A nationwide cellphone outage hit tens of thousands of AT&T users on Thursday morning.
More than 70,000 AT&T outages were reported after 8 a.m. ET, according to Downdetector, a website that detects outages. The first outages were reported just before 4 a.m.
“Some of our customers are experiencing wireless service interruptions 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 has been given for the outages. ABC News reported that U.S. federal agencies including the FBI and Department of Homeland Security are investigating to determine whether they were the result of a cyberattack.
🆘 Phones switched to SOS mode
Scores of AT&T users reported their phones were switched to “SOS” mode. For Apple’s iPhones, SOS mode appears when your device isn’t 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 is restored.
📲 How to turn on Wi-Fi calling
Here (via USA Today) is how to do it on both iPhone and Android devices:
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Tap Settings
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Tap Phone
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Toggle Wi-Fi calling
Wi-Fi calling for Android devices:
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Open your phone app
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Tap More
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Tap Settings
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Tap Calls
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Tap Wi-Fi calling
➡️ What other cellphone customers were inconvenienced?
Cricket Wireless had more than 13,000 outages, according to Downdetector. Verizon had more than 4,000 outages; T-Mobile had more than 1,900 outages; and Boost Mobile had about 700 outages.
But both Verizon and T-Mobile said that its networks were operating normally and that the outages listed on Downdetector were likely a result of their customers calling or texting with AT&T subscribers.
“Our network is operating normally,” T-Mobile said in a statement to the Associated Press. “Down Detector is likely reflecting challenges our customers were having attempting to connect to users on other networks.”
🚑 Emergency services affected
In San Francisco, the outage was hindering people’s ability to reach emergency services by dialing 911, according to a post on X by the city’s fire department.
“We are aware of an issue impacting AT&T wireless customers from making and receiving any phone calls (including to 911),” the San Francisco Fire Department said. “We are actively engaged and monitoring this.
“The San Francisco 911 center is still operational,” it added. “If you are an AT&T customer and cannot get through to 911, then please try calling from a landline. If that is not an option then please try to get ahold of a friend or family member who is a customer of a different carrier and ask them to call 911 on your behalf. Do not call or text 911 to simply test your phone service.”
📶 When will cell service return?
A time wasn’t immediately clear. In its statement, AT&T said, “We are working urgently to restore service” to its affected customers.
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