February 25, 2024 Last week’s wireless service blackout, leaving tens of thousands of AT&T customers disconnected, was traced back to a “botched update” amidst “network expansion efforts.”
AT&T owned up to the mishap, clarifying that the disruption wasn’t the work of cyber attackers but rather an “incorrect process” during their network upgrade. The vague explanation has left many wondering about the specifics.
The outage’s impact was significant, with over 70,000 problem reports flooding DownDetector by the morning. However, AT&T was quick to respond, restoring three-quarters of its network by midday and achieving full recovery by the afternoon. Despite the swift action, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has launched an investigation, underlining the outage’s severity and its potential threat to public safety, including potentially hindering 911 calls.
