AT&T speaks out after huge outage - shares how customers can still make calls

22 February 2024 , 13:54

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AT&T has finally released a statement after customers were without service for hours

After people across the US spent hours without mobile phone service this morning, AT&T has finally spoken out.

Customers across the US from California to South Carolina were hit by network outages at around 4am this morning Eastern Time. AT&T had up to 64,000 outages reported in locations including Houston, Atlanta, and Chicago. With 240 million subscribers, the carrier is the larges in the US.

People quickly took to social media to air their frustrations with AT&T, which was one of several providers that went down this morning. Despite people flocking to X, formerly Twitter, causing AT&T to trend, among other related to topics, the network provider did not immediately respond. However, they have now released a statement in relation to the incident.

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Emergency services have reported residents being unable to contact them due to the outages

A spokesperson for AT&T said: "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.”

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But it wasn't just AT&T customers impacted by the network outage. According to Downdetector Cricket Wireless, Verizon, T-Mobile and a host of smaller providers, including FirstNet which was designed for first responders, also went down.

Many users found their iPhones stuck in SOS mode as a result of the outage. iPhone model 13s or later will enter SOS mode when they lose cellular connection, with the aim to still allow users to make SOS calls or texts to emergency services, despite not having a network connection.

AT&T is just one of a number of providers which have gone down

Disruption was reported across the entirety of the US, from coast to coast. There was a spike in reported outages on Downdetector at around 4am Eastern time with AT&T outage reports peaking at 31,931 at around 4.30am ET.

Major network provider Verizon also left customers without service this morning as their own network went down. A spokesperson for Verizon said: "Verizon's network is operating normally. Some customers experienced issues this morning when calling or texting with customers served by another carrier. We are continuing to monitor the situation."

Meanwhile T-Mobile said they did not experience an outage. A spokesperson explained: "Down Detector is likely reflecting challenges our customers were having attempting to connect to users on other networks."

T-Mobile users also reported issues with the network (AFP via Getty Images)

But many users on X, formerly Tiwtter, were convinced the issues being faced by people across different networks was evidence of a wider issue, with some suggesting it could be a cyber attack on the US. One user wrote: "AT&T cellular service down. Downdetector reporting numerous cell services with issues.

"Is this a massive cyber attack on the cellular infrastructure? Was there a solar flare or satellite malfunction? The issue appears to be nationwide, if not international."

Others grew suspicious of the nationwide outage, which was reported across the border in Canada as well. Another user wrote: "Confirmation from around the US on a nationwide cellular network outage.

"Seems to have affected @ATT first, then later reports from other phones on @TMobile @Verizon and more. I can't imagine this is incompetence or a single node failure. Concerned it could be a #cyberattack."

Fiona Leishman