Free clients hit by major internet outages in Paris and southeast France
It comes soon after the telecoms company was subject to a major data leak
The blackout was particularly bad in the capital
Ricochet64 / Shutterstock
Customers of the telecoms company Free were impacted by two major internet outages yesterday (November 13). Clients in Paris and south-east France were particularly affected.
Internet connection for many customers of the company, which is the third largest internet provider in France, was disrupted for much of the day.
Outages were largest around Paris – where several news offices were affected – as well as in the Vaucluse department and particularly around Avignon.
A flurry of online queries of internet users on sites such as DownDetector just after midday show outages peaked at this time.
This website is used to see if other people are complaining about their internet services being out – signalling a wider problem – or if only you seem to be affected.
A second, larger peak occurred around 20:00, lasting late into the evening.
As of today (November 14), the issues appear resolved.
The company has not officially commented on the incident, and it is unclear what has caused the problem.
It comes after the data of nearly 20 million phone and internet customers was leaked after the company’s servers were hacked. This included five million bank account numbers.
Read more: 20 million Free clients subject to data leak: what victims should do
