UPDATE:At 11:45 am ET, 75% of the AT&T network has been restored according to the nation’s third-largest wireless carrier. Verizon and T-Mobile say that their networks are running normally.
The number of complaints submitted by AT&T subscribers on DownDetector soared from 11 to over 32,000
DownDetector shows multiple wireless providers down on Thursday morning
In a statement, an AT&T spokesman 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.” With Wi-Fi calling, phone calls are made through your Wi-Fi connection instead of going through a cellular connection.
Verizon subscribers reported problems using their mobile phones (59%), the inability to get a signal (21%), and were unable to access their 5G home internet service (20%). Locations reporting problems with Verizon included Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Houston, Dallas, Spokane, and Atlanta. A Verizon spokesman told The New York Post that its network is “operating as normal” and the issues are taking place when a Verizon customer tries to call and text someone signed up with service from another carrier.
For those in the U.S. unable to send a text message through their wireless provider, if you have Wi-Fi that is not connected to a wireless firm, make sure your phone is connected and if your recipient is also connected to a non-carrier Wi-Fi signal, you should be able to communicate.
iPhone users on AT&T saw their phones go into “SOS mode”
On “X,” a subscriber with the user name @Dangerous4_ summed up how many Americans are feeling at the moment without wireless service. He wrote, “This is crazy it’s a whole #outage going in the US and a lot of people can’t text or call anybody only number you can call is 911 .. this is unusual and scary.”
This iPhone has Verizon’s Wi-Fi calling enabled
Across the nation, many AT&T iPhone units were forced into “SOS mode” due to the outage with “SOS” spotted in the status bar on the upper right corner of the display where normally you would see the bars indicating the strength of the cellular service that the iPhone is connected to. In “SOS mode,” iPhone users can not make or receive phone calls, but they can still dial 911 to make an emergency SOS call.
While no reason for the outage has been announced yet, it is becoming clearer that the issue has to do with AT&T’s network.
