AT&T Outage

[kdonnel]

Just wanted to throw out a little PSA for those who were concerned about the ability to call 911. A working cell phone (or watch with cellular) will use *any* cellular tower to connect to 911 regardless of who your service is through and will work whether you have service or not.

Yes and no.

Yesterday if your phone said SOS or no service, you could have called 911 as it would have used a different providers network.

Instead if your phone still said it was connected to AT&T and AT&T was not routing calls, you would not have been able to call 911 as the phone would only try to use AT&T.

 

[NYCgrrl]

We have Verizon and were not affected.

Just wanted to throw out a little PSA for those who were concerned about the ability to call 911. A working cell phone (or watch with cellular) will use *any* cellular tower to connect to 911 regardless of who your service is through and will work whether you have service or not. Same as if you had a landline phone with no service, you can still call 911 on it. The outage affected service but not the phone’s ability to function.

You can turn on WiFi calling to make regular phone calls provided you have WiFi. The caveat here is that when you turn it on you have to put in your home address for 911 and check a little box that says if you’re out and about and call 911 they may send services to your address rather than where you actually are. I tend to leave it off for this reason.

If you have an iPhone and/or an iPad you can make audio calls to another iPhone/iPad user with FaceTime using WiFi. I don’t know what the equivalent would be for Android but I do know you can use something like FB Messenger to do the same thing.
to your address rather than where you actually are. I tend to leave it off for this reason.

Agreed.
You also have apps like WhatsApp and Skye that function on WiFi and are readily available. WhatsApp in particular is great for making overseas calls as there is no fee generally.

I gave up our landline when my Mom died and switched to using her’s in case some long lost friend or family member hadn’t heard the news . Kept it for 3 years, received a flurry of calls early on and then over the years it just became a bill to pay for no reason. Dropped it recently with little regrets that were only personal. On the bright side saved approximately five hundred dollars annually.

 

[wenrob]

Agreed.
You also have apps like WhatsApp and Skye that function on WiFi and are readily available. WhatsApp in particular is great for making overseas calls as there is no fee generally.

I gave up our landline when my Mom died and switched to using her’s in case some long lost friend or family member hadn’t heard the news . Kept it for 3 years, received a flurry of calls early on and then over the years it just became a bill to pay for no reason. Dropped it recently with little regrets that were only personal. On the bright side saved approximately five hundred dollars annually.

My house was built in 2010 and we don’t have landline outlets at all. At least not any I have come across. Our internet works over coax cable. Most home lines are digital WiFi these days. I wouldn’t even know who to contact for an actual landline. I suppose it’s different in areas that are prone to natural disasters and extreme weather but here in the desert that’s extremely unlikely. I also held onto my phone number of over 25 years “just in case” but finally gave it up. I’ve had the same cell number for approximately 20 years so it was an expense that wasn’t justified anymore. The good news is those old phone numbers we’ve had ingrained in our brains for decades make excellent passcodes.

 

[MICKIMINI]

We're all down around Chicago. Does this make anyone else want to get a landline back? I hate not being able to reach my elderly mom (also gave up her land line) or DH and DD. Reminds me how fragile things really are! I'm not saying land lines are infallible, but if you had both, you'd most likely be able to use one.

We have a newly constructed house. They do not put landlines in new homes! I too feel uncomfortable not having that secure landline and wouldn't mind paying for it.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We have Verizon and were not affected.

Just wanted to throw out a little PSA for those who were concerned about the ability to call 911. A working cell phone (or watch with cellular) will use *any* cellular tower to connect to 911 regardless of who your service is through and will work whether you have service or not. Same as if you had a landline phone with no service, you can still call 911 on it. The outage affected service but not the phone’s ability to function.

You can turn on WiFi calling to make regular phone calls provided you have WiFi. The caveat here is that when you turn it on you have to put in your home address for 911 and check a little box that says if you’re out and about and call 911 they may send services to your address rather than where you actually are. I tend to leave it off for this reason.

If you have an iPhone and/or an iPad you can make audio calls to another iPhone/iPad user with FaceTime using WiFi. I don’t know what the equivalent would be for Android but I do know you can use something like FB Messenger to do the same thing.

Unfortunately that wasn't the case.

"Nationwide, 911 operators have warned that the outage has impacted their ability to take calls."

"The Atlanta Police Department is reporting impacts from the outage. The E-911 non-emergency lines are down, and authorities are unable to received calls to 404-658-6666 and 311. Their remedy is for callers to call or text 911 or visit the Atlanta E-911 web portal."

"San Francisco Fire Department responded on social media to the outage, saying, “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. The fire department said to not call 911 simply to test the service, but if someone experiencing an outage needed help, they should use a landline or ask someone with functioning cellular service to call for them."

"Flagler County Sheriff's Office in Florida said they had been unable to receive calls, but text messages to 911 were being picked up."

****Flagler County advised for a while text to 911 was experiencing issues but was back up earlier than phone.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We have a newly constructed house. They do not put landlines in new homes! I too feel uncomfortable not having that secure landline and wouldn't mind paying for it.

Our house was built in 2014 and while you could still get a landline then they really didn't do that much anymore. We chose not to have our home wired for landline but it would have been uncommon to choose to wire it for landline.

 

[wenrob]

Unfortunately that wasn't the case.

"Nationwide, 911 operators have warned that the outage has impacted their ability to take calls."

"The Atlanta Police Department is reporting impacts from the outage. The E-911 non-emergency lines are down, and authorities are unable to received calls to 404-658-6666 and 311. Their remedy is for callers to call or text 911 or visit the Atlanta E-911 web portal."

"San Francisco Fire Department responded on social media to the outage, saying, “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. The fire department said to not call 911 simply to test the service, but if someone experiencing an outage needed help, they should use a landline or ask someone with functioning cellular service to call for them."

"Flagler County Sheriff's Office in Florida said they had been unable to receive calls, but text messages to 911 were being picked up."

****Flagler County advised for a while text to 911 was experiencing issues but was back up earlier than phone.

Huh. That’s crazy. And scary. It’s always been my understanding 911 works no matter what. It’s why I have a cellular watch but don’t have service. For me it’s a “just in case” thing. Has there been any news as to what actually happened?

 

[Mle8308]

I have AT&T and am in Boston. I never lost service yesterday but friends in the area who also have AT&T did. Weird. Kind of scary, too - shows how dependent we are on cell service.

 

[TwoMisfits]

If worried about carrier outages, just have 2 service providers - one for internet (and then get a service like Ooma) and one for your cell phone. It is unlikely that both would be down at the same time, and it's probably the cheapest way to have a landline-like security for your home.

For example, if you have Comcast for cable, get TMobile for your cellphone...

 

[Dan Murphy]

If worried about carrier outages, just have 2 service providers - one for internet (and then get a service like Ooma) and one for your cell phone. It is unlikely that both would be down at the same time, and it's probably the cheapest way to have a landline-like security for your home.

For example, if you have Comcast for cable, get TMobile for your cellphone...

We utilize three providers. Verizon for cell, Comcast for Internet and TV, AT&T for POTS land line.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

If worried about carrier outages, just have 2 service providers - one for internet (and then get a service like Ooma) and one for your cell phone. It is unlikely that both would be down at the same time, and it's probably the cheapest way to have a landline-like security for your home.

For example, if you have Comcast for cable, get TMobile for your cellphone...

I don't think the internet was a problem for people this time. The landline issue was brought up because of ways to contact people (and 911) if you couldn't get wifi to work. I believe the suspected issue is being seen as a software update that caused an issue. It seems unlikely that a company is doing simultaneous updates to cell network, internet and tv all at once.

That said I think there's more benefits to having different cell providers within a family. Thus far my husband has stuck with Verizon and I with Sprint though now it's a T-Mobile sim and network with an old Sprint plan. There are times where he has no signal and I do and vice versa though outside of an outage that comes up vast majority of the time when we're traveling. We have U-Verse for tv and internet.

 

[Imzadi]

Huh. That’s crazy. And scary. It’s always been my understanding 911 works no matter what. It’s why I have a cellular watch but don’t have service. For me it’s a “just in case” thing. Has there been any news as to what actually happened?

I think this changed as cell services phased out 3G phones to 4G and 5G only. Previously, 911 worked on RADIO frequencies rather than cell. That's why ALL (old) cellphones could make 911 calls even if active phone service was NOT connected to the phones. Many women in battered relationships were given old, donated phones for that very reason. They just kept the phones charged and hidden somewhere for the possibility they might need it to call 911 while hiding in a closet.

 

[Imzadi]

If worried about carrier outages, just have 2 service providers - one for internet (and then get a service like Ooma) and one for your cell phone. It is unlikely that both would be down at the same time, and it's probably the cheapest way to have a landline-like security for your home.

For example, if you have Comcast for cable, get TMobile for your cellphone...

I recently switched from Spectrum Cable to Verizon 5G for my wireless internet. I have two cellphones and they are on Verizon also. Due to this outage, I do see how it's a potential problem that I could be out of ALL service if Verizon goes down.

I had been thinking of switching one of the cellphones to Mint Mobile so that I'd have T-Mobile as a secondary carrier. Now, it definitely seems like I should as a backup.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Huh. That’s crazy. And scary. It’s always been my understanding 911 works no matter what. It’s why I have a cellular watch but don’t have service. For me it’s a “just in case” thing. Has there been any news as to what actually happened?

I think most phones have better protection now in a sense that you're going to have a high likelihood of getting in contact with 911 when you need to, like on my lock screen on my phone you can still make an emergency call without needing the pin, when I lost signal in Utah in our cabin earlier this month I would have still been able to make a 911 call as it went to "emergency services only" mode. And you can bounce around towers to make those calls even with a network issue...well normally. But there was something that happened yesterday that caused some of these phones to lose that functionality.

I actually had a T-Mobile outage a few months back very similar to what happened with those people where my phone said I was connected to the network but service wasn't working. I didn't think to check 911 but I switched to wifi at my house for like a day and a half or something like that but yeah if I left my house couldn't use stuff that needed a network. It is scary though when you think about it.

AT&T says "the application and execution of an incorrect process used as we were expanding our network." We are continuing our assessment of today’s outage to ensure we keep delivering the service that our customers deserve," the statement continued. The software update went wrong, according to preliminary information from two sources familiar with the situation. Sources have told ABC News that there was nothing nefarious or malicious about the incident."

 

[wenrob]

I think this changed as cell services phased out 3G phones to 4G and 5G only. Previously, 911 worked on RADIO frequencies rather than cell. That's why ALL (old) cellphones could make 911 calls even if active phone service was NOT connected to the phones. Many women in battered relationships were given old, donated phones for that very reason. They just kept the phones charged and hidden somewhere for the possibility they might need it to call 911 while hiding in a closet.

Right. I’ve donated older models to the women’s shelter many times. They still do it. I know someone in a shelter now who has a no service phone for that reason.

I think most phones have better protection now in a sense that you're going to have a high likelihood of getting in contact with 911 when you need to, like on my lock screen on my phone you can still make an emergency call without needing the pin, when I lost signal in Utah in our cabin earlier this month I would have still been able to make a 911 call as it went to "emergency services only" mode. And you can bounce around towers to make those calls even with a network issue...well normally. But there was something that happened yesterday that caused some of these phones to lose that functionality.

I actually had a T-Mobile outage a few months back very similar to what happened with those people where my phone said I was connected to the network but service wasn't working. I didn't think to check 911 but I switched to wifi at my house for like a day and a half or something like that but yeah if I left my house couldn't use stuff that needed a network. It is scary though when you think about it.

AT&T says "the application and execution of an incorrect process used as we were expanding our network." We are continuing our assessment of today’s outage to ensure we keep delivering the service that our customers deserve," the statement continued. The software update went wrong, according to preliminary information from two sources familiar with the situation. Sources have told ABC News that there was nothing nefarious or malicious about the incident."

And now newer iPhones have emergency SOS via satellite. Wouldn’t be useful in a city with a lot of buildings but the tech gets better and better. Between my phone, watch and car it seems like it would be near impossible *not* to be able to be found and get help. Yet this glitch points out how fragile the system can be.

 

[Imzadi]

And now newer iPhones have emergency SOS via satellite. Wouldn’t be useful in a city with a lot of buildings but the tech gets better and better. Between my phone, watch and car it seems like it would be near impossible *not* to be able to be found and get help. Yet this glitch points out how fragile the system can be.

This might be why I've never heard of this emergency SOS service. I don't own any Apple products. And I live in a big city with skyrises.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

DH was like why does my phone say SOS? I was like I dunno, you probably hit something on it.

Then I heard about the outage. I saw mine had it too. I didn't stress too much about it, was like just click enable wifi calling and it will be like we are living in the 90's or something.

 

[wenrob]

This might be why I've never heard of this emergency SOS service. I don't own any Apple products. And I live in a big city with skyrises.

Any phone *should* be able to dial 911 with or without service. That’s why you get that message on your display where service should be or on the screen of your locked phone. That’s all phones and not reserved for iPhone. Apparently that feature failed in this instance. Emergency SOS via satellite is an entirely different thing. It’s only two iPhone generations old and is more for cases where there is little or no service like hiking, camping or a desert road.

 

[Kennywood]

 

[Silver saucer]

I have AT&T and use my phone all day for work. Mine was fine thankfully. Strange how that works. I'm in Oregon.