“We’re experiencing problems” was a common phrase faced by users who encountered outages during Q4 2020. We are continuing our series tracking outages in online services using Downdetector® data from Q4 2020. Once more we have focused on seven categories: cloud services, email service providers, financial services, gaming, internet service providers, social media and streaming services.
Cloud services
Amazon Web Services (November 25, 2020): 1,313 reports at peak
Users of Amazon’s cloud service noticed a disruption in their service on November 25. Most users stated they were having problems with the AWS Console. The outage affected users in India, Japan, the Netherlands and the U.S. At the peak of outage reports at 8:45 a.m. Pacific, there were 1,313 logged issues in the U.S.
Email service providers
Gmail (December 14, 2020): 90,409 reports at peak
On December 14, users were unable to access their Gmail accounts for over an hour. That day, there were over 90,000 logged issues with the email service provider in the U.S. Users were unable to log into their accounts, send or receive emails. The outage also affected users in Finland, Germany, India, Japan, Poland, the Philippines and Spain.
Financial services
Charles Schwab (November 9, 2020): 17,906 reports at peak
Charles Schwab users experienced problems when trying to log into their accounts on November 9, most likely caused by a surge in activity after news about the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine were published. The outage lasted for a little over an hour, and there were 17,906 reported issues at the peak of the outage at 6:45 a.m. Pacific. Most error logs came from Chicago, Dallas and New York City.
TD Ameritrade (November 9, 2020): 8,014 reports at peak
This electronic trading platform also had an outage early in the morning of November 9. Users from Chicago, Dallas, Houston and Brooklyn logged issues on Downdetector and were unable to access their account. At the peak of outage reports at 7:00 a.m. Pacific, there were 8,014 issues logged in the U.S.
Merrill Lynch (November 24, 2020): 2,850 reports at peak
While Merrill Lynch was not immune to reported problems on November 9, the financial service experienced a larger outage on November 24. Users in the U.S. logged 2,850 issues at the peak of the outage at 7:15 a.m. Pacific that day.
Gaming
Steam (December 9, 2020): 29,212 reports at peak
The release of the popular game Cyberpunk 77, which created a large volume of traffic on Steam, was the likely cause of Steam’s outage on December 9. Users anxious to download the newly released game became frustrated when the platform was suddenly unavailable. In the U.S. alone, there were 29,212 reported issues on Downdetector.
Internet service providers
Vodafone Germany (November 23, 2020): 122,627 reports at peak
Vodafone Germany’s mobile service experienced a disruption on November 23. Users from all over Germany (including Berlin, Hamburg and Munich) logged problems with their mobile service that day. At the peak of outage reports, there were 122,627 logged issues.
AT&T (December 25, 2020): 10,617 reports at peak
On Christmas Day, AT&T users in the U.S. reported problems with their mobile and internet services due to an explosion near an AT&T telecommunications hub. Downdetector logged 10,617 issues from users located in cities including Chattanooga, Lexington and Nashville.
Bouygues Telecom (December 2, 2020): 1,984 reports at peak
French users of Bouygues Telecom (primarily in Paris), noticed a disruption in their mobile service on December 2. Customers were unable to make or receive calls or use their mobile internet service for about four hours. At the peak of outage reports, there were 1,984 logged issues.
Social media
Discord (November 9, 2020): 47,017 reports at peak
The instant messaging platform encountered a problem on November 9. Users in Italy, Germany, the U.K. and the U.S. recorded problems with the server connection. That day, there were almost 50,000 reports of issues on Discord in the U.S.
Telegram (December 16, 2020): 35,836 reports at peak
Telegram users in Russia reported issues with the messaging app on December 16. The outage lasted less than an hour, but Downdetector still received over 35,000 logs from users that day. The app also experienced a smaller outage on October 3 with 20,801 logged issues from users.
VKontakte (October 5, 2020): 6,427 reports at peak
VKontakte, also known as VK, had a disruption in service on October 5. Users of the Russian social media platform rushed to Downdetector to log outage reports when they were unable to log into their accounts. That day, there were 6,427 logs of issues at the peak of the outage reports.
Streaming services
YouTube (November 11, 2020): 357,876 reports at the peak
The Google-owned video streaming service had trouble loading content for their users on November 11. Logs of issues with the service were recorded in Australia, France, Japan, Italy, the U.K and the U.S. Over 300,000 logs were recorded in the U.S. at the peak of the outage reports at 3:30 p.m. Pacific.
Spotify (November 27, 2020): 16,802 reports at the peak
On November 27, users of the popular music streaming service logged issues with the platform. Users in Germany, the U.K. and the U.S. were unable to stream their favorite songs or podcasts. Downdetector recorded 16,802 logs of issues in the U.S. at the peak of the outage reports.
Want to know when an online service is down? Keep up with outages by visiting Downdetector.
To learn more about the data behind this article and what Ookla has to offer, visit https://www.ookla.com/.
Sign up to receive our stories in your inbox.
Data is changing the speed of business. Investors, Corporations, and Governments are buying new, differentiated data to gain visibility make better decisions. Don't fall behind. Let us help.
Sign up to receive our stories in your inbox.
Data is changing the speed of business. Investors, Corporations, and Governments are buying new, differentiated data to gain visibility make better decisions. Don't fall behind. Let us help.
