AT&T Outage Disrupts Thousands Across US: Investigations and Impact

Thousands of AT&T customers across the United States found themselves grappling with service outages on Thursday, rendering their phones incapable of making or receiving calls, as well as sending texts. The disruption commenced around 4:30 am ET and affected individuals residing in major metropolitan areas such as Indianapolis, Louisville, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Atlanta.

In response to the widespread reports, AT&T acknowledged the issue and assured customers that efforts were underway to resolve the matter. In the interim, affected customers were still able to utilize Wi-Fi for calling and texting. Although other carriers, including Verizon, T-Mobile, and Cricket Wireless, also reported disruptions, their impact was not as extensive as that experienced by AT&T users.

After several hours of disruption, AT&T successfully restored wireless service for all affected customers. It was estimated that over 70,000 customers were impacted by the outage. The incident triggered various speculations and even prompted federal investigations. However, investigations ruled out the possibility of a cyberattack as the cause. Presently, AT&T boasts a 5G network that spans over 290 million users across the nation. The interruptions in service persisted for more than 10 hours.

In a subsequent official statement, AT&T attributed the outage to an erroneous process utilized during the carrier’s network expansion. “We are taking steps to ensure our customers do not experience this again in the future,” the company stated on its website.

In addition to AT&T, other carriers such as T-Mobile and Verizon also encountered glitches, resulting in signal disruptions. While reports of AT&T outages surged to over 30,000 around 4:30 am (ET), Verizon users reported over 3,000 outages, and T-Mobile reported over 1,000 outages. Furthermore, Boost Mobile and Cricket Wireless also experienced outages, albeit to a lesser extent.

In the wake of the outage, experts recommended that individuals familiarize themselves with the locations of Wi-Fi hotspots and learn how to utilize Wi-Fi calling. Additionally, in the event of an emergency, users were advised to identify friends or neighbors with different service providers, enabling them to call 911 if necessary.