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The US Federal Communications Commission is investigating an issue where customers with AT&T wireless mobile plans were unable to make calls Tuesday afternoon.
"We’re aware of reports that consumers in multiple states are unable to make wireless calls and we are currently investigating," the FCC said in a post on X, also known as Twitter, Tuesday evening. PCMag has reached out to the FCC for comment and a status update on the investigation.
Thousands reported mobile calling issues with AT&T beginning Tuesday afternoon around 1 p.m. ET, continuing for over eight hours until early Wednesday morning, according to data from Downdetector, which tracks user outage reports. Thousands of Verizon users reported mobile phone call issues around the same time, but Verizon saw fewer reports for a shorter duration of time overall.
AT&T said Tuesday night that it wasn't experiencing a "nationwide outage," but an AT&T rep instead phrased it as a "nationwide issue" in a statement to The Verge.
"Our network is not experiencing a nationwide outage. There is a nationwide issue that is affecting the ability of some customers to complete calls between carriers," the rep said during the outage, adding: "We are working closely with Verizon to determine the nature of the issue and what actions need to be taken."
By 8:20 p.m. ET, AT&T announced that the mobile calling issue between AT&T customers and other carriers had been resolved and also reiterated it in a statement to CNN.
Earlier this year, AT&T faced a massive outage impacting customers across the country in cities like Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago, Miami, and Los Angeles. AT&T later said the outage was due to an error made while the telecoms giant was expanding its network—not any type of malicious cyberattack.
Editor's Note: Downdetector is owned by ZiffDavis, PCMag's parent company.