AT&T outage impacts thousands in the US, carrier says incorrect application led to chaos

US telecom carrier AT&T suffered a massive outage that lasted for over 10 hours. Users were unable to make calls or send texts.

The outage reportedly impacted over 70,000 customers. (Image: Pixabay)

Thousands of AT&T customers across the US experienced outages on Thursday, leaving their phones unable to make or receive calls or send texts. The outage began around 4:30 am ET and has impacted people in major cities like Indianapolis, Louisville, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Atlanta.

Following the reports, AT&T acknowledged the issue and said that it was working on a fix. In the meantime, customers were still able to make calls and texts over Wi-Fi. Other carriers, including Verizon, T-Mobile, and Cricket Wireless, also reported outages, but the numbers are not as widespread as with AT&T.

AT&T reportedly restored wireless service for all affected customers after several hours. The outage reportedly impacted over 70,000 customers. The outage led to several speculations and even prompted federal investigations. However, the investigations ruled out cyberattack as a potential cause. As of now, AT&T has a 5G network that covers over 290 million users across the US. The interruptions in the network lasted over 10 hours.

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Hours later, AT&T in its official statement said that the outage was caused by the application and execution of an incorrect process used as the carrier was expanding its network. “We are taking steps to ensure our customers do not experience this again in the future,” AT&T had said on its website.

Apart from AT&T other carriers such as T Mobile, and Verizon, also faced glitches along with the inability to get signal. While AT&T outage reports soared to over 30,000 at around 4:30 am (ET), Verizon users reported over 3,000 outages , and T Mobile reported over 1,000 outages. Meanwhile, Boost Mobile and Cricket Wireless also suffered outages, but of less severity.

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Following the outage, experts recommended that people find out where Wi-Fi hotspots are located and learn how to use Wi-Fi calling. They also advised that in case of an emergency, users should also know friends or neighbors who have different service providers so that they can call 911 if needed.

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communication