Thousands of AT&T users in the United States experienced a cellular phone service outage on Thursday, impacting calls, text messages, and emergency services in major cities, including San Francisco.
According to data from outage tracking website Downdetector.com, more than 73,000 incidents were reported around 8:15 a.m. ET (1315 GMT), with the outage persisting for at least five hours. AT&T acknowledged the issue, stating that some customers were facing interruptions and that they were actively working to restore service.
The company advised users to utilize Wi-Fi calling until regular service resumed. Reports on the X social media platform by various government departments in the U.S. indicated that the outage hindered individuals’ ability to contact emergency services, including dialing 911. Shares of AT&T dropped 2.4% in morning trading following the outage.
While AT&T is a major telecom operator in the U.S., providing service to 290 million customers through its 5G network, users of Verizon, T-Mobile, and UScellular also encountered disruptions, as per Downdetector.
T-Mobile and Verizon, however, stated that their networks were functioning normally, suggesting that the issue might be linked to customers attempting to connect across networks.
The Federal Communications Commission did not immediately respond to inquiries regarding an investigation into the outage.