O2 apparently had a problem towards the end of last week that prevented 10% of its customers from being able to make calls or send texts.

Many of these customers apparently used social network sites to vent their anger, but glitches like this can and will happen; however, in these days of instant gratification, any interruption to a service is perceived as a failure.

That said, many of the comments left on Twitter accounts emphasised the British sense of humour. For instance, one tweet said: “What did one O2 customer say to the other? Nothing.”

While for many there is a funny side to all this, the BBC also reported that O2 encountered a secondary problem when people tried to determine whether the glitch was affecting their own area. It seems that a tool on the O2 website that allowed customers to type in their postcode failed.

This problem was exacerbated when a spokesperson said that the glitch was not confined to just one area of the country.

O2 did hope to have the problem resolved by 4.30pm the same day, but the issue continued after that. A spokesperson for the company said: “We believe we have now identified the cause of the fault and are taking corrective action to restore service to those customers affected.”

This is not the first glitch O2 customers have encountered. In July this year there was a 24-hour blackout in which no calls or texts could be sent or received.

It seems the problem this time was different.