In recent hours, we’ve experienced a historic event in Spain, as well as in Portugal, that has unfortunately affected millions of people. The massive power outage, so visible since 12:33 p.m. yesterday in mainland Spain, was compounded by connectivity problems, both fiber optic and mobile data. It has worked intermittently, for better or worse, but many customers still lack full access. This is what’s happening with Digi, which is experiencing a widespread impact, and users are having trouble accessing fiber optics.
At the time of writing this article, and as we can see on social media, this Digi issue is affecting both Spain and Portugal. Customers are unable to make calls or connect to the fiber-optic internet. This problem is keeping many people out of communication and is also affecting some at the start of the workday.
General failure at Digi
Digi’s fiber does synchronize, but it doesn’t support PPPoE, a network protocol used to establish and manage connections between different nodes. It requires a username and password to establish the connection, and that’s precisely what’s failing. This results in clients being unable to access the network.
The error it continually returns is related to authentication with the PPPoE protocol. When this authentication is initiated, an error occurs, and the process doesn’t complete. As a result, the network connection is not established correctly. Furthermore, in addition to customers being unable to access the internet, they are also reporting, via social media, that they are unable to make calls.
This problem appears to be affecting customers in both Spain and Portugal equally. In addition to social media posts from Spanish users who remain without fiber optic access, Portuguese users are also reporting that they are still without a connection to their home network. Therefore, this is a general failure affecting the Iberian Peninsula.
At the moment, we don’t know how long Digi will need to fully restore service. It does look like we’re going to have a difficult day, at least for the first few hours, to achieve a stable and normal connection. Operators have been gradually restoring service, but not yet fully operational. This is causing frequent outages, poor speeds, and, ultimately, limitations.
Alternatives
If you’re a Digi customer and can’t connect to your home’s fiber optic network, you can try sharing mobile data from another operator. As long as coverage works in your area, it’s as simple as creating a shared network and connecting your computer, television, etc.
Be mindful of your available mobile data. If you have a limited plan with little data, it could run out quickly if, for example, you start watching YouTube videos in high quality. Therefore, monitor your usage if you need to share the internet from your mobile phone and avoid problems.
In short, Digi customers still do not have normal fiber optic access. This is a widespread outage affecting both Spain and Portugal. We’ll have to wait and see if it’s fully restored in the coming hours.
Update: Digi’s fiber service is now operational for many users. Little by little, everything is returning to normal, and the network is becoming available.
