The United States cellular network struggled the morning of February 22

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in iPhone edited February 22

It's not just you -- AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon were having issues across a wide swathe of the US, but the issue seems to have been resolved.

A 5G signal meter on an iPhone 12
A 5G signal meter on an iPhone 12



So far, it's not clear why T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon are all having issues this morning. Symptoms vary, with no connectivity at all for the most impacted.

In some cases with an iPhone 14 or iPhone 15, users are seeing the SOS notification in the upper-right hand corner of the screen where the signal strength meter normally is. That's an indicator of no cell service, but users still have access to the SOS over Satellite feature.

DownDetector outage reports as of February 22, 7:30 AM ET
DownDetector outage reports as of February 22, 7:30 AM ET



The issues appear to have started at or around 4:00 AM ET on February 22. Social media reports increased in volume as the east coast woke up, with more and more coming in as the morning progresses.

"Some of our customers are experiencing wireless service interruptions this morning," AT&T said in a statement. "We are working urgently to restore service to them. We encourage the use of Wi-Fi calling until service is restored."

Verizon and T-Mobile say that their networks are functioning fine. This is belied by users on social media saying that they have no connectivity at all, though.

"Verizon's network is operating normally. Some customers experienced issues this morning when calling or texting with customers served by another carrier," Verizon also said in a statement. "We are continuing to monitor the situation."

Additionally, while wireless-provided internet like 5G for the home is hit, wired internet services provided by the companies don't seem to be impacted.

The problems extend to mobile virtual network operators that piggyback off the larger carriers -- or NVMOs. Boost, Consumer Cellular, Straight Talk, US Cellular, FirstNet, and Boost Infinite are all reporting problems as well.

Update Feb 22, 3:51 PM ETAT&T reports that it has restored all users, but has yet to comment on the root cause.



Read on AppleInsider

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 21
    h4y3sh4y3s Posts: 85member
    A surprising lack of information is available in my opinion. A little concerning frankly.
    badmonklongpathwatto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 21
    apple4thewinapple4thewin Posts: 232member
    DDOS attacks has started, its the end of the world! 
    jbdragonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 21
    apple4thewinapple4thewin Posts: 232member
    But in all honesty I’m not too surprised. i was awake when it happened but it works fine as of now. I had similar issues Tuesday night for a few minutes 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 21
    pulseimagespulseimages Posts: 653member
    I’m having no issues.
    jbdragonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 21
    mac_dogmac_dog Posts: 1,083member
    Hear me out…where’s the actual evidence of this. This could easily/potentially be our government creating a scenario to justify our global agenda of colonialism. Just consider how this story unfolds and who is getting blamed for it (if anyone) and our response to it.  
    williamlondonbonobobwatto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 21
    PancakePancake Posts: 45member
    mac_dog said:
    Hear me out…where’s the actual evidence of this. This could easily/potentially be our government creating a scenario to justify our global agenda of colonialism. Just consider how this story unfolds and who is getting blamed for it (if anyone) and our response to it.  
    Get off the conspiracy subreddits. You actually sound like you have no idea what you are talking about. 
    Xedmike1ruejbdragonsbdudemaltzunbeliever2StrangeDaysmacguiwilliamlondon
  • Reply 7 of 21
    msuberlymsuberly Posts: 238member
    This is a load of crap.  The problem is with one company.  If the author took the effort to actually view the numbers of complaints instead of being lazy and only looking at the Downdetector graph he would see that the complaints of AT&T this morning dwarf the low numbers at Verizon and T-Mobile.  That backs up Verizon's and T-Mobile's statements that their networks are fine and the complaints are because their customers cannot reach AT&T customers.
    avon b7Pancakejcs2305gregoriusmtenthousandthingsbonobobroundaboutnowwatto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 21
    AppleishAppleish Posts: 707member
    Russia testing Election Day interference plans?
    williamlondonblastdoor
  • Reply 9 of 21
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,412member
    AppleInsider said:

    In some cases with an iPhone 14 or iPhone 15, users are seeing the SOS notification in the upper-right hand corner of the screen where the signal strength meter normally is. That's an indicator of no cell service, but access to the SOS over Satellite feature.Read on AppleInsider


    That SOS indicator has nothing to do with the "Satellite" feature. Shows up on every phone when there is no cell signal.
    jbdragonbonobobwatto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 21
    Stabitha_ChristieStabitha_Christie Posts: 553member
    Appleish said:
    Russia testing Election Day interference plans?
    Take off the tinfoil hat. 
    unbeliever2williamlondonchasmwatto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 21
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,919administrator
    msuberly said:
    This is a load of crap.  The problem is with one company.  If the author took the effort to actually view the numbers of complaints instead of being lazy and only looking at the Downdetector graph he would see that the complaints of AT&T this morning dwarf the low numbers at Verizon and T-Mobile.  That backs up Verizon's and T-Mobile's statements that their networks are fine and the complaints are because their customers cannot reach AT&T customers.
    The author did take the effort. Like the text says, Verizon's denials are refuted by the folks on Verizon talking about the outage.

    Carriers lie.
    muthuk_vanalingammacguichasmwatto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 21
    direktordirektor Posts: 3member
    There is increased solar flare activity that is making news amongst the people that follow that stuff. https://www.spaceweather.com/

    I have zero idea if this effects the bands in use for cellular. 
    williamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 21
    maltzmaltz Posts: 488member
    mike1 said:

    In some cases with an iPhone 14 or iPhone 15, users are seeing the SOS notification in the upper-right hand corner of the screen where the signal strength meter normally is. That's an indicator of no cell service, but access to the SOS over Satellite feature.Read on AppleInsider


    That SOS indicator has nothing to do with the "Satellite" feature. Shows up on every phone when there is no cell signal.

    It shows up when a phone doesn't have it's native plan's cell signalbut does have SOME kind of cell signal that it could use for 911 calls.  E.g., it can't reach a native AT&T tower, but there's a Verizon tower, or if the phone isn't activated at all but is within range of a tower.  If you're really in the boonies and can't connect to any tower from any network, then it doesn't even show that.  (I think it's 0 bars?)  But mine is an iPhone 11 - the satellite-capable phones maybe still show SOS even in that scenario?

    appleinsideruserbonobobmike1watto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 21
    regurgitatedcoproliteregurgitatedcoprolite Posts: 285member
    The networks have tested positive for the dreaded cv. 

    OMG! We're all gonna die!!!
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 21
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 13,060member
    mac_dog said:
    Hear me out…where’s the actual evidence of this. This could easily/potentially be our government creating a scenario to justify our global agenda of colonialism. Just consider how this story unfolds and who is getting blamed for it (if anyone) and our response to it.  
    Don’t do drugs, kids 
    macguiwilliamlondonchasmwatto_cobrafreeassociate2
  • Reply 16 of 21
    macguimacgui Posts: 2,419member
    mike1 said:
    AppleInsider said:

    In some cases with an iPhone 14 or iPhone 15, users are seeing the SOS notification in the upper-right hand corner of the screen where the signal strength meter normally is. That's an indicator of no cell service, but access to the SOS over Satellite feature.Read on AppleInsider


    That SOS indicator has nothing to do with the "Satellite" feature. Shows up on every phone when there is no cell signal.
    No it shows up when you're not connected to a network. That's not the same as having no signal.

    Not connected to a network, there's still the possibility to make emergency/911 calls. That's why the SOS or SOS Only indicator. With no cell signal there would be no SOS or SOS emergency/911 option, only No Service.

    The exception would be an iPhone 14 or 15 with its ability to make satellite calls. Those phones with no network access would also show either SOS or SOS Only, I don't know which. But their satellite function might be viable. With no cell signal, their satellite function could still be viable but no idea if there would be an SOS indicator or No Service indicator as with no network access.
    appleinsideruserwatto_cobramaltz
  • Reply 17 of 21
    macguimacgui Posts: 2,419member
    The signal that others were missing meant more for me! This morning I had three - THREE bars on my phone. Normally I'm lucky to get 1.5 bars on ATT. The snappy was nice while it lasted.  :D
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 18 of 21
    AppleZuluAppleZulu Posts: 2,141member
    AT&T has not been forthcoming with any explanations of a cause for the outage. That could be due to corporate CYA, or it could be a question of network security and/or of national security. Here's the problem. If it's the last two things, it's ultimately not in the public interest for a detailed explanation to be shared. Just as Apple doesn't offer much detail regarding OS security updates, it's probably not a good idea to share in detail with various bad actors about what vulnerabilities can be successfully exploited to bring down a mobile communications network. Ultimately, even if it started out as corporate CYA, this issue even applies if the problem resulted from some bonehead accidentally spilling their morning Mountain Dew onto a control panel somewhere. As satisfying as it would be in a schadenfreude sense to learn it was something like that, do we really want the FSB to know that a widespread communications shutdown is only one well-placed Big Gulp away? I don't think so.
    h4y3swatto_cobramuthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 19 of 21
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,412member
    maltz said:
    mike1 said:

    In some cases with an iPhone 14 or iPhone 15, users are seeing the SOS notification in the upper-right hand corner of the screen where the signal strength meter normally is. That's an indicator of no cell service, but access to the SOS over Satellite feature.Read on AppleInsider


    That SOS indicator has nothing to do with the "Satellite" feature. Shows up on every phone when there is no cell signal.

    It shows up when a phone doesn't have it's native plan's cell signalbut does have SOME kind of cell signal that it could use for 911 calls.  E.g., it can't reach a native AT&T tower, but there's a Verizon tower, or if the phone isn't activated at all but is within range of a tower.  If you're really in the boonies and can't connect to any tower from any network, then it doesn't even show that.  (I think it's 0 bars?)  But mine is an iPhone 11 - the satellite-capable phones maybe still show SOS even in that scenario?


    Correct. A better explanation than mine.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 20 of 21
    freeassociate2freeassociate2 Posts: 209member
    By now it should be clear to everyone that this was an infrastructure software issue and not solar flares, any kind of conspiracy, or a ‘cyber-attack’. Also, I forgot to mention that it wasn’t aliens or conclusive proof the Earth is flat. 
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