AT&T fixed the software glitch that knocked out 911 for some wireless users

What you need to know

• AT&T had a software glitch that disrupted service and 911 calls in several cities.
• Downdetector saw a spike in outage reports around 5:00 PM PST, though AT&T said it had fixed the issue.
• Details on the exact impact and outage duration weren’t clear, but incidents were dropping by 10:00 PM ET.

Late Tuesday, many AT&T customers faced a service disruption while trying to connect, which also affected 911 services in several cities. AT&T attributed the issue to a software glitch but has since resolved it.

There has been a major 911 outage nationwide, with a huge spike in reports popping up on Downdetector around 5:00 PM PST.

An AT&T spokesperson told CNN that the network carrier had fixed a software glitch that affected some customers’ connections.

"We apologize for the inconvenience, and we appreciate our customers’ patience as we worked to resolve this issue," the spokesperson added.

The outage didn’t affect everyone, just a portion of AT&T's user base, according to the spokesperson. On Tuesday evening, police in Pinole, California, warned on social media that some AT&T wireless users might have trouble calling 911, but landlines and other carriers weren’t affected.

In Florida, Seminole County’s X account mentioned a 911 service disruption on Tuesday night. The local government advised residents to use a non-emergency number for urgent issues until things were fixed.

Downdetector’s report showed that Dallas, Charlotte, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, and New York City had the most AT&T service disruptions in the last 24 hours, as per CNN's report.

Details on how many customers were affected and how long the disruption lasted weren’t available. However, by 10:00 PM ET, Downdetector showed that the number of reported incidents was dropping quickly.

This outage comes right after AT&T’s $950,000 settlement with the Federal Communications Commission over a 911 outage from August 2023.