AT&T says national outage was not result of cyber attack

AT&T said the network outage that caused tens of thousands of customers to lose cell phone service on Thursday was not the result of a cyberattack.

After service was fully restored around 6 p.m. ET, the mobile phone service provider released the results of an initial investigation into the outage.

“Based on our initial investigation, we believe this outage was caused by the incorrect application and execution of processes used to expand our network, rather than a cyberattack,” AT&T wrote in a post on X.

“We continue to evaluate this to ensure we continue to provide the service our customers deserve,” the company said in a statement.

AT&T customers across the country experience cell phone outages. Verizon and his T-Mobile users are also affected

AT&T’s service suffered a nationwide outage starting around 3:30 a.m. ET Thursday, according to Downdetector. Reports soared to more than 73,000 just after 9 a.m. ET, then plummeted to nearly 4,900 just before 2 p.m. ET.

Downdetector, a website that tracks phone and internet service outages, reported that AT&T service was down primarily in its service areas of Atlanta, Chicago, Houston and Miami.

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In this photo illustration, an iPhone on the AT&T cellular network remains in SOS after the AT&T network goes down across the United States. (Photo illustration by Jeremy Hogan/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images / Getty Images)

“Some customers are experiencing wireless service interruptions this morning. Our network team took immediate action and so far three-quarters of our network has been restored. We are restoring service to remaining customers. “We are working as quickly as possible to do so,” AT&T said. Statement to FOX Business.

A U.S. defense official told Fox News there was “no indication of a cyber attack.”

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The outage left tens of thousands of customers in cities across the country without phone signal overnight. The largest outages were reported in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Chicago, Indianapolis, New York, Miami, and Charlotte. (Eric Thayer/Getty Images/Getty Images)

The FBI and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said they were aware of the outage and were investigating.

“We are aware of reports of radio interference and the Department of Public Safety and Homeland Security is actively investigating,” the FCC wrote in a post to X. “We are in contact with public safety authorities and other providers, including AT&T and FirstNet.”

The FBI said it is also in contact with AT&T. “When we learn of malicious activity, we respond accordingly,” an FBI spokesperson said.

AT&T apologized Thursday for the outage after several customers complained that they were upset about not being able to make phone calls or send texts on social media.

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The company said it had “restored wireless service to all affected customers.” “We offer our sincere apologies to them. Maintaining connections with our customers remains our top priority and we are taking steps to ensure they never experience this again in the future.”

Downdetector also showed a spike in reported outages Thursday for T-Mobile and Verizon customers, but both companies said their networks were operating normally and that customers were unable to connect to users on other networks. suggested that there was a problem trying to connect to.

FOX Business’ Pilar Arias, Louis Casiano and Fox News’ Liz Friden contributed to this report.