What Caused AT&T Outage? UPDATE

In a follow up to yesterday's breaking news, AT&T now has an update on the outage that affected 70,000 customers nationwide. According to Fox News: 

"Based on our initial review, we believe the outage was caused by the application & execution of an incorrect process used as we were expanding our network, not a cyberattack," AT&T posted on X. 

Thursday, tens of thousands of AT&T customers in Massachusetts and across the country woke up to a problem. Zero cell, and texting service. What's worse, this outage shut down your ability to call 9-11 in case of an emergency using your CELL service. Many were not aware that you can still access 911 through the internet connection on your phone.

Anyone with AT&T had to rely on a land line, or internet instant message video services to communicate in real time. Of course, general internet communication on social media was available.

As you will see below, AT&T didn't address it until 10am central time on their website. At 2:10 pm CT, AT&T reported that service has been restored. But many were affected much earlier than the 10:15 AM CT announcement on their website.

According to AT & T's website:

Last updated February 22, 2024, 2:10 p.m. CT

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.

Here's the first message:
February 22, 2024, 10:15 a.m. CT

Some of our customers are experiencing wireless service interruptions this morning. Our network teams took immediate action and so far three-quarters of our network has been restored. We are working as quickly as possible to restore service to remaining customers. 

Oddly, only AT & T customers were affected.

The Federal Communications Commission added this on X:

Some on media are claiming that the outage was caused by a solar flare which was discovered last night. AT&T has not commented or confirmed that. A solar flare that only targeted AT&T? There were no reports of any other providers being affected.  This X member shoots that theory down:

According to CNN:

Although AT&T provided no official reason for the outage, the issue appears to be related to how cellular services hand off calls from one network to the next, a process known as peering, according to an industry source who spoke on the condition of anonymity. A US cyber official tracking the AT&T outage told CNN there has so far been no indication that the outage was caused by malicious cyber activity, but the investigation is ongoing.

Stay tuned for updates.

AT&T customers are experiencing a nationwide outage this morning. The outage started early Thursday morning and other companies were also affected. Verizon and T-Mobile were also hit, but not as hard. This is all according to the website downdetector.com. Over 30,000 outages were reported as of 4:30am on AT&T. Only 800 were reported on the other cellular carriers.

As of 6am, not much is known about the outage. AT&T users will see the "SOS" symbol at the top of their screen and will not be able to make phone calls or send or receive text messages. They will be able to send and receive texts IF connected to a Wi-Fi network.

Not much is known about the outage as of 6am. No word when service will be restored. Customers are still waking up only to find they have no service. Here are some of our favorite reactions so far.

Yup, finding out first thing in the morning is pretty frustrating. Especially when no one knows what's going on. Are all getting hacked? Hope not!

Nick is wondering what many are wondering. Did I pay my bill? That could be the only reason your phone isn't working right? Not exactly.

Yup, if you're an employee at AT&T today, you may want to take a vacation day. It won't be a fun day for you either. And if employees have AT&T service, they probably won't be able to call out sick. Oh, the irony.

Yup, go get your free credit! Many people will follow suit. Any sort of inconvenience should get us compensated right? Absolutely!

Yup, this is what many are thinking. Have we all been hacked? Other cellular companies are enjoying this very much. Oh, the horror

The frustration is boiling over. Customers are complaining of how much they pay. There should never be such an outage. FIX IT!

Why is the company not reporting the outage themselves? Is there something bigger going on? AT&T needs to get on the ball and update us immediately. Hopefully soon.

Are some phones being targeted? This woman's phone works. Her husband's doesn't. As of 7am outages still being reported.

This customer is demanding AT&T say something. They are right. Why have we not heard from the company? When will they finally update us?

Wow, that's something you don't think about. If your cell service goes out, that means no GPS either? Well hopefully you're not like this man who was lost in the middle of nowhere. Poor guy.

Yup, we pay on time, we should never not have service. Doesn't make sense. maybe a credit for customers for their inconvenience isn't a bad thing. As of 7:03am, service is still out.