Chaos as Vodafone network crashes, impacting thousands of customers

Customers of major telecom provider Vodafone have reported their mobile phone service has crashed, leaving many Australians without reception.

Consumers of the telecom provider in major capital cities including Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane reported being unable to access their mobile phone service on Wednesday afternoon.

Online website Down Detector, which tracks mobile phone, internet, banking and social media disruptions, reported that thousands of the company’s services were unavailable as of 4:30 p.m.

A Vodaphone spokesperson said technical issues led to the outage, disrupting “mobile services including calling and data”.

The problem is believed to have been resolved.

“Our technical teams have resolved the issue and services are returning to normal,” the spokesperson said 7 News.

“We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience and thank them for their patience.”

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Vodafone for further comment.

Disgruntled customers shared their irritation on social media, with one woman reporting she was having ‘major problems’ with her network.

‘I can not call. Vodafone has not said anything, but DownDetector online indicated that many people with Vodafone are currently having problems,” the woman wrote.

“A few minutes ago my signal only went to SOS… Back to four bars, but I still can’t make calls.”

Frustrated customers complain on social media that they can’t make calls (photo of woman using her phone)

Vodafone said a technical issue caused the outage, with the telecom provider saying services are now back up and running

Another woman was stuck in a service black hole at a very inopportune time and said it was “so bad and ridiculous.”

‘The worst part was being in a phone screening for a job I had applied for (sic) and really wanted!’ she wrote.

More to come