Telecoms giant BT has been forced to apologise after swathes of customers had their broadband temporarily cut off.
The internet provider's website also crashed and many customers reported the customer service line was down.
A BT spokesman said: "Large numbers of customers have been experiencing temporary issues with their broadband services this afternoon. Customers can still receive and make calls as normal.
"We've been working hard to fix the issue and are glad to report that nearly every customer affected is now reconnected, approximately two hours after the problem started.
"We apologise to any affected customers for the inconvenience."
Customers from around the UK reported problems with their internet and landlines on social media.On Twitter, #BTdown was trending for several hours.
Much of Scotland was hit by the outage, with BT customers in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Lanarkshire all reporting problems online.
Glasgow comedian Janey Godley joked on Twitter: "Dear BT have you tried turning your server off for ten seconds then back on?"
Zachary Chiswell also wrote: "Internet down here in Lanarkshire Scotland. How is anyone meant to do anything? Well done BT!"
Another customer posted: "Feeling bereft and annoyed in Edinburgh #BTdown."
Keith Pestell also tweeted: "BT internet down, support lines down and website down. I did get through to India and the lady said: It's working here... really?"
However, at around 4.30pm, @breakfast_lady tweeted: "Oh, BT seem to have found the on switch in Glasgow #btdown #btbackupagain."
The BT spokesman confirmed that there was "no evidence" of the service problem being caused by a "malicious attack".
Rival TalkTalk's computers were hacked in October in what was originally feared to be a mass raid on customers' personal data. Around 157,000 Talk Talk customers were affected and the firm was left with a £60 million bill in the aftermath.
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