Router error takes out Virgin Media broadband network

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Virgin Media, the embattled cable TV and broadband network operator suffered an embarrassing service failure and angered thousands of customers after its entire broadband network collapsed following a router glitch.

The error caused Virgin Media's servers to lose their DHCP leases, leading to the servers attempting to renew nearly three million IP addresses all at once, bringing the system screeching to a halt. Complaint tickets starting appearing on Virgin's site shortly after nine in the evening, and continued the next morning. Virgin says the problem is now resolved, and full service is restored.

A spokesperson for the company says the length of the outage varied greatly between users, with some "getting their connections back in a few seconds, while others would have taken much longer."

"At 9.20pm last night, customers in a number of regions temporarily lost connectivity to their broadband and Video on Demand services," a statement from the company reads.

"This occurred as a result of an error during a routine maintenance process which affected some customers' modems and set top boxes. Most of the problems occurred in the North West, Yorkshire and the Midlands and the majority of affected customers regained their service shortly after midnight."

"We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused."

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