There are plenty of reasonable possibilities for a widespread cell phone service failure, ranging from physical work being done on nearby cell towers to catastrophic-level world events. One scenario you might now consider, however, is breaking and entering. And yet that is exactly what Vodafone users in the United Kingdom are facing today.
A swath of subscribers in the UK found themselves with no phone, text or mobile Internet service this morning following a break-in at the service provider’s Basingstoke office in southern England, BBC News reports. The company said that the loss of service is the result of damage done to network equipment during the office invasion.
“We had a break in last night at one of our technical facilities which resulted in damage done to some of our equipment,” a Vodafone statement said. “We are working quickly to restore these and will be back to normal as soon as we can.” The company also added that the private information of its subscribers remains safe and untouched.
Vodafone services regions outside the United States as one of the largest cell phone providers in the world. While the effects of the break-in and resulting loss of service won’t be felt much over on this side of the Atlantic Ocean, what happens to one can happen to others.
With recent examples like this break-in and Verizon’s 10,000 dropped emergency calls during a January snowstorm, we’re seeing some of the downsides in trading hardwired landlines for over-the-air phone signals. The moral of the story, then, is to view at-home telephone service as more of an emergency backup than a redundancy. Like your very own Batphone. That comparison makes it an easier pill to swallow, right?
