EE and BT customer service phone lines are currently down.
One customer posted on an EE forum to say they could not access the help line to arrange an “urgent refund,” while another was unable to get through on behalf of their elderly parents, who made an order with EE.
The UK communications regulator Ofcom says it is in contact with BT “to establish the scale and cause of the problem as soon as possible”.
“Mobile networks and landlines are vital to reach essential and emergency services, it’s important for customers to be reconnected as soon as possible – and kept up to date with developments,” said Ernest Doku, Uswitch mobiles expert.
“If your landline stops working, you will be entitled to compensation if it has not been fixed within two days, but make sure to report the issue to your provider as soon as it happens,” he said.
The issue may have also impacted some customers of mobile phone operators which “piggyback” on EE’s network, with 1pMobile saying it was aware of some issues “affecting a small number of customers”.
“We apologise for any inconvenience caused and the EE network engineers are working on the issue currently,” it said.
Lyca Mobile and Spusu have been contacted for comment.
BT Group has more than 30 million customers in the UK and made £20.4bn revenue in the last financial year.