ARKANSAS, USA — According to Down Dector, more than 70,000 AT&T customers were experiencing service outages nationwide on the morning of Feb. 22.
There were also reports of T-Mobille and Verizon experiencing outages, but the most impact was for AT&T customers.
The website shows the initial spike started at around 3:30 a.m. The outage caused customers to see an "SOS" message at the top right hand corner of their phones. At 6 a.m., customers reported wait time to get to an AT&T representative being over eight hours long.
Emergency services
The Fayetteville Police Department asks those who still can't get in contact with the 911 center can call 479-575-0258 in case of an emergency until the services are restored.
The Washington County Sheriff's Office (WCSO) announced that some AT&T customers are not able to call 911 and advise that those who need to call during an emergency can try to do so by connecting to Wi-Fi. WCSO said they have been able to receive calls from business lines or landlines.
The Sebastian County Sheriff's Office confirmed that their emergency communication center is "fully operational" but customers may need to "use a landline" to reach them.
Sergeant Matt Ray with Springdale Police, informed residents that there is a delay for those calling 911 in Springdale. Although there is a delay, the calls are coming through at this time. "Just stay on the line until the operator answers," said Sgt. Ray.
At around 8 a.m., AT&T responded by saying they are aware of the issue and "We apologize for this inconvenience and we are working to resolve this issue." At 11 a.m., the number of affected customers went down to 14,348, and at noon 5,109 customers reported outages.
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