Dallas-based telecommunications giant AT&T has announced it will provide $5 credits to customers impacted by a widespread cellphone network outage that occurred last week, reported news agency AP.
The compensation comes after thousands of users across the United States found themselves without service for hours.
According to a statement posted on the company's website, affected customers will see the $5 credit applied to their accounts within two billing cycles. However, this offer excludes AT&T Business, prepaid services, and Cricket, its budget-friendly wireless subsidiary. While prepaid customers will have alternative options available to them, AT&T did not specify the details of these alternatives.
The outage, which AT&T attributed to a coding error, began early on Thursday and persisted for several hours before services were restored. The company explicitly stated that the incident was not the result of a cyberattack.
Downdetector, a popular outage tracking platform, reported a peak of approximately 73,000 incidents during the outage, with major cities such as Houston, Atlanta, and Chicago experiencing over 58,000 outages by noon Eastern Time. However, by 9 p.m. ET, the number of reported incidents had decreased significantly to fewer than 1,000.
Even Cricket Wireless, a subsidiary of AT&T, was not spared from disruptions, with over 9,000 reported outages recorded at one point. Although reports of issues with other carriers like Verizon and T-Mobile emerged, those companies confirmed that their networks remained operational, suggesting that the problems were specifically linked to connections with AT&T users.
Some iPhone users noted receiving SOS messages on their devices during the outage, indicating difficulties in connecting to their cellular provider's network. While emergency calls were still possible through other carrier networks, the disruption understandably caused concern among users.
Government agencies, including the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Department of Homeland Security, and the FBI, acknowledged the incident. John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, confirmed that they were investigating the outage, reflecting the seriousness with which such disruptions are regarded at a national security level.
