Update:
- AT&T announced it will reimburse customers impacted by a nationwide cellular service outage in February with a $5 credit, Business Insider reports.
- The outage affected tens of thousands of AT&T customers Feb. 22 and prompted investigations by both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Homeland Security.
- The $5 credit will only be available to AT&T Wireless customers. Consumers with AT&T Prepaid, AT&T Business and Cricket accounts will not be eligible for compensation, according to Business Insider.
- Some consumers have reportedly taken to social media to voice their displeasure with the AT&T announcement it will reimburse customers with the $5 credit, arguing it is not enough compensation.
- AT&T says the $5 credit is comparable to “the average cost of a full day of service” for AT&T Wireless customers, Business Insider reports.
AT&T outage overview:
- Who: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are investigating an AT&T network outage that occurred Feb. 22, the White House says.
- Why: The FBI and DHS plan to assist AT&T in discovering what led to the outage.
- Where: The outage affected AT&T customers nationwide.
(Feb. 27, 2024)
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) contacted AT&T to see what led to a nationwide outage Feb. 22, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby confirmed.
“[They are] working with the tech industry, these network providers, to see what we can do from a federal perspective to lend hand to their investigative efforts to figure out what happened here,” Kirby says in a teleconference. “… We’re working very hard to see if we can get to the ground truth of exactly what happened.”
The AT&T outages reached around 73,000 by 8:20 a.m. ET Feb. 22, National Public Radio (NPR) reports.
“Should we learn of any malicious activity, we will respond accordingly,” NPR reports the FBI told it in a statement.
Consumers concerned about 911 call availability during AT&T outage
Consumers were concerned about the availability of 911 service during the AT&T outage, NPR writes.
“We sincerely apologize to them,” AT&T says in an email to NPR. “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.”
Customers can call or text 911 for emergencies even without service, but those calls or texts do not send location information, NPR writes. The outlet contacted several 911 communications centers across the country who said they did not experience outages, but some users reported not being able to make calls.
In March 2023, AT&T notified around 9 million of its customers about a data breach it says happened after a hack of one of its marketing vendors in January 2023.
Were you impacted by the AT&T outage? Let us know in the comments.
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45 thoughts onAT&T to reimburse customers following massive outage
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I’m disabled and had no service. I rely on my phone for everything. Add me
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I was so worried about my disabled grandmother I left work and had to go to her house cause I tried calling all morning 6 times could not get through what if something had happened I couldn’t even reach my local police to do a welfare check
I’m disabled and I have trouble sleeping at night so I’m on the phone and I had no service since 3:00 am till the next day all day my phone just had SOS most of the time my granddaughter tried calling me all morning like 6 times she said and she was so worried she drove and came to my house cause she thought I was in danger or had fallen and hurt myself so she came out of her job just to make sure I was alive I felt bad cause she had to leave work just for nothing cause she was worried and couldn’t get threw and also my mom and others were trying but nothing was happening even after my granddaughter came my phone was showing SOS her phone was not and we have the same account and I have an iPhone 13 Pro and she does also it sucks cause I wasn’t able to do anything that whole night and parts of the next day I have been with ATT since 1999 and I don’t remember anything like this happening I even tried my local police station and it would not go through it would give me like a busy sign that’s crazy what if??????
The at&t outage put my family in a predicament. My wife is disabled and that is how she stays in contact with her friends. I was not able to contact my mom to to sure she was OK either. The phone being out of service cause a big problem.
we were out from midnight till 2pm in Tennessee area and this affected work since we work from home
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My friend got a letter from AT&T about two weeks ago telling her they were discontinuing all land lines in the near future……they are forcing people to get the tracking device phone and they are forcing seniors that know NOTHING ABOUT TECHNOLOGY TO GO WITHOUT LANDLINES THAT THEY STILL ISE.
My household was out from about 2am cst till about early afternoon.