Did you have any problems earlier texting, placing calls or accessing the internet?
If so, there's a reason why.
AT&T experienced network issues on Thursday morning, causing a service disruption for many customers.
Customers across the United States Thursday morning were unable to place calls, texts, or access the internet. By late morning, the company said most of the network was restored.
Although Verizon and T-Mobile customers reported network outages, these seemed to be less widespread. T-Mobile and Verizon stated that their networks were not affected by AT&T's service outage, and any customers reporting outages may have simply been unable to reach AT&T customers.
More than 74,000 AT&T customers reported outages on digital service tracking site Downdetector, with service disruptions beginning around 4 a.m. ET. That only accounted for self-reported outages. Reports continued to rise and leveled off at about 9 am ET. By 11 am, some 60,000 AT&T customers were still reporting outages.
Shutterstock
AT&T acknowledged that it had a widespread outage but did not provide a reason for the system failure.
“Some of our customers are experiencing wireless service interruptions this morning. We are working urgently to restore service to them,” AT&T said in a statement. “We encourage the use of Wi-Fi calling until service is restored.”
To set up Wi-Fi calling, users can go to their Settings app on their phone. iPhone users should tap “Cellular” and Android users should click “Connection” and then users will be prompted to turn on the Wi-Fi calling feature. AT&T says on its website that there is no extra cost for this feature. Once set up, Wi-Fi calling works automatically when you’re connected to a Wi-Fi that you choose.