Big Cell C network outage — Mobile data and website offline
Numerous Cell C customers across South Africa have reported being unable to use the operator’s mobile or fibre networks from late Thursday morning.
Downdetector showed a steep increase in reports from Cell C customers since around 10:00 and continuing past 12:30.
The majority of complaints originated from Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, and Durban, but reports from smaller towns and other areas could also be seen on the Downdetector map.
Cell C users on Twitter also complained about problems on its network, with customers unable to use mobile data or make phone calls.
“Please advise why the network is down and I cannot access the Internet. I have no Internet connection whatsoever,” one user stated.
“I’m struggling with connecting to the network. This started today after loading my data. I have no coverage at all,” another complained.
The graph below shows the increase in complaints about Cell C services on Downdetector on Thursday, 5 May 2022.
The operator had not acknowledged any issues on its network via its social media channels at publication time.
MyBroadband could not open a web page or use any online services using a Cell C SIM card even though it showed we had 4G+ connectivity and near full reception.
Phone calls and SMS messages from Cell C numbers appeared to be unaffected by the outage.
We also experienced the mobile data issue while using FNB Connect, a mobile virtual network operator that piggybacks on Cell C’s network.
Mr Price Mobile and Standard Bank Mobile also operate on Cell C’s network, but it was unclear whether the outage impacted them.
Cell C’s website was also down.
MyBroadband asked Cell C for feedback on the outage, but it could not immediately provide answers.
The screenshot below shows the message we received upon visiting Cell C’s website using Google Chrome.
Update — 15:10
Cell C provided the following statement:
Cell C is aware of that some of our customers have been experiencing network issues impacting data connectivity and roaming. Our technical teams are carrying our urgent investigations and working to resolve the issue as speedily as possible.
Update — 15:20
Cell C said that services have been restored and it is monitoring its network.
Cell C is pleased to update that the network disruptions experienced today by some of our customers have now been resolved. Our technical teams continue monitoring service.
Now read: South Africans hate their cellular network provider
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