Comments for

2009-07-29T22:46:32Z

AT&T users in parts of the Northeast and Midwest had a massive mobile data outage (both 3G and EDGE) this morning. Voice reception was not affected. One user reported receiving a $25 credit after calling AT&T to find out what was going on, so it may not hurt to ask. [Business Insider]

Comment from dbrewer80221 on 2009-07-30

2009-07-30T05:22:45Z

It wasn't restricted to just those states.

I live in Vegas and was not able to get an Edge/3G connection from midnight until about 4 am PST. I work nights and use my phone to keep myself entertained.

Comment from MMD on 2009-07-29

2009-07-30T02:08:19Z

@Rachacha: When I pay for a service that's supposed to be available all of the time, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a service credit for when it's not working.

Comment from maex on 2009-07-29

2009-07-30T01:58:47Z

Well there we go, I was wondering what was going on. I just took a nap on the El instead of surfing like I usually would.

Comment from Andrewjh on 2009-07-29

2009-07-30T00:45:27Z

Just got off the phone with AT&T service rep Dawn Herbert. After telling her about not being able to check the weather on my iPhone this morning and reading about the outage on Consumerist, I was given a $30 credit. (!)
She confirmed that it was a "priority 1 RNC System Outage" affecting multiple Northeast states.
Pretty sweet for three minutes on the phone. Thanks, Dawn. And thanks, Consumerist.

Comment from emis on 2009-07-29

2009-07-30T00:33:15Z

This outage must be just affecting certain towers?

I have an iPhone (3G) and BB (EDGE) on AT&T -- I'm in metro-Boston and both have been working and receiving data/voice since 6:30AM. I use the iPhone for IM and personal email, if there's been an interruption it was seamless and less then ~15-20 minutes long.

Comment from Cant_stop_the_rock on 2009-07-29

2009-07-30T00:33:12Z

@kc2idf:

I don't think Apple really cares much about a regional outage that lasted a few hours. If it happened every week they'd probably care.

Comment from G.O.B.: Come on! on 2009-07-29

2009-07-30T00:32:10Z

@Rachacha: During the outage, I couldn't Twitter about my $6,000 suits in the elevator. That's a big deal.

Comment from davebg5 on 2009-07-29

2009-07-30T00:30:50Z

@Rachacha: Normally, yes, but AT&T's service has become progressively more and more absurd: data outages in large swaths of the country, visual voice mail messages delayed for weeks, still no MMS, slower than advertised 3G speeds, completely unreliable coverage in major metropolitan areas...

At this point AT&T has burned through any of the goodwill that any company can possibly expect to get from their paying customers.

Comment from koali on 2009-07-29

2009-07-30T00:19:45Z

@admiral_stabbin: Same here. I don't get any service in my office building to the point where I just leave my cell phone at home.

Comment from Rachacha on 2009-07-29

2009-07-30T00:16:22Z

Oh My God, I was without data service for 30 minutes before 9:00am EST...The horror!!!

As an AT&T customer, I did not notice that there was an outage (because I did not use any data on my phone at that time in the morning), but is a 30 minute to an hour disruption REALLY that big of a deal as some were indicating in the original article? I could see the issue if data were out for several hours or several days as some of the Blackberry services were out a couple of years ago.

Data outages, just like electrical outages happen, and the company appeared to resolve the issue in a timely manner.

Comment from ugadawg on 2009-07-29

2009-07-30T00:15:34Z

@G.O.B.: Come on!: Man I wish. The war was fun while it lasted eh.

Comment from hungryhomer on 2009-07-29

2009-07-30T00:13:12Z

It's those damned cyber terrorists with their jailbroken iPhones. Somebody call John McClain, we need some cop cars flung at helicopters, pronto.

Comment from kc2idf on 2009-07-29

2009-07-30T00:02:24Z

Well, I wonder how Apple feels about this, since AT&T is the only carrier officially "allowed" to serve iPhones . . .

Comment from admiral_stabbin on 2009-07-29

2009-07-29T23:56:24Z

I'm guessing this is unrelated to the blackouts of voice and data service that I consistently get in my own home. ;-)

Comment from davebg5 on 2009-07-29

2009-07-29T23:43:47Z

I got a pro-rated data credit. $1/day for data. Then I asked the CSR if, since we were going to handle network problems on a day-by-day basis, if she'd like to review all of my calls for the past month and give me a pro-rated service credit for each day I dropped a call. I mean, it's only fair not to have to pay for services not properly rendered, right?

She took the Fifth.

Comment from tailstoo on 2009-07-29

2009-07-29T23:42:52Z

I was out all morning until about 8am. Thanks AT&T!

Comment from segfault on 2009-07-29

2009-07-29T23:27:34Z

AT&T gave me a pro-rated credit on my airtime bill due to cellular service being unavailable during an ice storm. They refused to pro-rate the data bill! Even though the data wouldn't work without cell service, either. I am not buying another iPhone until Apple dumps AT&T.

Comment from G.O.B.: Come on! on 2009-07-29

2009-07-29T23:23:34Z

The wrath of 4chan?

Comment from EqualOpportunityCrasher on 2009-07-29

2009-07-29T23:16:21Z

@ChristopherDavis: It had to have been. How else would Apple and AT&T be able to legitimize their claim that jailbreaking constitutes a terrorist action? It has nothing to do with a crap system, stifling competition, or illegal use of monopoly.

Comment from Homerjay. Good and good for you. on 2009-07-29

2009-07-29T23:12:29Z

I just chalked it up to AT&T being AT&T. Next time I'll be dialing for dollars.

Comment from ChristopherDavis on 2009-07-29

2009-07-29T23:01:05Z

I wonder if it's because someone has a jailbroken iPhone.