A major cellphone outage has hit the US, with thousands of AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile customers complaining about a lack of mobile signal and internet.
The issues appeared to start at around 3.30am ET, according to Downdetector, with AT&T seemingly the hardest hit. At the time of writing, over 35,000 AT&T customers have reported problems with the network, with that number on the rise. The main hotspots for issues are in Atlanta, Dallas and Houston.
The number of complaints for Verizon and T-Mobile are smaller, but still significant. For Verizon, the largest number of reports are coming from Chicago and New York, while for T-Mobile it’s New York City, Houston, Chicago and Los Angeles.
So far, neither AT&T, Verizon or T-Mobile have commented on the issues or what’s causing them. But we’ve contacted the networks and will update this liveblog as soon as we hear back. In the meantime, you can follow all the latest news here as we untangle what is one of the biggest phone service outages of the year so far.
AT&T the hardest hit
Welcome to this liveblog on the major cell phone network outage that’s mainly hitting AT&T, but also Verizon, T-Mobile and some of their related MVNOs (mobile virtual network operator) like Cricket Wireless and FirstNet.
As you can see above from DownDetector, this biggest hit appears to be AT&T – with the number of reported outages from frustrated customers spiraling upwards towards 40,000. The problems started at around 3.38am ET and are mainly hitting Chicago, Houston, Dallas and Atlanta, though many more cities are also affected.
The reports of outages keep coming
Our US Editor-in-chief Lance Ulanoff has posted about the outages on X (below) and is getting some more live info on where the main hotspots are.
Again, it’s AT&T customers that appear to be the worst hit, with the network seemingly still down in Austin, Western Connecticut, Florida and Texas. There are some anecdotal signs of recovery on T-Mobile, but its DownDetector graph of reported issues is still on the rise.
How’s your network this morning? DownDetector has multiple networks suffering through nationwide outages. Hard to say, though, if it’s actually widespread. #verizon #att pic.twitter.com/uigDlPa4c5February 22, 2024
No official comment from AT&T – yet
So far, we haven’t had any official comment from AT&T, Verizon or T-Mobile about the network outages that are continuing to hit many customers, but we’ll continue to chase them up.
On social media, AT&T are acknowledging individual complaints (below) but asking customers to DM them for a resolution. Hopefully we’ll get a broader official update soon about what’s causing the problems and an estimate of timescales.
Because the issues appear to be getting worse, according to Downdetector, particularly on AT&T, which has now peaked at over 50,000 complaints.
Hi there, this is Alba from the AT&T Social Media Team. Helping you in this situation is our utmost priority. Please meet us on DM, so I can work around this. ^AlbaSFebruary 22, 2024
Emergency services post about the outages
The AT&T outages are so widespread that some emergency services have started posting guidance in some of the worst-hit areas. The San Francisco Fire Department published the below on X (formerly Twitter), stating that its 911 center is still operational and that it’s monitoring the situation.
Meanwhile, an official Facebook page for Powell County in Kentucky has stated that it’s currently juggling a power outage and the AT&T cellphone issues, which are preventing customers from calling 911. Let’s hope both of those get sorted soon.
We are aware of an issue impacting AT&T wireless customers from making and receiving any phone calls (including to 911). 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/TUIEBkqmkIFebruary 22, 2024