A connection disruption was faced by AT&T network, resulting in a cellular connectivity outage that was widespread across the U.S., with mobile internet access also being unavailable for thousands of users for several hours. Thankfully, the carrier has successfully restored operations by late Thursday afternoon, but the problem is yet to be isolated on how this disruption happened in the first place.
More than 70,000 AT&T subscribers were reported to have lost access to cellular coverage; T-Mobile and Verizon users also suffered the same loss in connectivity for several hours
In addition to AT&T, CNBC reports that Verizon, T-Mobile, and Cricket Wireless users have also reported outages. Verizon and T-Mobile said those affected had been trying to contact AT&T users. Initially, it was reported that more than 32,000 AT&T subscribers lost access to cellular connectivity at approximately 4 AM ET on Thursday, with that number climbing to 50,000 users a few hours after. Just an hour after that, more than 70,000 users reported that they had lost cellular and mobile data reception, with the company having acknowledged the issue and was working to restore it.
A little over 1,100 T-Mobile and about 3,000 Verizon outages were also reported as of 7 AM ET on Thursday, though both U.S. carriers stated that the outages were not affecting their network directly but only customers trying to reach another carrier. Cricket Wireless, which is owned by AT&T and uses its network, was also experiencing cellular problems, as more than 13,500 customers reported outages at around 8 AM ET on Thursday. Fortunately, some users started experiencing service restoration, and that figure was reduced to 10,000 after a few hours.
Cricket Wireless has mentioned that it was the carrier’s top priority to restore service as quickly as possible, with AT&T providing the following message, stating that it will ensure that users do not experience something similar in the future. However, the company has not said how this outage took place, so there is not a lot of transparency from these firms.
“We have restored wireless service to all our affected customers. We sincerely apologize to them. Keeping our customers connected remains our top priority, and we are taking steps to ensure our customers do not experience this again in the future.”
The AT&T outage caught the attention of the FBI, whose spokesperson stated that it was in touch with the carrier and would respond accordingly if it learned of any malicious activity that caused the outage in the first place. Side by side, The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said it was aware of the reports and is working with AT&T to find the root of the problem, providing any assistance when needed.
