UPDATE: 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 22: After widespread outages this morning, the majority of AT&T’s network was back online around noon on Thursday, according to reports.
There are less than 5,000 self-reported outages as of 2 p.m., compared to more than 70,000 at 9 a.m. this morning, according to the digital-service tracking site DownDetector.
AT&T acknowledged that “customers are experiencing wireless service interruptions this morning,” but has not provided an explanation for what caused the drop in service.
A pair of Upper West Side AT&T users confirmed to West Side Rag there phones were working normally again.
Original Story
By Gus Saltonstall
A collection of people across the country woke up Thursday morning without a fully working phone, according to multiple reports and firsthand accounts.
The AT&T network suffered widespread outages across the United States this morning, according to the digital-service tracking site DownDetector.
As of 9 a.m., 73,000 customers have self-reported outages on their phones, which does not include all of those who do not take the time to report the issue. The outage number has been climbing since 5 a.m.
West Side Rag spoke to at least four people on the Upper West Side whose AT&T phones aren’t working properly. The issues include no cellular service and not being able to make phone calls.
AT&T has not said what is triggering the service disruption, but did release a statement.
“Some of our customers are experiencing wireless service interruptions this morning. We are working urgently to restore service to them,” AT&T said in the statement. “We encourage the use of Wi-Fi calling until service is restored.”
While some Verizon and T-Mobile customers also reported service issues Thursday morning, the outages appear far less widespread, and both companies have stated that their networks are working properly.
West Side Rag will update this story with any new information.
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Russian anti-satellite activity?
I couldn’t reach my relatives on the west coast so I was following the updates. The latest report literally said it was human error. I’m not an expert but I assume Russians would/could take out Verizon too, lol. ; )