AT&T will offer a $5 credit to customers affected by a widespread outage on Thursday caused by technical problems the company experienced as it tried to expand its network, its chief executive said Sunday.
The outage, which began around 3:30 a.m. Eastern Time, caused connections to be temporarily disrupted for users across the United States.
Affected cities included Atlanta, Los Angeles and New York, according to Downdetector.com, which tracks user reports of telecommunications and internet disruptions.
At its peak, the site received about 70,000 reports of interrupted service for AT&T. Service was fully restored after approximately seven hours.
“No matter the timing, one thing is clear – we have failed many of our customers, including many of you and your families,” AT&T Chief Executive John T. Stankey wrote in a letter Sunday. “We apologize for that.”
To “do it right,” AT&T is offering customers a $5 credit to their AT&T Wireless account, according to the company’s website.
“For the portion of retail and small business customers most affected by the outage, we will automatically issue an account credit to compensate them for the inconvenience caused,” the company said.
It will take one to two billing cycles for the credit to appear, depending on when a customer’s bill is finalized, the company said.
Prepaid customers have options available if they are affected, Mr. Stankey wrote, but did not specifically identify those options.
AT&T also said it is working “closely” with mid-market and enterprise Internet plan customers to address their concerns.
It was not immediately clear how much the lost revenue credits would be. A company representative could not be reached Sunday.
AT&T emphasized in a statement that the outage was not caused by a cyberattack.
“Our initial investigation into the cause of Thursday’s outage determined that it was due to the application and execution of an incorrect process in expanding our network,” Mr. Stankey wrote in his letter.
The credit should reimburse customers for the day service was lost, he wrote.
“I believe it is correct to essentially credit these customers with a full day of service,” Mr. Stankey wrote.
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2024-02-25 22:55:11
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