BT broadband has outages for two days in a row
BT has come under fire for technical hitches that left customers without broadband access for two mornings in a row. Independent website DownDetector logged more than 2,500 complaints every minute during the outage. The problems followed criticisms by MPs, including Jesse Norman, who said BT had put its "priorities and interests" over improving its broadband service. "Power issues" at a partner site and a "circuit breaker being tripped" were the causes. TalkTalk is among the companies calling for BT and Openreach to be separated.

BT's broadband network has gone down for the second time in two days, leaving customers unable to get online

BT down AGAIN: Furious broadband customers unable to get online for second morning in a row

BT Broadband has gone down for the second morning in a row, leaving some customers unable to access vital online services.

Independent website DownDetector reported a spike in the number of people complaining about BT outages at around 09:00 BST, with over 2,500 complaints being logged every minute.

The British telecoms company confirmed the outage on Twitter, claiming it was investigating the cause.

Plusnet customers are also reportedly having difficulty getting online. The company posted the same tweet on its Help page:

"We’re sorry that some BT and Plusnet customers are having problems connecting to some internet services this morning," a BT spokesperson said in a statement sent to Mirror Online.

"This is due to Telehouse North, one of our internet connection partners in the docklands, suffering a substantial power failure. This is affecting BT and other providers.

"We are redirecting traffic to reduce the impact on customers and the issue is now affecting less than 5% of customers’ internet usage. Engineers are on site and we hope will be able to fix the problem shortly."

Telehouse North said that the outage had been caused by a circuit breaker being tripped.

"We are aware that there has been an issue with the tripping of a circuit breaker within Telehouse North that has affected a specific and limited group of customers within the building," a spokesperson said.

"The problem has been investigated and the solution identified. Our engineers are working with our customers on the resolution right now. We will release updates in due course."

Angry customers have flooded social media with complaints about the interruption to their service for the second time in two days.

BT's broadband network went down at around the same time yesterday, affecting around 10% of customers' internet usage. The company blamed the outage on "power issues at one of our internet connection partners' sites in London".

The problems come after MPs criticised BT for failing to "adequately" invest in fibre broadband earlier this week.

The cross-party Culture, Media and Sport Committee, chaired by Tory MP Jesse Norman, accused BT of putting its own "priorities and interests" above improving broadband service for millions of households and businesses.

Image: PA) PA)

Meanwhile, the chief executive of rival broadband firm TalkTalk has called for BT's wholesale division, Openreach, to be split off and run as a separate business.

BT claims it has invested more than £1 billion a year in infrastructure, and is working to improve service levels.

"Openreach investment is 30% higher than it was two years ago and it will grow again this year," the telecoms giant said.

"Separating Openreach from BT would lead to less investment, not more."

Update

BT claims that service has now been restored for most customers.

"Internet usage is now back to normal for consumer and small business customers," the company said in a statement.

"A small number of larger businesses may still be experiencing some limited internet access. Engineers should have these fixed soon."