Major Outage Hits AT&T, Verizon, And T-Mobile—Services Down Nationwide, Including 911 Calls

A major cellular outage has swept across the U.S., causing service disruptions across telecom providers, including AT&T Inc. T, Verizon Communications Inc. VZ and T-Mobile US Inc. TMUS.

What Happened: More than 51,000 outage incidents were recorded with AT&T’s service around 7 a.m. ET, as per data from Downdetector. The outage impacted several major cities, including San Francisco, Houston, and Chicago.

Customers of Verizon (VZ.N), T-Mobile (TMUS.O), and US Cellular also experienced service disruptions, according to Downdetector’s data.

While there were a little over 3,000 outage incidents for T-Mobile, Verizon outage incidents were lower at a little over 1,200.

However, a T-Mobile spokesperson told Benzinga that the network did not experience an outage and that it is operating normally.

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The San Francisco Fire Department, via a post on social media platform X, alerted that the outage was hindering people’s ability to reach emergency services by dialing 911.

“We are aware of an issue impacting AT&T wireless customers from making and receiving any phone calls (including to 911),” the fire department stated, adding that they were “actively engaged and monitoring this.”

We are aware of an issue impacting AT&T wireless customers from making and receiving any phone calls (including to 911).

We are actively engaged and monitoring this.

The San Francisco 911 center is still operational.

If you are an AT&T customer and cannot get through to 911,… pic.twitter.com/TUIEBkqmkI

— SAN FRANCISCO FIRE DEPARTMENT MEDIA (@SFFDPIO) February 22, 2024

A cellular outage in the United States was reported by AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon and other network users on Thursday. This outage has effected the ability for some users to dial 911. If you attempt to call 911 and can't get through, immediately call the main line at 573-335-6621. pic.twitter.com/oiNwUxPhju

— Cape Girardeau PD (@CapePolice) February 22, 2024

AT&T is experiencing an outage. Subscribers are unable to call or text 911.

— Flagler County Sheriff's Office (@FlaglerSheriff) February 22, 2024

Why It Matters: This widespread outage has disrupted regular communication and posed a significant risk to public safety. Multiple police departments have acknowledged the issue, highlighting the severity of the situation.

The outage’s impact on emergency services underscores telecom companies’ critical role in maintaining public safety infrastructure.

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

Photo by Chad Morehead on Unsplash