These two companies have both disputed that they experienced a widespread outage.
On June 4, consumers of AT&T and Verizon discovered that they were unable to call contacts who operated with other carriers for a period of several hours. The problem began for both carriers at roughly 11 a.m. Eastern Time (ET), and it reached its peak at approximately 5 p.m. ET, according to reports that were posted on Downdetector. The affected number of subscribers was in the thousands. The majority of the reports originated from a variety of cities, including New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, and Cleveland, among several others. The number of customers who reported having issues with their connection was significantly lower among those who used T-Mobile and Cricket Wireless.
In an effort to allay the concerns of the general public, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) made an announcement stating that it was aware of the fact that subscribers from a number of states were “unable to make wireless calls.” It also stated that it was “currently investigating” the issue that was being reported. Both Verizon and AT&T published statements after 7 o’clock Eastern Time disputing that they were suffering a nationwide outage earlier in the day. Verizon apparently told Gizmodo that outage claims for its network were from users trying to phone AT&T subscribers, but neither one acknowledged responsibility for the fact that their customers were having trouble calling or messaging people who were using other carriers. At the same time, both companies admitted that their customers were experiencing difficulties. The underlying cause of the problem is still a mystery at this point in time. Despite the outage, AT&T reported to CNN that incoming calls to 911 were successfully processed.
We want to assure you there’s no widespread Verizon outage.
— Verizon (@Verizon) June 4, 2024
Some customers experienced issues when calling or texting customers on other carriers who are having issues, and we’re monitoring the situation in real time.
We are not experiencing a nationwide outage, but we are aware of an issue that is affecting the ability of some customers to complete cellular calls between carriers. We are working collaboratively among affected carriers to determine the quickest path to resolution.
— AT&T News (@ATTNEWS) June 4, 2024
AT&T made the announcement that the issue had been fixed one hour after it reported it. The business said that it worked together “with the other carrier” to find a solution to the problem. Despite the fact that it did not identify the other carrier, it is highly probable that it was Verizon. This is due to the fact that the majority of the people who were affected were subscribers of both businesses. AT&T was hit by a large outage in February, which impacted the cellular services and data connections of more than 70,000 users. Customers reported that they were unable to even call 911 during this time. During that same period, Verizon and T-Mobile stated that their customers were unable to communicate with pals who had AT&T phone numbers.