Lapsed service returning to AT&T customers

Thousands of AT&T customers are reporting service restoration after the company said three-quarters of its network has been fixed following a widespread outage across the country Thursday morning.

The disruption also knocked out Atlanta’s nonemergency 911 and 311 lines.

Atlanta police said that while the city’s E-911 system was still able to receive inbound calls and make outbound calls, the nonemergency lines were down. That included calls made to 404-658-6666 and 311, which is typically used for reporting non-emergency issues like potholes or a missed trash pickup.

While AT&T said it is making progress, it has not offered a timeline for full restoration.

In the meantime, other options to report calls to 911 in Atlanta include sending a text message or using the city’s E-911 web portal at www.atlantaga. gov/request-dispatch.

The outage affected users in major cities, including Atlanta, New York, Chicago and others. Other carriers’ users reported some problems, but it appeared to be with contacting AT&T customers, both Verizon and T-Mobile representatives confirmed. Smaller providers using AT&T’s network also were affected.

In a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, AT&T acknowledged the disruptionbut did not share information on what might be the cause.

“Our network teams took immediate action,” the statement read. “We are working as quickly as possible to restore service to remaining customers.”

The company encouraged customers to use Wi-Fi calling until service was restored.

The outage comes on the heels of Atlanta’s 911 system experiencing “technical difficulties” that briefly blocked incoming calls Tuesday afternoon. Officials said the issue was caused by problems with AT&T’s network and impacted cities across the Southeast.

Mayor Andre Dickens also acknowledged the disruption and said the city was “gathering information to determine how (we) can assist in resolving this issue.”

E-911 services were still working in Cobb County, spokesperson Ross Cavitt said, but officials were advising people to text 911, use Wi-Fi calling or other alternatives if they are experiencing outages.

“(911 operators) are getting some calls where they can’t hear the caller, so they are sending someone out to check (on callers),” Cavitt said.

Other crucial county systems operate on FirstNet, which is not impacted, he added.

In Gwinnett County, a spokesperson said there have not been any problems so far with 911 calls. However, there have been issues with customers trying to use the county’s on-demand transit options, such as microtransit or paratransit. Local routes are running as usual.

Georgia Power, the state’s largest electric utility, said its phone system is running, and a company spokesperson recommended affected customers use web-based phone alternatives or message them through social media.

The University of North Georgia and Georgia Tech warned students and employees that the outage may hinder access to certain services that rely on cellular data. That includes services that require multi-factor authentication security measures, which require users to get a verification code via text message to log into online tools and systems.

Georgia Tech police let students know they can use one of the emergency phones on campus or use the LiveSafe app from a WiFi connection if they need police amid the outage.

Several Fortune 500 companies based in metro Atlanta said their operations have been minimally impacted.

As users await service restoration, apps that use Wi-Fi to communicate rather than cellular data are an alternative.

This includes social media apps, iMessage on iPhones, WhatsApp and other online messenger services.

Users began reporting loss of service shortly before 4 a.m., DownDetector shows. The website tracks outages by usersubmitted reports. By 9:30 a.m., about 74,000 customers had reported a lack of service.

Customers of Verizon, T-Mobile and many smaller U.S. carriers have also reported issues, though reports have not been as prevalent.

In a statement, T-Mobile said its networks have not experienced an outage.

“Our network is operating normally,” a company spokesperson said. “DownDetector is likely reflecting challenges our customers were having attempting to connect to users on other networks.”

Verizon also said its network is operating normally. “Some customers experienced issues this morning when calling or texting with customers served by another carrier. We are continuing to monitor the situation,” the company said.