EE guide
Is EE down? Live outage tracker
EE is the broadband and mobile brand inside BT Group, and that ownership shapes how its outages behave. EE home broadband runs over Openreach, the same national fibre and copper as BT, Sky, TalkTalk and most others, while EE mobile runs on its own masts. Since the integration with BT, EE also shares BT's core network, so a fault deep in BT's systems can take EE down too. When EE has a problem it is usually one of three things: a fault on the Openreach line to your home, an EE or BT core issue that hits broadband nationwide or a mobile-network fault that has nothing to do with your home broadband at all. This page is about the broadband.
Start by separating broadband from mobile, because "EE is down" often means the mobile network, not your home line. If your home broadband is fine but your phone has no signal, that is a mobile issue and a different thing entirely.
For the broadband, there are two causes. The first is a line fault on the Openreach connection to your property, usually local to a home or a postcode area, caused by a cabinet, exchange or FTTP problem. The board above and your neighbours settle it: only you, it is your line; the whole street, it is a local Openreach fault.
The second is a core incident on the shared BT and EE network. The clearest recent example was 24 July 2025, when a software fault on the BT and EE core knocked out voice calls for thousands across the UK, briefly including some 999 calls, and prompted an Ofcom investigation. Data largely stayed up that time, but a core failure of that kind can take broadband down nationwide at once, and there is nothing to fix at your end when it does.
EE signed Ofcom's Voluntary Code of Practice on Broadband Speeds, so it has to quote you a minimum guaranteed download speed at sign-up. If your line consistently falls below that minimum and EE cannot restore it within 30 days of your fault report, you can leave the broadband contract penalty-free.
That is the guaranteed minimum, usually well below the headline speed you were sold, so check your contract before you escalate.
For a total loss of broadband, Ofcom's automatic compensation scheme pays £10.34 for each day you are completely offline beyond two full working days from when you report it, credited automatically. Mid-contract price rises on EE deals taken out after 17 January 2025 must be set out in pounds and pence up front, so any rise above the agreed figure is grounds to leave without penalty.
EE's support runs a scripted diagnostic, and evidence is what moves it. Run a speed test on a wired ethernet connection rather than wifi, and if it comes back below the guaranteed minimum on your contract, say so plainly to push the case into a fault investigation. Packet loss on a wired connection is better still, because EE can often confirm a line or sync fault remotely and book an engineer.
If that gets you nowhere, you can escalate to alternative dispute resolution. EE is a member of the Communications Ombudsman, the independent scheme, and you can take a complaint there after six weeks without resolution, or sooner if EE gives you a deadlock letter.
Because EE broadband runs on Openreach, moving to another Openreach provider like Sky, TalkTalk or Plusnet puts you on the same physical line, and on the shared BT and EE core for some services, so it may not help with either kind of fault. For a genuinely different network you want Virgin's cable or a full-fibre altnet where one reaches you. The deal finder above shows which networks actually serve your address rather than the "up to" figures in the adverts.