Orange network wobbles after planned upgrade

Orange has blamed a "minor fault" during a "planned upgrade to [its] network" last night for punters being unable to use the service this morning.

A number of readers contacted us this morning complaining that they were unable to make or receive calls using their Orange phones.

The scale of the glitch is not known but is thought to have affected one in 20 calls made this morning.

A spokesman for Orange said: "We confirm that unfortunately, a small number of Orange customers experienced difficulties when making or receiving calls on the Orange network between 8am and 10.30am today. This was due to a minor fault that occurred during a planned upgrade to the network. Engineers have now rectified the fault and normal service has been restored."

Orange "very much regrets any inconvenience", said a spokesman.

However, a number of readers have contacted The Register about Orange's claim that the "minor fault" has been resolved.

One told us: "I'm surprised to hear that the fault was fixed at 10.30 this morning, as I seem no more able to make a phone call now on my mobile than I was then."

Another said: "Orange is our business mobile supplier and none of our people had network this morning. It was not the case that some calls were not connected, there just wasn't service full stop.

"When I called Orange customer service I was told (by a very polite and apologetic young lady) that the majority of the UK network was down, they didn't know why, were working hard to sort it out but couldn't estimate when service would return." ®

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