AT&T to reimburse customers following massive outage

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.

Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:

• Chinese hackers have infiltrated critical U.S. systems for years, officials say
• FCC ruling makes AI-generated robocalls illegal
• Mediation fails in T-Mobile class action over alleged misleading Sprint merger
• TracFone agrees to $23M settlement over FCC subsidy violation allegations