to us with the following statement: "We’re aware that some customers are experiencing intermittent issues with their services. We apologise for any inconvenience and are working to fix this as a priority".
There's currently no estimated timescale for the fix, but it's good to get some acknowledgement that Virgin is working on it. In the meantime, it's back to phone tethering for many, or perhaps trying one of the best VPNs in case the issues are related to DNS problems...
It isn't just Virgin Media...
While Virgin Media has been by far the worst affected this morning, Downdetector is also showing smaller but notable spikes on other services – including BT, Xbox, Microsoft 365 and more.
Sometimes these parallel spikes are simply down to the ways people are reporting the problems (for example, recording it as a Teams rather than Virgin Media issue). But it also suggests that the issues could be DNS (or Domain Name System) related, which means you can't connect to the server to access websites.
When Community Fibre internet went down in the UK last week, many reported that logging into their router and choosing a different DNS (like '8.8.8.8') temporarily solved their problems, as it did using a VPN. Although there's not yet any evidence that doing this will help with today's Virgin outage...
Could you get compensation?
If you're working from home and still struggling with Virgin Media internet issues, your thoughts might be turning to compensation.
To its credit, Virgin Media is pretty clear about that on its compensation page (even if some might claim that's because it's down so often). Under its 'Automatic Compensation scheme' you're apparently eligible for "£9.76 per day for a total loss of service after 2 full working days from registering the loss of service to us".
On the downside, the issues need to be a "total loss of service" and you need to register the problems with Virgin Media either on the phone or using its service checker, which many on the TechRadar team have found to be very flaky today.
So while compensation is possible, there's a chance today's problems (currently heading towards three hours) may not qualify – and even if they do, claiming could be more trouble than it's worth.
Signs of recovery?
The good news for Virgin Media customers is that reports on Downdetector have now plummeted to around the 1,500 mark at the time of writing (from a peak of 10,000 at around 11.10am GMT).
That doesn't necessarily mean that all of the problems have been fixed, just that there aren't waves of new customers adding to the pile of complaints. But this is usually a good sign – and anecdotally some on the TechRadar team have found that their internet connection is back to full fitness.
We've asked Virgin Media to tell us in a statement when it's officially resolved the issues and will (hopefully) bring that to you soon.
Virgin is mid-table for broadband complaints
While Virgin Media customers might not be enamoured with their service today – which seems to be on the mend, according to Downdetector – it might be a small comfort to know that it's by no means the worst for complaints.
According to Ofcom data published two weeks ago, it's bang in the middle of the "complaints per 100,000" broadband tables (cue the Top of the Pops countdown music). At the top is TalkTalk, followed by EE and Now.
Virgin Media, which was once in TalkTalk's shoes, is now down in fourth place, ahead of Vodafone, BT, Plusnet and Sky, which had the fewest complaints in the period from July to September 2024.
Of course, that could all change in 2025 – and Virgin Media customers will be hoping today's issues are going to be rarity, otherwise it could be moving in the wrong direction in Ofcom's table of broadband shame.
The complaints rumble on...
While the Virgin Media internet issues seem to have eased for most, they certainly haven't gone away according to Downdetector – with the complaints sitting at a steady 500 or so for the last two hours, which is well above the typical baseline.
That's a lot less than the peak of around 10,000 we saw earlier, but it suggests the problems are proving to be stubborn in some areas – with the hotspots continuing to be London, Manchester, Birmingham and Belfast. Virgin Media hasn't yet commented on the root cause of the problems, but we'll update you as soon as we hear anything more.
Virgin Media is back for the "vast majority"
The good news is that, according to Virgin Media's social media team, it has now "restored services for the vast majority of customers who were impacted by an earlier outage".
The bad news? If you've come to this page we're guessing that doesn't include you – and Virgin Media still attempting to fix some residual issues. It says "our teams are working tirelessly to fully restore services for all remaining customers, and we apologise again for any inconvenience caused".
We're currently having problems due to a Virgin Media outage, this means we can only give general guidance when you contact us and you might have a longer wait time.We're working hard to fix this and we'll update you when this has been resolved. Thank you for your patience.February 24, 2025
Virgin Media still hasn't commented on the root cause on the issues, which have hit companies as well as individuals – the Student Loans repayment company (above), for example, said at 2pm GMT that it could only offer general guidance rather than a full service.
The outage is now (hopefully) over
A Virgin Media spokesperson has just told us: "We have now fully restored services for all customers, following an earlier outage. We would like to apologise again to customers who were impacted for any inconvenience caused.”
So, that's that – or is it? Downdetector is still showing a few hundred reports of issues, at the time of writing. Now that Virgin Media's resolved the issues, though, these residual problems should hopefully clear up soon. And with that, we bid you farewell for this liveblog – as long as those problems stay fixed, that is.
