Users who are affected are unable to even call emergency services.
According to the tracking website Downdetector, AT&T has successfully restored a significant outage that had affected more than 70,000 users as of eight in the morning Eastern Time. A significant number of these problems were concentrated in the cities of Houston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Atlanta. Many consumers said that they were unable to even call 911 as a result of this, which had an impact on both their cellular service and their data connections.
There is still a lack of clarity regarding the reason for the disruption in service. AT&T has been quoted as saying that it is “working urgently to restore service” in a brief statement submitted to CNBC. Customers were asked to make use of Wi-Fi calling instead of traditional phone calls until the issue was resolved.
Outages were also reported by thousands of users of Verizon and T-Mobile, however both companies stated that those affected had been attempting to get in touch with AT&T by calling their respective numbers. At the time that this article was initially published, AT&T shares had dropped by over three percent, indicating that the market has deemed this to be a significant source of concern.
Interruptions to cellular service are a common occurrence in everyday life; however, the fact that many customers who are affected are unable to call 911 or other emergency services is a particularly concerning aspect of the situation. Residents of San Francisco have been instructed by the San Francisco Fire Department to either attempt phoning 911 from a landline or to “get ahold of a friend or family member” who has signed up for a different carrier when facing an emergency situation.
We are aware of an issue impacting AT&T wireless customers from making and receiving any phone calls (including to 911).
— SAN FRANCISCO FIRE DEPARTMENT MEDIA (@SFFDPIO) February 22, 2024
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
The Mayor of Atlanta, Andre Dickens, made the observation that city staff were able to make and receive 911 calls, although a significant number of AT&T customers were unable to do so. It has been proposed by Dickens that inhabitants of the city should contact AT&T for service inquiries rather than the emergency services system operating in Atlanta. This attitude was shared by the Massachusetts State Police, who pointed out that customers had been flooding its 911 hotline with inquiries about cellular coverage. On X, the law enforcement agency wrote, “Please do not do this,” and it was a request.
The problem is still ongoing, and we will provide an update to this article either when the service is restored or when AT&T provides an update on the reason of the problem.
Today, at 3:55 p.m. Eastern Time, February 22, 2024: This report has been revised to include the information that AT&T has since completed the process of restoring its national cellular service.