A beehive tower is seen on February 22, 2024 in Redondo Beach, California. The outage affected tens of thousands of customers in cities across the country, whose cellphones lost signal overnight.
Eric Thayer | Getty Images News | Getty Images
“This won’t be our last”
AT&T outage Thursday Tens of thousands of customers can’t use their phones without Wi-Fi. This was the result of an internal company error, not a cyber attack, as AT&T was working to expand its network, explain.
AT&T Chief Executive John Stankey wrote in a statement that the company considered consumer and small business customers “most affected by the outages” to “compensate for the inconvenience they experience.” letter Sunday.
“This is not our first network outage, and it won’t be our last – unfortunately, it’s a reality of our business,” he wrote.
AT&T factors in the average cost of service throughout the day, and it explain.
letter of credit not applicable The company says AT&T Business Enterprise and Platinum accounts, AT&T Prepaid or Cricket services are its low-cost offerings. Affected prepaid customers “will have a variety of options,” Stankey said, without elaborating.
No need to wait for your provider
“My advice to consumers is, if you have been affected, do not wait for AT&T to make a decision” to determine whether you qualify for the credit, said John Breault, vice president for public policy, telecommunications and fraud at the National Telecommunications Corporation. John Breyault said. Consumers Union.
“Call in and say, ‘I’m affected by this. I want to make sure I get the credit,'” he added.
Consumers who don’t want to call customer service can also interact with the provider’s online portal or chatbot to resolve issues faster, he said.
Of course, phone and Internet companies voluntarily apply for such credits, Breault said.In contrast, federal laws governing the aviation industry For example, in the event of a flight cancellation, consumers are entitled to a refund. Similar consumer protections don’t appear to exist in the wireless world, Breault said.
Federal Communications Commission January suggested The rule would require rebates to be provided to consumers whose cable or satellite television subscriptions have had their programming discontinued.
Weinstock said “it’s about time” consumers demand reimbursement. “But I think it’s always good to contact your carrier and say, ‘I’m having an outage. It’s not my fault, you owe me money. You should cover the cost.'”
