AT&T to give billing credits to customers impacted by cell network outage

AT&T is planning to provide billing credits to customers who were impacted or potentially impacted by a wireless outage last week, the company said on Saturday.

The outage occurred for about 10 hours on Thursday and AT&T said it believes the incident was caused by the “application and execution of an incorrect process used as we were expanding our network, not a cyberattack.”

Over 73,000 outage reports were filed during the incident on the website Downdetector, which tracks phone and internet service outages – although it is unclear exactly how many people lost service during that period.

To compensate for the outage, AT&T will provide a billing credit to customers who were impacted and potentially impacted with the average cost of a full day of service. 

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“We apologize and recognize the frustration this outage has caused and know we let many of our customers down,” an AT&T spokesperson told FOX Business. “To help make it right, we’re applying a credit to potentially impacted accounts to help reassure our customers of our commitment to reliably connect them – anytime and anywhere.”

AT&T’s website indicates that it will include one $5 credit per account on an impacted customer’s AT&T Wireless account. The telecom giant said bill credits are typically applied to accounts within 1 or 2 billing cycles, depending on when a given customer’s bill closes.

The credit will not be applied to AT&T Business, AT&T Prepaid or Cricket accounts.

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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said Thursday it is investigating the incident. 

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said it is also working with AT&T to understand the cause of the outage, though the company and defense officials have indicated they do not believe it stemmed from a cyberattack. The FBI also said it was in contact with AT&T.

While some Verizon and T-Mobile customers reported issues during the time of the outage, the companies said their cellular networks were operating normally and suggested that customers were having trouble connecting to users on other networks.

Reuters contributed to this report.