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Customers of AT&T, the nation’s largest wireless provider, reported widespread outages Thursday.
Some AT&T customers were seeing an SOS message on their cell phone’s status bar. This message indicates that your device is unable to connect to your mobile provider’s network.
That can be a big problem in an emergency.
AT&T reminded customers to connect to Wi-Fi to use their phones. Wi-Fi calling is a built-in feature on most Android devices and iPhones, and you can turn it on in your phone’s settings.
“Some customers are experiencing wireless service interruptions this morning. We are working urgently to restore service. We recommend using Wi-Fi calling until service is restored. ,” AT&T said in a statement.
On iPhone,[設定]Move to[セルラー]Click. The next page should include a choice called “Wi-Fi Calling.” If it is not already enabled, click it.
On Android smartphones,[電話]Click on the app[設定]Click.[通話]Tap to see Wi-Fi calling options.
If Wi-Fi is not available, mobile phone users have few options. You can switch services if your phone is unlocked, but you’ll need to sign up online and port your phone number.
Some apps, such as Google Maps, have limited offline service. Payment apps work without using your phone’s cellular service, so you should be able to use them as well.
Down Detector, which tracks outages for cell phone, internet, cable and satellite providers, saw a spike in cell phone outages Thursday morning for customers of AT&T, Cricket Wireless, Verizon, T-Mobile and other service providers. reported.
Power outages have been reported in Florida and other parts of the country, and the Florida Sheriff’s Association is asking affected phone users to contact their local sheriff’s office for up-to-date information on how to call emergency services if there is no phone service. He tweeted a message urging people to follow government offices.
AT&T reported more than 73,000 outages around 9:30 a.m. ET in Houston, Atlanta, Chicago and other locations. The power outage began around 3:30 a.m. ET. The company’s subscriber count is the largest in the country, exceeding 240 million.
The number of outages reported by Downdetector had fallen to less than 60,000 by 11 a.m. The site shows that the number of outages for other carriers has decreased as well.
AT&T posted a statement on its website at 11:15 a.m., announcing that service had been restored to three-quarters of its network. “We are working as quickly as possible to restore service to our remaining customers,” the message said.
According to Downdetector, 927 AT&T users in the South Florida metro area reported an outage by about 9 a.m., and that number had dropped to 660 just before noon.
So far, the reason for the power outage has not been revealed. But Lee McKnight, an associate professor at Syracuse University’s iSchool, believes the most likely cause of the outage is cloud misconfiguration, or human error. “While a far less likely outcome could be a deliberate malicious hack of ATT’s network, the widespread pattern of outages across the country suggests something more fundamental. McKnight said in an emailed statement.
ABC News reported that “multiple agencies, including the FBI, are investigating to determine whether it was the result of a cyberattack, hacking, or technical failure.”
Cricket Wireless had more than 13,000 outages, the fault tracking website said Thursday. At Verizon he had over 4,000 failures and at T-Mobile he had over 1,800 failures. Boost Mobile experienced approximately 700 failures.
“Verizon’s network is operating normally. This morning, some customers were experiencing issues when calling or texting customers served by another carrier. “We continue to monitor the situation,” Verizon said.
The local Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said there were no problems, but urged anyone with problems to text 911.
Boynton Beach Police issued a similar statement regarding the X, saying it could be difficult for local residents to make phone calls.
“Some people are experiencing cell phone malfunctions that may prevent them from calling 911 in an emergency,” the agency said.
The agency suggests texting 911, calling a non-emergency phone, or using the SOS feature on your iPhone.
The Broward County Sheriff’s Office said there were no significant impacts and that it was continuing to monitor the outage.
“If an AT&T customer has difficulty contacting 911 or BSO’s non-emergency number, they can call over Wi-Fi, use their landline, or call their personal cell phone from another carrier. Use one of these,” spokeswoman Carrie Codd said. on mail.
T-Mobile said there were no outages.
“Our network is operating normally. Down Detector may reflect challenges our customers were having trying to connect to users on other networks,” T-Mobile said. I am.
Some iPhone users have seen an SOS message appear on their phone’s status bar. According to Apple Support, this message indicates that your device can’t connect to your mobile provider’s network, but you can still make emergency calls through other carriers’ networks.
Meanwhile, politicians wasted no time in using the suspension to make political points.
Sen. Marco Rubio posted on his X (formerly Twitter) account: But we know that if #China launches a cyberattack on America on the eve of an invasion of #Taiwan, things will be 100 times worse. And they won’t just attack cell phone services, they’ll attack electricity, water, and banks. ”
South Florida Sun Sentinel staff writers Ron Hurtibise and Shira Moolten contributed to this news story.
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