Cell outage across the US: AT&T is 'working urgently to restore service' as more than 70,000 customers are hit by nationwide communications blackout - but mobile providers are refusing to reveal cause
- Customer reports about the outage spiked around 4am Eastern time on Thursday
- The largest number of issues was reported by AT&T users, which peaked at 51,000 customers just after 7am before jumping to over 70,000 an hour later
- So far, the companies have not provided an explanation for the widespread outages
AT&T have said they 'working urgently' to restore network outages that is affecting over 70,000 of their customers.
AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile users reported early Thursday that they are having network issues nationwide and in Canada.
According to DownDetector, over 70,000 customers are now reporting outages on the AT&T network. The cause of the problem has not been revealed.
In a statement, the company said: 'Some of our customers are experiencing wireless service interruptions this morning.
'We are working urgently to restore service to them. We encourage the use of Wi-Fi calling until service is restored.'
The spike in the outages occurred around 4am Eastern time and also effected some customers with Verizon, T-Mobile and UScellular.
The largest number of issues was reported by AT&T users, which spiked at 31,931 reports at 4:30am before again jumping just before 7:15am to over 51,000.
According to DownDetector, the number of outages reported climbed to over 70,000 just after 7AM on Thursday
Service disruptions have been reported across the country, with outages first occurring around 4am eastern time
The major cellphone companies have yet make any statement regarding the outages
Just after 11am, AT&T said that they had managed to restore three-quarters of their network, with teams 'working as quickly as possible'.
Shortly after 3pm EST, AT&T confirmed they had restored connection to all of those effected.
The network added: '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.'
The issue had left AT&T iPhone users stuck in SOS mode, meaning that users can only make calls to emergency services.
Cricket, which is also part of AT&T, reported having 11,000 users down, while 2,800 Verizon customers are experiencing outages, with a further 1,000 T-Mobile users reportedly also being affected.
Service disruptions were reported in New York, Boston, Washington, Montreal, Honolulu, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Seattle and San Francisco.
How to FIX your iPhone amid AT&T and other cell network outages that left devices on SOS mode
Millions of iPhone users have been hit with an outage across the US that is leaving devices on SOS mode
The carrier has more than 240 million subscribers, the country's largest.
On their website, AT&T have also said they are 'experiencing long hold times' and have apologized for the inconvenience.
Nationwide, 911 operators have warned that the outage has impacted their ability to take calls.
San Francisco Fire Department issued a statement saying they had been made aware of the issue and urged citizens to use try calling from a landline.
The department added: '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.'
While Flagler County Sheriff's Office in Florida said they had been unable to receive calls, but text messages to 911 were being picked up.
The major cellphone companies have yet make any statement regarding the outages. It's not clear what the caused of the problem.
Despite this, AT&T agents have been responding to tweets from angered users over their lake of connectivity.
Other smaller providers including Boost Mobile, Consumer Cellular and Straight Talk also reported similar outages.
WSB-TV in Atlanta reports that this is the second time in a week that the region's Verizon customers have experienced an outage.
San Francisco Fire Department issued a statement saying they had been made aware of the issue and urged citizens to use try calling from a landline
Flagler County Sheriff's Office in Florida shared a statement saying they had been unable to receive calls but text messages to 911 were being picked up
In Erie, Pennsylvania , local 911 operators confirmed the outage saying that it had impacted connections, reports YourErie
In Orlando, the city's Fox-affiliate confirmed that its reporters in the field were having trouble making contact.
While in Tampa, some users told WFLA that their phone service went out as early as 2am.
Customers in New Orleans reported that while calling was impossible, texting appeared to be working.
On social media, customers raged at the company over the lack of service.
One user posted: 'AT&T is literally one of the most expensive phone companies, & y’all have the audacity to have a service outage for hours with zero updates being given to your customers? Fix it & fix it now.'
A spokesperson for T-Mobile told DailyMail.com: 'We did not experience an outage. Our network is operating normally.
'Down Detector is likely reflecting challenges our customers were having attempting to connect to users on other networks.'
While a Verizon spokesperson said: 'Verizon's network is operating normally.
'Some customers experienced issues this morning when calling or texting with customers served by another carrier. We are continuing to monitor the situation.'
