AT&T Customers Hit by Widespread Cellular Outages in U.S.

A cellular phone service outage on Thursday hit thousands of AT&T, disrupting calls and text messages as well as emergency services in major cities.

via: NBC News

Some Verizon and T-Mobile customers also reported outages, though both companies said those affected had been trying to contact AT&T users.

Over 32,000 AT&T outages were reported by customers at about 4 a.m. ET Thursday. Reports dipped then spiked again to more than 50,000 around 7 a.m., with most issues reported in Houston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Atlanta, according to the site.

That number surged to more than 71,000 just before 8 a.m. ET.

A little over 1,100 T-mobile outages and about 3,000 Verizon outages were reported as of 7 a.m. Thursday.

It’s not clear what triggered the service disruption.

AT&T acknowledged the issue Thursday morning saying: “Some of our customers are experiencing wireless service interruptions this morning.”

“We are working urgently to restore service to them. We encourage the use of Wi-Fi calling until service is restored,” the company said.

On X, the company has been responding to customers reporting cell service issues across the country.

Verizon said Thursday morning that the outages are not affecting their network directly, only customers trying to reach another carrier.

T-Mobile also said early Thursday that the network didn’t suffer an outage and is operating normally, and Downdetector numbers likely reflect customers attempting to reach users on other networks.

The outages pose a concern as some people may be unable to call 911 in the case of an emergency.

San Francisco’s Fire Department said on X that it was aware of an issue affecting AT&T wireless customers from making and receiving phone calls, including 911.

We are aware of an issue impacting AT&T wireless customers from making and receiving any phone calls (including to 911).

We are actively engaged and monitoring this.

The San Francisco 911 center is still operational.

If you are an AT&T customer and cannot get through to 911,… pic.twitter.com/TUIEBkqmkI

— SAN FRANCISCO FIRE DEPARTMENT MEDIA (@SFFDPIO) February 22, 2024

“The San Francisco 911 center is still operational,” the office said. “If you are an AT&T customer and cannot get through to 911, then please try calling from a landline. If that is not an option then please try to get ahold of a friend or family member who is a customer of a different carrier and ask them to call 911 on your behalf.”

Similarly, Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management & Communications, Virginia’s Prince William County police department and North Carolina’s Charlotte-Mecklenburg police department have issued warnings on X alerting the public about the outage while acknowledging some customers were briefly unable to contact 911.

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said in a statement that the city is gathering information to assist in resolving the issue.

“Atlanta’s e-911 is able to receive inbound and make outbound calls. We have received calls from AT&T customers that their cellular phones are in SOS mode,” Dickens said.

This is a developing story.

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