The Great Disconnect: Inside EE’s UK-Wide Network Outage of July 2025

On July 24, 2025, thousands of EE and BT customers across the UK found themselves abruptly silenced. What began as scattered reports of call failures at 11:15 AM BST exploded into a full-blown telecommunications crisis, leaving users unable to make or receive calls, triggering panic, frustration, and nationwide disruption.

The latest outage map reveals EE’s service collapse has created a digital disaster zone across the UK. As of 25 July 2025 at 2:30 AM GMT, these areas are suffering most severely:

What Happened? The Timeline of Chaos

1. 11:00 AM BST: Reports surged on Downdetector, with EE users in London, Manchester, Birmingham, and Glasgow hit hardest. Peak outages reached 2,600+ reports by 2:15 PM—the highest spike since Three’s June 2024 outage.
2. Inter-Network Breakdown: The core failure involved inter-network voice connectivity. EE customers could call other EE users but not Vodafone, O2, or Three numbers—and vice versa. This “interconnection fault” cascaded across carriers.
3. Emergency Services Impact: Critical 999 calls briefly failed in Devon and Somerset, though services were restored by 3:00 PM. The UK government confirmed EE’s emergency lines were prioritized during repairs.
4. Resolution: By late Thursday, BT Group (EE’s parent) announced fixes. A spokesperson stated: “We resolved the problem, and services are running normally.”

The Ripple Effect: Who Was Impacted?

• Direct Victims: EE, BT Mobile, and BT landline users faced total call blackouts. MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operators) like 1pMobile and Lyca Mobile—which rely on EE’s infrastructure—also crashed 38.
• Indirect Collateral: Vodafone and Three users reported issues calling EE contacts. Vodafone clarified this was due to “number porting glitches” (customers who switched from EE) 24.
• False Alarms: O2 and Three confirmed their networks were functional. Downdetector spikes stemmed from users struggling to reach EE numbers—not internal failures 47.

💡 User Anguish: “@EE: Can’t make or receive calls. All I get is beep beep!”
“Tried calling 101 (police non-emergency) — call drops immediately”

🚨 What Users Report Right Now

• Total Blackouts (19%): *”No signal for 18+ hours in Wembley – can’t run my business!”* (Reported 3 hrs ago)
• Emergency Access Failures: Multiple 999 call failures in Lewisham and Fulham
• Data Desert: 36% unable to load basic web pages despite “5G” display
• Corporate Silence: Zero EE updates since 10 PM yesterday

💣 Breaking: South Western Ambulance Service confirms “ongoing intermittent issues contacting EE users” via emergency lines.

The Technical Culprit: Why Did EE Fail?

While BT/EE avoided detailing the root cause, evidence points to a SIP trunking failure—a system routing calls between networks via the internet. Key clues:

• EE’s status pages showed “full coverage,” confirming the issue wasn’t physical towers.
• Business VoIP providers noted EE-specific handoff failures.
• BT’s landline outages (also SIP-dependent) aligned with mobile crashes.

Compensation Rights: What You’re Owed

Per Ofcom regulations:

• Landlines: If unrepaired after 2 full days, you’re owed £9.98/day until fixed.
• Mobile Outages: Refunds are “circumstance-dependent.” Demand account credits for prolonged failures.

Expert Insight: Ernest Doku (Uswitch) urges: “Report immediately! Providers must compensate for critical service loss.”

Key Takeaways

1. Test Inter-Network Calls: During outages, verify connectivity across carriers—not just your own.
2. Use Social Media for Updates: EE and Vodafone used X (Twitter) for real-time advisories.
3. Demand Compensation: Document outage times and report to providers within 24 hours.

The Bigger Picture: This outage underscores UK telecom’s fragility. With 30+ million BT Group users, redundancy protocols need overhaul.