FCC Investigating Software-Related AT&T Wireless Outage

AT&T suffered a wireless outage Tuesday night that apparently started in the Southeast and spread throughout the U.S., based on social media and other reports. A software issue caused the outage, which was resolved, AT&T said Wednesday. The FCC is investigating, a spokesperson emailed.

The outage didn’t seem nearly as large as the Feb. 22 nationwide wireless incident, which was addressed in a July FCC report (see 2407220034). On Monday, AT&T agreed to pay a $950,000 fine and implement a three-year compliance plan in a consent decree with the FCC resolving a 2023 911 outage (see 2408260041).

“We’ve resolved a software issue that disrupted the ability of a limited number of our customers to connect to our wireless network,” an AT&T spokesperson emailed Wednesday: “We apologize for the inconvenience, and we appreciate our customers’ patience as we worked to resolve this issue.” The spokesperson said FirstNet was not affected.

The National Association of State 911 Administrators surveyed members about the outage, Executive Director Harriet Rennie-Brown emailed Wednesday. “I've heard back from over a dozen states and no widespread reports of [public safety answering points] being down from AT&T,” the NASNA head reported. “In Colorado, there were notices received, but no PSAPs actually reported AT&T being down. New Jersey was notified, but it was quickly resolved.”

The Arkansas 911 system wasn’t directly affected, but it’s possible that the AT&T Mobility outage could have prevented some Arkansas callers from reaching 911 or any phone number, Arkansas 911 Board Executive Director C.J. Engel told us Wednesday. However, the state has no way of knowing how many -- if any -- calls didn’t go through, he said.

“We need to know what occurred and what [AT&T has] done to solve the issue,” as well as “what they’ll do moving forward to prevent that from happening again,” Engel said. “But [with] the way we rely on technology, it’s almost impossible to completely stop it from happening.” As such, it’s a good idea, he added, for people to have backup ways of contacting emergency services, such as a landline or from a neighbor’s phone.

Texas “received limited reports from Cooke and Grayson counties that wireless issues were affecting LTE and 5G [AT&T] customers [who] may have had issues making any calls,” including 911, emailed Andrew Friedrichs, Texas Commission on State Emergency Communications executive director. “However, PSAPs were not impacted to our knowledge.”

Callers saw their phones stuck in SOS mode, according to reports on social media. X was full of mentions.

Due to the outage, some AT&T wireless customers “may have issues calling 911,” the Pinole, California, Police Department said Tuesday on X: “Outage is specific to AT&T Mobility. Landlines as well as other wireless carriers not affected.”

“Some cell phone providers are experiencing a nationwide outage when calling 9-1-1,” said Seminole County, Florida: “In the meantime, please call Seminole County’s non-emergency number.”

“So, @ATT says there are no outages,” Anthony Laurie, a Minnesota man, said on X. Laurie posted a screenshot of a local coverage map showing no outages and of his phone stuck in SOS mode: “Well, my phone and many others in the country determine that’s a lie.”