Last Thursday morning, AT&T’s network went down for many across the United States. This left customers unable to call, text, or use their data plans across the country.
Around 4 a.m. ET yesterday, approximately 32,000 reports on the website Downdetector.com came in reporting problems with AT&T’s service. As the morning progressed, that number jumped to nearly 75,000 reports by 9:15 a.m. This persisted until approximately 12 p.m., when the number of reports started to fall on the website. However, these numbers are self-reported, meaning the number of outages was much higher than reported by the website.
T-Mobile and Verizon customers also reported limited outages, but according to both providers, this was a result of customers trying to contact other people that were using AT&T, not an actual disruption of their mobile network.
During the attack, suspicions rose of a potential cyberattack against the US’s major mobile networks, especially given AT&T’s silence over the situation. This would end at 11:15 a.m., when AT&T released a statement saying, “Some of our customers are experiencing wireless service interruptions this morning. Our network teams took immediate action, and so far, three-quarters of our network has been restored.” That same day, the telecom network would later release another statement officially describing the cause as “…the application and execution of an incorrect process used as we were expanding our network, not a cyber attack.”
The following Saturday, AT&T released another statement in which they apologized for the outage, as well as announced that they would be applying a $5 credit to affected customers’ accounts “to help reassure our customers of our commitment to reliably connect them…”
However, the statement was met with mixed reactions from customers on social media, most notably on X (formerly Twitter). For example, one person tweeted, “A single $5 credit per account with multiple phones is an insult. You failed here, @ATTNEWS.” Another tweeted, “That ain’t going to cut it. @Verizon you got any offers if I switch to your service?” to which Verizon’s support account responded with offers.
The $5 credit will be automatically applied to affected AT&T customers’ accounts within the next 1-2 billing cycles, depending on when the billing date falls.
