AT&T experiencing network issues
AT&T customers, the largest wireless provider in the country, experienced widespread outages on Thursday. If you are facing issues with your phone service, here is what you need to know.
When did the outage start?
AT&T had more than 58,000 outages as of noon ET, including in Houston, Atlanta and Chicago. The outages, which began around 3:30 a.m. ET, peaked at about 73,000 reported outages. The operator has more than 240 million subscribers, the largest in the country.
What is SOS mode?
Some AT&T iPhone customers saw emergency messages in their phone’s status bar. The message indicates that the device is having trouble connecting to the carrier’s network, but can make emergency calls through other carriers’ networks, according to Apple Support.
What is Wi-Fi calling?
AT&T urged customers to connect to a Wi-Fi network to use their phones. Wi-Fi calling is a built-in feature on most Android devices and iPhones, and can be enabled from your phone’s settings.
“Some of our customers are experiencing outages in wireless service this morning. We are working urgently to restore service to them. We encourage you to use Wi-Fi calling until service is restored,” AT&T said in a statement.
If Wi-Fi is not available, mobile phone users have few options. Changing the service is possible if the phone is unlocked, but it requires registering online and transferring the phone number.
Some applications, such as Google Maps, have limited offline service. Payment apps also don’t use your phone’s cellular service to work, and should be usable as well.
What caused the outage?
AT&T has so far said what caused the outage.
