Cellular Service Outage Affecting Users in Southeastern United States

[Analog Kid]

The internets are supposed to be 'self healing'. Literally finding a way through, no matter how convoluted. This has to be something really backbone related, and has to be that thick fiber optic cable with the 'DO NOT UNPLUG' sticker on it...

ARPANet was designed to be self healing. The Internet is designed to make a profit...

 

[5105973]

Did I wander onto a conspiracy forum by accident?

 

[cmwade77]

As someone who works for a carrier all I can think of is the waiting time for customers service tomorrow morning.. Tons of idiots asking for their service to be refunded for the 30 minutes or so that their service wasn't working..

(I should really get out of Customer Service I don't like what it's doing to me..)

I definitely would be, if I pay for a service, I expect it to be available at all times. And I would want more than the downtime, as the downtime costs me additional money.

 

[cmwade77]

Does it concern anyone that AT&T plays such a critical role in the wireless infrastructure?

Yes and I think it's time we truly find ways to eliminate their use, it can be done, we just need the will power to say enough.

 

[Norbs12]

Yes. If you think the customers are "idiots," you really do need to get out of "customer service."

Sounds like the opinion of someone who probably hasn't worked in customer service.

 

[IGI2]

iPhones use cellular service…

But only in one country, what about outages of other network operators:

2degrees
A1
Afghan Telecom
AIL
Aircel
Airtel
Airtel-Vodafone
AIS
Alaska Wireless Network (AWN)
Ålcom
Algar Telecom
Altel
Andorra Telecom
Antel
Appalachian Wireless
APUA
Asia Pacific Telecom/Gt/Ambit
AT&T
AT&T Mobility
au
Avantel
Avea
AWCC
Azercell Telecom
Aztrank
Babilon Mobile
Bakcell Telecom
Banglalink
BASE
Beeline
Bell
BH Mobile
Bhutan Telecom
BITĖ
BITE Latvija
Black+White
Blue Sky Communications
Bluegrass Cellular
bluesky
bmobile
b-mobile
Bouygues Télécom
BSNL
BTC
Bulsatcom
Buzz me
C Spire Wireless
Cable & Wireless
CCT
Celcom
Cell One
Cellcard/Mobitel
Cellcom
China Mobile
China Telecom
China Unicom
CHIPPIE
Choice Communications
Chunghwa Telecom
Citycell
Claro
Clixster
CMHK
CNT
Comcel/Voila
Cootel
Cosmote
csl.
CTM
Cubacel [2]
CYTA
Dhiraagu
Dialog
DiGi
Digi.Mobil
Digicel
DigiCell
Digitel GSM
Disney Mobile
DNA
Docomo Pacific
DSTCom
DTAC
Eagle Mobile
EE
Elisa
EMT
Entel
E-Plus
esia
ETB
Etisalat
ETL
Falabella Móvil
FarEasTone
Fonex
Formerly Monet
Formerly Promonte
Føroya Tele
Free
FRiENDi Mobile
FSM Telecom
Fullmóvil
G1
Geocell
GIBTEL
Globe
Gmobile
G-Mobile
GO
Grameenphone
GTA
GTD Movil
HRCTelekom Licanse's
Hrvatski Telekom
HT Eronet
Hutch
Hutchison 3
Ice.net
IceCell
iConnect
Idea Cellular
IEC
imobile-3GX
includes Fido and Chatr
Includes Mike, Clearnet, Koodo, and Public Mobile
includes Solo and Virgin Mobile
Indosat
Interdnestrcom operating in Transnistriaregion only
Intertelecom
IPKO
Islandcom Wireless
IT&E
Iusacell & Nextel
JT (Guernsey) Global
JT (Jersey) Global
Katel
Kcell
KKTC Telsim
KKTCell
Kölbi
koryolink
KPN
Kyivstar
LaoTelecom
LG U+
Lietuvos radijo ir televizijos centras(MEZON)
Life
LIME
LMT
LOL Mobile
m:tel
M1
MagtiCom
Manx Telecom
Mara Telecom
MAX
Maxis
MegaCom
MegaFon
MELITA
MEO
Merchantrade
Meteor
Metfone
MIO
MLT
Mobicom
MobiFone
Mobilicity
Mobilink
Mobilis
Mobistar
Mobitel
Mojo
Moldcell
Monaco Telecom
Móvil Éxito
Movilnet
Movistar
MPT
Mtel
MTN
MTNL
MTS
MTS Ukraine
MY
MY Evolution
Nar Mobile
NATCOM
Ncell
Nepal Telecom
Net 1
NetCom
Nexi
Nextel
Norfolk Telecom
NOS
Nova
NTA
nTelos
NTT docomo
Nuestro
O!
O2
Oi
olleh
Omnitel
One
Only
Ooredoo
Open Mobile
Optus
Orange
Orange Caraïbe
Orcon
Our Telekom
P1
Pacific Mobile Telecom
PEOPLEnet
Perfectum
Personal
Play
Plus
PNCC
POST
Prima
PrimeTel
Progresif Cellular (formerly B-mobile and TelBru)
Proximus
qb
RED
Redone
Redtone
Reliance Communications
Robi
Rogers
Roshan
Salt
Salt (Liechtenstein) AG
Sapat Mobile
SaskTel
Seatel
Sercomtel
SetarNV
S-Fone
SFR
Si.mobil
Silknet
Síminn
Singtel Mobile
SK Telecom
Skinny
Sky Telecom
Skytel
Slingshot
Smart
Smart Axiata
Smart Pinoy
Smart Telecom
Smartfren
SmarTone
SMARTS
SoftBank
Sonera
Sotelco/Beeline
Sotovaja Svjaz MOTIV
SouthernLINC
Spark
SpeakOut Wireless
Sprint
Sprint Corporation
StarHub
Sunbeach
Sunrise
Sure
Sure Mobile
SWAN
Swisscom
Swisscom (Schweiz) AG
T STAR
T-2
Taiwan Mobile
Tango
Tashi Cell
TATA DOCOMO
Tatung Infocom
TCC
Tcell
TDC
Tegucel Sulacel Ceibacel
Telcel
TELE Greenland
Tele2
Telecom
Telecom Liechtenstein AG
Telecom Niue
Telecom Vanuatu
Teledema
Telekom
Telekom Albania
Telekom Malaysia
Telekom Slovenije
Telemach
Telenor
Telesur
Teletalk
Telia
Telikom PNG
Telin Malaysia (Kartu As)
Telkomcel
Telkomsel
Telstra
Telus
Tigo
TIM
TIM San Marino
Timor Telecom
TM CELL
T-Mobile
T-Mobile US
TMS
TOT
TracFone Wireless
Triatel
Tricom
TriMob
Tron
Truemove-H
TSKL
TTC
Tuenti
TuneTalk
Turkcell
Tuyo Móvil
U Mobile
U.S. Cellular
UCell
UFF!
Ufone
Ukko Mobile
UMS
UNE
Uninor
UNIQA
Unité
Unitel
Uzmobile
Vala
Vee Telecom
Velcom
Verizon Wireless
Videocon
Vidéotron
Vietnamobile
Viettel Mobile
Vinaphone
VINI
Vip
Virgin Mobile
Viti
Viva
VivaCell-MTS
Vivacom
Vivo
VMAX
Vodafone
Vodafone MT
VOX
VTR Móvil
WanTok
Warid
Wasel
Weblinks
Wind
XL Axiata
XOX COM
Y!Mobile
Yes 4G
Yoigo
Yota
YS mobile(ECI Multimedia Communications)
Zong (Paktel)

I haven't seem news about their problems

 

[coldsweat]

iPhones use cellular service…

By the same token, does that mean that when there's a power cut, that should also be reported....
We all need to charge our devices & that's not to mention people with iMacs & Mac Pros - surely thats even more relevant by your logic???

 

[C DM]

But only in one country, what about outages of other network operators:

2degrees
A1
Afghan Telecom
AIL
Aircel
Airtel
Airtel-Vodafone
AIS
Alaska Wireless Network (AWN)
Ålcom
Algar Telecom
Altel
Andorra Telecom
Antel
Appalachian Wireless
APUA
Asia Pacific Telecom/Gt/Ambit
AT&T
AT&T Mobility
au
Avantel
Avea
AWCC
Azercell Telecom
Aztrank
Babilon Mobile
Bakcell Telecom
Banglalink
BASE
Beeline
Bell
BH Mobile
Bhutan Telecom
BITĖ
BITE Latvija
Black+White
Blue Sky Communications
Bluegrass Cellular
bluesky
bmobile
b-mobile
Bouygues Télécom
BSNL
BTC
Bulsatcom
Buzz me
C Spire Wireless
Cable & Wireless
CCT
Celcom
Cell One
Cellcard/Mobitel
Cellcom
China Mobile
China Telecom
China Unicom
CHIPPIE
Choice Communications
Chunghwa Telecom
Citycell
Claro
Clixster
CMHK
CNT
Comcel/Voila
Cootel
Cosmote
csl.
CTM
Cubacel [2]
CYTA
Dhiraagu
Dialog
DiGi
Digi.Mobil
Digicel
DigiCell
Digitel GSM
Disney Mobile
DNA
Docomo Pacific
DSTCom
DTAC
Eagle Mobile
EE
Elisa
EMT
Entel
E-Plus
esia
ETB
Etisalat
ETL
Falabella Móvil
FarEasTone
Fonex
Formerly Monet
Formerly Promonte
Føroya Tele
Free
FRiENDi Mobile
FSM Telecom
Fullmóvil
G1
Geocell
GIBTEL
Globe
Gmobile
G-Mobile
GO
Grameenphone
GTA
GTD Movil
HRCTelekom Licanse's
Hrvatski Telekom
HT Eronet
Hutch
Hutchison 3
Ice.net
IceCell
iConnect
Idea Cellular
IEC
imobile-3GX
includes Fido and Chatr
Includes Mike, Clearnet, Koodo, and Public Mobile
includes Solo and Virgin Mobile
Indosat
Interdnestrcom operating in Transnistriaregion only
Intertelecom
IPKO
Islandcom Wireless
IT&E
Iusacell & Nextel
JT (Guernsey) Global
JT (Jersey) Global
Katel
Kcell
KKTC Telsim
KKTCell
Kölbi
koryolink
KPN
Kyivstar
LaoTelecom
LG U+
Lietuvos radijo ir televizijos centras(MEZON)
Life
LIME
LMT
LOL Mobile
m:tel
M1
MagtiCom
Manx Telecom
Mara Telecom
MAX
Maxis
MegaCom
MegaFon
MELITA
MEO
Merchantrade
Meteor
Metfone
MIO
MLT
Mobicom
MobiFone
Mobilicity
Mobilink
Mobilis
Mobistar
Mobitel
Mojo
Moldcell
Monaco Telecom
Móvil Éxito
Movilnet
Movistar
MPT
Mtel
MTN
MTNL
MTS
MTS Ukraine
MY
MY Evolution
Nar Mobile
NATCOM
Ncell
Nepal Telecom
Net 1
NetCom
Nexi
Nextel
Norfolk Telecom
NOS
Nova
NTA
nTelos
NTT docomo
Nuestro
O!
O2
Oi
olleh
Omnitel
One
Only
Ooredoo
Open Mobile
Optus
Orange
Orange Caraïbe
Orcon
Our Telekom
P1
Pacific Mobile Telecom
PEOPLEnet
Perfectum
Personal
Play
Plus
PNCC
POST
Prima
PrimeTel
Progresif Cellular (formerly B-mobile and TelBru)
Proximus
qb
RED
Redone
Redtone
Reliance Communications
Robi
Rogers
Roshan
Salt
Salt (Liechtenstein) AG
Sapat Mobile
SaskTel
Seatel
Sercomtel
SetarNV
S-Fone
SFR
Si.mobil
Silknet
Síminn
Singtel Mobile
SK Telecom
Skinny
Sky Telecom
Skytel
Slingshot
Smart
Smart Axiata
Smart Pinoy
Smart Telecom
Smartfren
SmarTone
SMARTS
SoftBank
Sonera
Sotelco/Beeline
Sotovaja Svjaz MOTIV
SouthernLINC
Spark
SpeakOut Wireless
Sprint
Sprint Corporation
StarHub
Sunbeach
Sunrise
Sure
Sure Mobile
SWAN
Swisscom
Swisscom (Schweiz) AG
T STAR
T-2
Taiwan Mobile
Tango
Tashi Cell
TATA DOCOMO
Tatung Infocom
TCC
Tcell
TDC
Tegucel Sulacel Ceibacel
Telcel
TELE Greenland
Tele2
Telecom
Telecom Liechtenstein AG
Telecom Niue
Telecom Vanuatu
Teledema
Telekom
Telekom Albania
Telekom Malaysia
Telekom Slovenije
Telemach
Telenor
Telesur
Teletalk
Telia
Telikom PNG
Telin Malaysia (Kartu As)
Telkomcel
Telkomsel
Telstra
Telus
Tigo
TIM
TIM San Marino
Timor Telecom
TM CELL
T-Mobile
T-Mobile US
TMS
TOT
TracFone Wireless
Triatel
Tricom
TriMob
Tron
Truemove-H
TSKL
TTC
Tuenti
TuneTalk
Turkcell
Tuyo Móvil
U Mobile
U.S. Cellular
UCell
UFF!
Ufone
Ukko Mobile
UMS
UNE
Uninor
UNIQA
Unité
Unitel
Uzmobile
Vala
Vee Telecom
Velcom
Verizon Wireless
Videocon
Vidéotron
Vietnamobile
Viettel Mobile
Vinaphone
VINI
Vip
Virgin Mobile
Viti
Viva
VivaCell-MTS
Vivacom
Vivo
VMAX
Vodafone
Vodafone MT
VOX
VTR Móvil
WanTok
Warid
Wasel
Weblinks
Wind
XL Axiata
XOX COM
Y!Mobile
Yes 4G
Yoigo
Yota
YS mobile(ECI Multimedia Communications)
Zong (Paktel)

I haven't seem news about their problems

By the same token, does that mean that when there's a power cut, that should also be reported....
We all need to charge our devices & that's not to mention people with iMacs & Mac Pros - surely thats even more relevant by your logic???

Already addressed in earlier replies.

 

[Jstuts5797]

What I think some of you are missing is this was not just TALK CELLULAR service. This outage also effected some peoples land based internet AND landline phones. Many cities had to implement emergency procedures for 911 and emergency services because local 911 services were spotty at best. Whenever this kind of stuff happens in a large area here in the states, it of course makes news. Also, Apple is a US based company, and I THINK MacRumors is a US based website. So unless its a major major major outage of multiple carriers from one of those other countries, of course it won't be reported here. Let's keep things in perspective.

 

[mrcobra92]

Sounds like the opinion of someone who probably hasn't worked in customer service.

I work in customer service and have for a while. You shouldn't have been there in the first place you jagweed.

 

[Romey-Rome]

Jade Helm!

 

[Chupa Chupa]

I just don't understand how it's 2015, and these providers still lease out/contract towers to other providers. Outsourcing at its finest instead of having their own dedicated services.
And I still pay a arm and a leg!

It's called conserving resources. Towers are not only expensive to maintain, there are considerable legal hurdles to building them. Carriers must get zoning variances and especially in cities where they can't strap a transmitter to a skyscraper there is a heavy NIMBY resistance. But even in large cities like NYC and SF carriers face heavy restrictions, and often co-location -- having multiple carriers have access to a tower, is a requirement because of limited sites w/i an area, and preventing towers from littering an area.

 

[Waxhead138]

Sounds like the opinion of someone who probably hasn't worked in customer service.

Really wish I could provide multiple upvotes here. 9/10 times, the people that make blanket judgements about customer service haven't worked it once....retail, food service, or otherwise.

 

[CEmajr]

Should've known AT&T was behind it.

 

[gsmornot]

Should've known AT&T was behind it.

You should have, they provide the bulk of the service the country runs on.

 

[SSD-GUY]

I agree, and credit should be expected should the interruption last over 24-48 hours.. Considering the average service (in Canada) is around 65$ asking for a credit for anything under than that would give less than 4$..

Then you let your customer know and he/she gets insulted "that's all you give me?" In my head:"What were you expecting" And then people start asking for all kinds of monatary compensation... And they end up waiting over an hour for a few worthless dollars a ruining hundreds of employee's day.

the canadian compagny I work for will actually be very flexible in terms of payments and delays, up to 90days late without interuptions. Although I realize that's not the case everywhere. Not all compagnies are sharks. Just like not customers are not all idiots.

The point is however, once all those £4 start adding up, the companies will wake up and realise that they need to something about their infrastructure. We live in first world cities. My electricity has only gone out once in the past 10 years, and that was due to a problem on our street. My water has never suddenly stopped working and neither has my TV signal/radio signal, gas network etc.

 

[odditie]

The point is however, once all those £4 start adding up, the companies will wake up and realise that they need to something about their infrastructure. We live in first world cities. My electricity has only gone out once in the past 10 years, and that was due to a problem on our street. My water has never suddenly stopped working and neither has my TV signal/radio signal, gas network etc.

Also, I'm sure they have something in their contract with AT&T regarding outages due to the infrastructure. And AT&T probably has something in their contract with the hardware company who's equipment broke down.

 

[J. Jizzle]

This may explain why my signal/service was very weak yesterday and kept dropping out. The outage must have been more wide spread than just those 4 states, because I live in South Carolina around the Myrtle Beach area and I noticed my cellular signal strength was extremely weak. Normally I receive excellent signal strength from AT&T on a daily basis

 

[C DM]

Also, I'm sure they have something in their contract with AT&T regarding outages due to the infrastructure. And AT&T probably has something in their contract with the hardware company who's equipment broke down.

Quite a bit of the infrastructure and equipment is their own.

 

[goobot]

By the same token, does that mean that when there's a power cut, that should also be reported....
We all need to charge our devices & that's not to mention people with iMacs & Mac Pros - surely thats even more relevant by your logic???

I phone. 5/6 of the device name is phone. Massive cellular phone outages. So yes it is different. Cellular iPads. The only difference between the wifi ones which people pay the difference for are affected so yes it's different. Basically your logic is that because it's not directly from Apple it isn't relevent which means 99% of the stuff on this site isn't either.

 

[gsmornot]

The point is however, once all those £4 start adding up, the companies will wake up and realise that they need to something about their infrastructure. We live in first world cities. My electricity has only gone out once in the past 10 years, and that was due to a problem on our street. My water has never suddenly stopped working and neither has my TV signal/radio signal, gas network etc.

Most of the services you named are single point of failure services. One electrical line, one water line, one gas line. Each of those will remain single point. If any of those have an equipment failure you will be without the service. The idea that you have not lost the service yet is great, but the provider is not going to double up anytime soon just to make sure you don't. Why? Cost. Simply the cost is too high to double everything when so many areas are still left waiting for first time coverage. There are a number of ways services can be affected and overall, can you really say the companies are asleep? In your own local place of being do you yourself not have a few things that could be touched up but you just have not had the time or resources to get them done but know you need/want to?

Not ranting, just saying keep perspective that services are all built to the highest level possible. Lost service is lost revenue and no one wants that but not all services can be on all the time. Look around here for a bit and tell me if you find any other technology provider with a 100% up time.

 

[gsmornot]

This may explain why my signal/service was very weak yesterday and kept dropping out. The outage must have been more wide spread than just those 4 states, because I live in South Carolina around the Myrtle Beach area and I noticed my cellular signal strength was extremely weak. Normally I receive excellent signal strength from AT&T on a daily basis

This was not a signal strength issue. It was stated to be a backhaul issue so you would have had the same signal but no ability to complete a call or transfer data. Your weak signal was due to something else.

 

[C DM]

Most of the services you named are single point of failure services. One electrical line, one water line, one gas line. Each of those will remain single point. If any of those have an equipment failure you will be without the service. The idea that you have not lost the service yet is great, but the provider is not going to double up anytime soon just to make sure you don't. Why? Cost. Simply the cost is too high to double everything when so many areas are still left waiting for first time coverage. There are a number of ways services can be affected and overall, can you really say the companies are asleep? In your own local place of being do you yourself not have a few things that could be touched up but you just have not had the time or resources to get them done but know you need/want to?

Not ranting, just saying keep perspective that services are all built to the highest level possible. Lost service is lost revenue and no one wants that but not all services can be on all the time. Look around here for a bit and tell me if you find any other technology provider with a 100% up time.

And when they are not the customers shouldn't be expected to pay for not getting service at that time, right? Seems fairly rational.

 

[paulrbeers]

As someone who works for a carrier all I can think of is the waiting time for customers service tomorrow morning.. Tons of idiots asking for their service to be refunded for the 30 minutes or so that their service wasn't working..

(I should really get out of Customer Service I don't like what it's doing to me..)

When I worked in a call center, each call into our center had a cost associated with it. If I remember correctly they figured that each call we got averaged a cost of $5.35 and we also watched for call volume increases (we knew Monday would always be the worst, but when there were issues it would go up). Since I know this, I call in whenever I have a disruption in service (whether cell, internet, utility, etc) to get my refund so that not only do I get a refund but my service provider has an additional cost associated with the person taking the call. The overall cost affects the bottom line and with enough expenditure on call center representatives and refunds, maybe the service provider will actually do a better job! If I just "let it go" and not call for my "50 cents", what incentive do they have to actually make improvements in the quality of their service? The answer is None. Maybe I'm naive about this, but customer service is one place businesses hate spending money on.

 

[C DM]

When I worked in a call center, each call into our center had a cost associated with it. If I remember correctly they figured that each call we got averaged a cost of $5.35 and we also watched for call volume increases (we knew Monday would always be the worst, but when there were issues it would go up). Since I know this, I call in whenever I have a disruption in service (whether cell, internet, utility, etc) to get my refund so that not only do I get a refund but my service provider has an additional cost associated with the person taking the call. The overall cost affects the bottom line and with enough expenditure on call center representatives and refunds, maybe the service provider will actually do a better job! If I just "let it go" and not call for my "50 cents", what incentive do they have to actually make improvements in the quality of their service? The answer is None. Maybe I'm naive about this, but customer service is one place businesses hate spending money on.

The unfortunate part in all of that is that the provider will simply raise their prices and/or add on some new fees somewhere to make up for it and basically make the customers pay.