O2's network collapsed overnight, but those signed up to other mobile providers shouldn't feel too smug: the outage caused carnage well beyond its direct customers.
Waiting for a bus in London? The digital displays are updated via O2, so the data was incorrect or missing. Want to pay for parking? The machine connects via O2. Cheering yourself up with a coffee? Sorry, the cafe's payment systems depend on the network.
The outage started around 05:30 this morning, with O2 pinning the blame on an unnamed third-party software provider, saying other operators around the world appear to also be affected. The technical problem has resulted in devices registered to O2 not being able to establish data connections. This means individuals haven't been able to browse the web on smartphones and other devices haven't been able to connect download data.
"We believe other mobile operators around the world are also affected," the company said in a statement sent to the BBC. There have also been mobile outages in Japan. "Our technical teams are working with their teams to ensure this is fixed as quickly as possible," the O2 spokesperson continued. It added that it encourages people without network access to use Wi-Fi if they are able to.
Here's what the outage means beyond individual O2 customers not being able to Tweet about how angry they are about the outage.
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O2 and its virtual friends
If you're on O2, you're not alone: it's the second-largest mobile network in the country and has 25 million customers in the UK – some 26 per cent of the market. However, its networks are also the backbone of virtual mobile operators GiffGaff, Sky, Tesco and plenty of smaller companies, which don't have their own infrastructure. That adds another several million to the total knocked offline by O2's outage.
In total around 32m people in the UK have been left without data because of the outage. Although there are reports of issues with voice signal, calls are supposed to be working, so everyone else should prepare for more phone calls today.
The SoftBank Mobile network in Japan was also knocked offline at about the same time, suggesting a connection. The Financial Times has reported the fault was with Ericsson equipment, citing two unnamed sources; the Swedish company has said it's investigating. Ericsson supplies O2 as well as SoftBank, though the outage is particularly poorly timed for the latter, which has an IPO timed for later this month.
Transport
Next bus: never. That's effectively what the real-time bus displays provided by Transport for London, the agency that runs public transit and roads in the capital, have been showing for hours, though the buses themselves are actually running as smoothly as they ever do.
The bus Countdown display, as TfL calls them, uses an O2 SIM card to connect for updates, meaning they're not getting real-time information. However, checking a journey-planning app such as Google Maps or CityMapper isn't going to help, as the buses themselves use O2 to send real-time location data to TfL's control room. Bus drivers still have communications with TfL via radios, but that real-time data isn't being collected; the same is true for boats.
Neither system impacts operations, so buses and boats are operating normally; it's merely the live travel updates that commuters were missing this morning.
If the lack of travel updates pushed anyone to try TfL's cycle hire scheme, that's also connected via O2, so the local terminals were also down. A TfL spokesperson said the mobile payment app was also impacted, but members of the Santander cycle scheme who have a physical key can still hire a bike.
Outside London, there's concerns that public transport payment via apps — such as in Leeds — wouldn't work for those on the O2 network. For those commuting by car, perhaps bring some cash, as some parking payment systems are reportedly down, including those run by Kingston Council, which has said it won't be doling out fines, and the payment terminals run by Shropshire Council.
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Payment systems
If all that chaos has you hoping to catch a taxi, black cabs working as part of the ComCab fleet and Dial-a-Cab are reporting their payment systems are down because of the O2 outage. Indeed, O2 is the network behind plenty of card payment systems, including Barclaycard's mobile-card readers, which default to the O2 network but can be flipped to other networks.
No surprise then that various small businesses — from a balloon shop in Bradford to a cafe in Tyne & Wear — are warning would-be customers over Twitter to carry cash.
Not all payment card terminals will be down, as plenty offer roaming SIM support, connecting to whichever network has the strongest signal. Today, that is clearly not O2.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
