Other cell service providers, such as AT&T, are experiencing outages according to reports from customers.
Several American cell phone companies, including AT&T, are reporting service disruptions.
On Thursday morning, many customers of various U.S. mobile phone companies experienced service disruptions, as reported by the website Downdetector.com. Among these reports, AT&T had the highest number of customers (tens of thousands) stating that they were without service.
Some users from T Mobile, Verizon, UScellular, and Consumer Cellular also experienced problems, but the number of reports was significantly less.
According to Downdetector, the notifications about AT&T service disruptions began at approximately 4 a.m. EST, showed signs of decreasing after two hours, but then increased again and reached over 60,000 at 7:30 a.m. EST.
Certain cities were facing issues with their 911 emergency service.
The San Francisco Fire Department announced on X (formerly known as Twitter) that there is a problem affecting AT&T wireless users, preventing them from making or receiving phone calls, including emergency calls to 911. We are actively addressing and closely monitoring this issue. The 911 center in San Francisco is still functioning.
The statement stated, “If you are an AT&T customer and are unable to reach 911, please attempt to call from a landline. If this is not possible, try reaching out to a friend or family member who uses a different service provider and ask them to call 911 for you. Do not use 911 for testing purposes through call or text.”
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department in North Carolina reported at 3:15 a.m. EST that there was a nationwide issue affecting AT&T cell phone users. During this time, customers were not able to reach 9-1-1 services, but the police department’s call center is still able to receive emergency calls. The issue is expected to be resolved soon.
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office in Florida announced at 6:43 a.m. EST on X that they are now receiving texts to 911 from AT&T users who have been affected. If you are unable to make a call and have an emergency, you can send a text to 911 for assistance.
SEPTA, the transit system that serves Philadelphia and its surrounding areas, announced on X that there may be delays on some trains due to AT&T communication outages. However, all trains are currently running on time or with minimal delays.
AT&T
AT&T has reported that certain customers are currently facing disruptions in their wireless service, according to a statement given to CBS News.
“We are currently working quickly to regain service for them,” the statement stated. “We recommend utilizing wi-fi calling until service is fully restored.”
By Thursday at 8 a.m. ET, Downdetector had received over 60,000 notifications of service disruptions from AT&T clients. The majority of grievances were related to difficulties with their cellular devices or wireless services.
According to Downdetector, Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Indianapolis, Louisville, Miami, and San Antonio experienced the most outages.
Verizon
Verizon reported to CBS News that their network is functioning as expected, but there were some instances on Thursday where customers encountered difficulties when trying to communicate with individuals who have a different service provider. The company stated that they are actively monitoring the situation.
T-Mobile
According to a representative from T-Mobile, there was no outage and their network is currently functioning as usual.
“The spokesperson stated that the issues reported on Downdetector were most likely due to difficulties our customers faced while trying to connect with users on different networks.”
Source: cbsnews.com