adminAT&T is “working to address a software issue” that is causing a wireless service outage for some customers, a company spokesperson said in an email to CNN Tuesday night.
“We are working to address a software issue that may affect the ability of a limited number of our customers to connect to our wireless network,” the AT&T spokesperson said.
“Keeping our customers connected is our highest priority, so we appreciate their patience as we work to resolve this issue,” the spokesperson said.
The outage is affecting “some customers” but is not nationwide, according to the spokesperson. Details about the software issue were not immediately released.
The spokesperson’s message came on an evening when government entities in at least four states referred to wireless phone outages, some relating to 911 service.
In Tennessee on Tuesday evening, the 911 agency in Hawkins County said an AT&T wireless service outage “may affect the ability of some AT&T wireless customers to reach our 911 center.” The agency, posting on X, urged people to call its non-emergency line if they were unable to connect with 911.
In Florida, Tampa police on Tuesday evening announced a “reported outage with our non-emergency and district phone lines,” but said 911 was not affected. Seminole County’s government X account, meanwhile, referred to an “outage when calling 911,” and urged people to call a “non-emergency number … for emergencies until the issue is resolved.” It was not immediately clear whether these Florida outages related to AT&T’s issues.
In California, police in the city of Pinole said in a social media post Tuesday night that some AT&T wireless callers “may have issues calling 911,” but added that “landlines as well as other wireless carriers not affected.”
And in Arkansas, the city of North Little Rock said Tuesday night the AT&T outage was “impacting the ability to deliver AT&T … wireless 911 calls in our area.” The city in a post on X urged residents to call a different number if they experienced issues calling 911.
The AT&T outage comes just one day after the Federal Communications Commission announced a $950,000 settlement with AT&T to resolve an investigation into whether the company violated FCC rules by failing to deliver 911 calls and timely notify 911 call centers during an August 2023 outage. The outage happened in parts of Illinois, Kansas, Texas and Wisconsin. AT&T agreed to implement a three-year plan “to ensure future compliance with the FCC’s 911 and outage notification rules” as part of the settlement.
“Service providers have an obligation to transmit 911 calls and notify 911 call centers of outages in a timely manner,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a news release.
This story is developing and will be updated.
CNN’s Amy Simonson, Dalia Faheid and Jason Hanna contributed to this report.
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