US OUTAGE: CELL PHONE HELL

Matt Case - February 22nd, 2024 - 5:55am PST 

Early Thursday, AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile users across the United States and Canada reported widespread network issues, causing significant disruptions for customers, including AT&T iPhone users who found themselves limited to emergency calls only.

The problem, which triggered an SOS mode for many, effectively restricted phone capabilities to contacting emergency services. The mobile operators acknowledged the issue and announced efforts to rectify the situation, though the cause remains undisclosed.

Outage tracking platform DownDetector highlighted a surge in outage reports starting at 4 a.m. Eastern Time, affecting not just the three major carriers but also UScellular customers. AT&T experienced the most significant impact, with reports peaking at 31,931 by 4:30 a.m. and escalating to over 51,000 just before 7:15 a.m.

Cricket Wireless, a subsidiary of AT&T, also felt the impact, with approximately 11,000 customers reporting service disruptions. Additionally, Verizon and T-Mobile reported 2,800 and 1,000 affected users, respectively.

Major cities including New York, Boston, Washington, Montreal, Honolulu, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Seattle, and San Francisco have reported network service interruptions, highlighting the widespread nature of the telecommunications issue.

On social media, customers raged at the company over the lack of service. 

One user posted: 'AT&T is literally one of the most expensive phone companies, & y’all have the audacity to have a service outage for hours with zero updates being given to your customers? Fix it & fix it now.'