AT&T said Thursday it is working to fully restore its network after it was hit by a widespread outage for hours early Thursday that knocked out service to thousands of users across the United States.
“Some of our customers are experiencing wireless service outages this morning,” AT&T said in a statement. “So far three-quarters of our network has been restored.”
It was unclear how many customers were still affected or how widespread the issues remained.
The outage, which affected people in cities including Atlanta, Los Angeles and New York, was first reported around 3:30 a.m. time Eastern time, and problems with cell service and internet were still being reported eight hours later, according to Downdetector.com, which tracks user reports of telecom and internet outages.
AT&T said in an earlier statement that users should rely on Wi-Fi calling until service is restored.
A spokesman did not respond to questions about what caused the outage or when service would be restored. As of 11 a.m., AT&T’s website showed the outage was limited to users in California, though users in other states were still reporting problems.
Reports surfaced early Thursday that FirstNet, the network maintained by AT&T for emergency responders, had experienced an outage, but AT&T said around 10:30 a.m. that the network was fully operational.
By 11 a.m., about 60,000 people reported to Downdetector that they were having problems with AT&T, compared to a peak of 70,000 at 9 a.m. Some users said their phones were showing “SOS” in the top corner. Verizon had 3,000 reports and T-Mobile about half that. Earlier, AT&T’s website showed outages across the country, including in San Diego, Miami and Richmond, Virginia, with the initial cause listed as “maintenance activity.”
Verizon and T-Mobile said in statements that their networks were operating normally.
“Some customers experienced problems this morning when calling or texting with customers served by another carrier,” Verizon said. “We continue to monitor the situation.”
In an email, T-Mobile said it had not experienced an outage. “Downdetector likely reflects the challenges our customers have had trying to connect to users on other networks.”
Cricket, which is owned by AT&T, also reported that its users were experiencing wireless service outages and said it was working to restore service.
The San Francisco Fire Department said on social media that it was aware of an issue affecting AT&T users trying to call 911. “We are actively involved and monitoring this,” the fire department said. “If you’re an AT&T customer and can’t get through to 911, try calling from a landline.”
Cities urged residents to find alternative ways to access emergency services or municipal services, such as landlines or Wi-Fi-connected phones. The city of Upper Arlington, Ohio, said the Fire Department may not be notified of fire alarms due to the outage. He urged that any fire alarm be followed up by calling 911.
The Massachusetts State Police he said on social media on Thursday morning that 911 call centers across the state were inundated with calls from people checking to see if 911 was working from their phones. “Please don’t do this,” the police said. “If you can successfully make a non-emergency call to another number through your cell service, then 911 will work as well.”
Victor Mather contributed to the report.
