On February 22, AT&T customers experienced widespread outages beginning around 3:30 a.m. ET. Those with iPhones saw their phones go into SOS mode, meaning their phone couldn’t connect to the provider’s network, but it was still capable of contacting emergency services through other networks.
Others simply had no cell service. AT&T urged customers to use Wi-Fi calling while it dealt with the outage.
While the carrier initially stayed quiet on the reason for the outage, they issued a statement claiming an “incorrect process” was used while the company expanded its network.
“Based on our initial review, we believe that today’s outage was caused by the application and execution of an incorrect process used as we were expanding our network, not a cyber attack,” the company wrote on their website.
On February 24, AT&T issued another statement alerting customers they were going to “make it right” by issuing $5 credits to those affected by the network outage.
“We apologize and recognize the frustration this outage has caused and know we let many of our customers down. To help make it right, we’re applying a credit for potentially impacted accounts to help reassure our customers of our commitment to reliably connect them – anytime and anywhere,” the company said.
“We’re crediting them for the average cost of a full day of service. We’re also taking steps to prevent this from happening again in the future.”
According to AT&T the refund will be applied within the next two billing cycles.
Will $5 make a difference or should AT&T keep their money? Let us know what you think about the compensation.