Internet Outage Patterns in Greece: Cosmote, Vodafone, Nova Compared

Internet connectivity has become as essential as electricity for most Greek households. Remote work, online banking, education, and entertainment all depend on a reliable broadband connection. Yet unlike power outages — where a single operator (DEDDIE) is responsible for almost everyone's supply — internet disruptions in Greece are distributed across several competing providers with very different infrastructure profiles and service quality records.

Outage.gr collects reports across all utility types, including internet. When reporters select "internet" as the outage type and identify their provider, that data accumulates into a provider-level reliability picture. Here is what our data shows about Greece's major ISPs.

The Providers in Our Dataset

The reports that identify a specific ISP in our database are dominated by five providers, reflecting the Greek broadband market:

• **Cosmote (OTE Group)** — the largest Greek ISP with approximately 40% market share in fixed broadband. Also Greece's dominant mobile operator.
• **Vodafone Greece** — second largest fixed and mobile provider, significant in urban areas.
• **Nova** — formed from the merger of Wind Greece and HOL, offering cable and fiber in urban areas.
• **DIGI** — newer fiber-focused provider expanding in major cities.
• **Other/Unknown** — reports where no provider was identified.

Raw Report Counts vs. Normalised Performance

Cosmote, as the largest provider, generates the most absolute reports on our platform. This is expected — a provider with twice as many customers will generate twice as many reports even if its per-customer reliability is identical to a smaller rival.

To make a fair comparison, we normalise by estimated subscriber count using publicly available market share figures. On this basis:

Cosmote's per-subscriber report rate is broadly consistent with its market size, suggesting its reliability, measured by reported disruptions, is roughly proportional to its scale. It does not stand out as either significantly worse or better than the market average when size is accounted for.

Vodafone and Nova show slightly elevated per-subscriber report rates compared to Cosmote, which may reflect service quality differences, differences in the geographic distribution of their customers, or differences in which customers choose to report (Vodafone and Nova subscribers may be more urban and digitally active, making them more likely to report).

DIGI, despite being smaller and newer, shows a notably lower per-subscriber report rate than the established operators. This likely reflects its fiber-focused infrastructure — fiber connections are generally more reliable than DSL or cable — and its concentration in areas where it has rolled out modern infrastructure.

Geographic Distribution

Internet outage reports are geographically concentrated in urban areas — not because rural internet is more reliable, but because urban areas have higher app adoption rates and more residents reporting. The geographic pattern in our data should be read as a map of where reporters live, with some insight into where network events occur.

One pattern that does emerge clearly: reports clustered in the same area from multiple providers simultaneously almost always indicate a power outage event (affecting multiple ISPs' local infrastructure) rather than a provider-specific failure. When only one provider's customers report an outage in a given area, it is more likely to be a genuine ISP-side event — a backbone failure, an exchange issue, or an equipment problem.

What to Do During an Internet Outage

When your internet connection drops, the first step is always to determine whether the problem is on your side or your ISP's side. Our guide to internet outage troubleshooting covers the diagnostic steps in detail. In summary:

1. Restart your router and wait 3 minutes for it to reconnect
2. Check if multiple devices are affected (if only one device, it is likely not an ISP issue)
3. Look at your router's WAN or internet indicator light
4. Try a wired ethernet connection rather than Wi-Fi
5. Check Outage.gr — if others in your area with the same ISP are reporting, it is a confirmed network event

Once you have confirmed an ISP-side outage, report it on Outage.gr (this helps neighbours know it is not just them) and contact your provider directly.

Provider Contact Numbers

• Cosmote: 13888
• Vodafone: 13830
• Nova: 13831
• DIGI: 1350

Most providers also offer status pages and mobile apps where ongoing network events may be acknowledged. However, providers are sometimes slow to update these, particularly for localised events. Community reports on Outage.gr often provide faster confirmation than official channels.

A Note on Data Completeness

Our ISP report data has important limitations. Only a minority of internet outage reporters identify their specific provider. Many reports are submitted as "internet" type without a provider selection, particularly when the reporter is uncertain which company is responsible. This means our per-provider figures are based on a subset of reports and should be treated as directional rather than definitive.

We are working on enriching ISP attribution in future versions of the platform. In the meantime, the provider accountability page on Outage.gr shows the current distribution of identified-provider reports and allows filtering by utility type.