A nationwide cell phone outage affected tens of thousands of AT&T users Thursday morning.
More than 70,000 AT&T outages were reported after 8 a.m. ET. According to the Downdetector website, a website that detects outages. The first outages were reported just before 4 a.m
“Some of our customers are experiencing an outage in wireless service this morning.” AT&T said in a statement early Thursday. “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.”
AT&T, the nation's largest carrier, has more than 240 million subscribers.
No reason was given for the power outage. ABC News reported US federal agencies, including the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, are investigating to determine whether those attacks were the result of a cyberattack. But National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Thursday afternoon that AT&T had informed the White House that there was “no reason” to believe the outage was a cybersecurity incident.
🆘 Phones switched to SOS mode
Dozens of AT&T users have reported that their phones have been put into “SOS” mode. For Apple iPhones, SOS mode appears when your device is not connected to a cellular network. But you can still make emergency calls. The feature is available in the United States, Canada, and Australia.
Earlier Thursday, AT&T was encouraging its customers to use Wi-Fi calling until service was restored.
📲 How to turn on Wi-Fi calling
here (Via USA TodayHere's how to do it on both iPhone and Android devices:
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Click on Settings
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Click on the phone
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Toggle Wi-Fi calling
Wi-Fi calling for Android devices:
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Open the Your Phone app
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Click on More
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Click on Settings
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Tap Calls
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Tap Wi-Fi calling
➡️ What other mobile customers have been spammed?
Cricket Wireless service experienced more than 13,000 outages, according to Downdetector. Verizon had over 4,000 outages. T-Mobile had more than 1,900 outages. Boost Mobile had about 700 outages.
But both Verizon and T-Mobile said their networks were operating normally and that the outages listed on Downdetector were likely the result of their customers calling or texting AT&T subscribers.
“Our network is operating normally,” T-Mobile said in a statement to The Associated Press. “Down Detector likely reflects the challenges our customers have encountered while trying to connect to users on other networks.”
🚑 Emergency services affected
In San Francisco, power outages were hindering people's ability to reach emergency services by calling 911, According to a post on X By the city fire department.
“We are aware of an issue affecting AT&T wireless customers from making and receiving any phone calls (including to 911),” the San Francisco Fire Department said. “We are actively participating and monitoring this matter.
“The San Francisco 911 Center is still operational,” she added. “If you are an AT&T customer and cannot call 911, please try calling from a landline. If this is not an option, please try calling a friend or family member who is a customer with a different carrier and ask them to call 911 for you. Do not call Or text 911 to simply test your phone service.
Massachusetts State Police said 911 call centers across the state were flooded with calls from people checking to see if emergency service was working from their phones.
“please do not do this,” State police said. “If you can successfully place a non-emergency call to another number through your cellular service, your 911 service will work as well.”
📶When will cell service return?
The time was not immediately clear. AT&T said in its statement that it is “working urgently” to restore service to its affected customers.
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