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Updated (February 23, 2:54 PM ET): AT&T explains cause of major outage.
What you need to know
- AT&T subscribers were reporting outages Thursday morning, including at the company’s MVNO carrier.
- Other carriers also reported this issue. However, companies such as T-Mobile said it was business as usual.
- Reports of solar flares have led some to speculate that the two events are related, but it’s not entirely clear if this is actually the case.
People in the United States woke up Thursday morning (February 22) to find themselves without cellphone networks from AT&T, Cricket Wireless, and other service providers, according to the Associated Press.
Companies like T-Mobile say in press releases that their networks are working normally. However, customers were having trouble connecting to other carriers due to outages.
The outage began around 3:30 a.m. ET, and as of 9:30 a.m. ET this morning, more than 73,000 users had reported the AT&T outage.
Multiple media speculate These power outages are believed to have been caused by two powerful solar flares that erupted from the sun on the evening of Wednesday (February 21) and early morning of Thursday (February 22).
According to Space.com, an X1.8-class flare erupted from the sun at 6:07 p.m. ET on February 21, and another X1.7-class flare erupted last night at 1:32 a.m. ET. did.
According to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report, an It is classified as the most powerful explosion (NOAA) said.
Solar flares are caused by the sudden release of magnetic energy stored in the Sun’s atmosphere. This creates an intense burst of radiation across a variety of wavelengths.
Although there is no evidence that these solar flares caused the nationwide cell phone outages, it is important to note that both of these events appear to have started around the same time and may be related. is.
Solar astrophysicist Dr. Ryan French also posted these on X (formerly Twitter). speculation for restsaid it was “just a coincidence.”
Space.com Editor-in-Chief Brett Tingley said such powerful flares could cause long-lasting radiation storms that could “disrupt satellites, wreak havoc on global power transmission systems, and disrupt global power transmission systems.” “If it’s strong enough, it could cause a worldwide power outage.”
NOAA’s website said it was closely monitoring the situation while the area “exhibits strong magnetic complexities and is currently classified as a beta-gamma delta.”
Some are blaming last night’s X-class #SolarFlare for US cell phone network outages (AT&T, Verizon). However, flares only cause radio wave degradation on the *day side* of the Earth. As seen below, the United States was not affected by this event. So it’s just a coincidence! https://t.co/8EQxLV2qVJ pic.twitter.com/A5kImCmStCFebruary 22, 2024
According to Reuters, the Federal Communications Commission is investigating this massive outage, and the FBI is trying to determine whether the outage was due to a cyber attack or hacking.
Meanwhile, AT&T said it was aware of the situation and its network team took immediate action. “So far, three-quarters of our network has been restored. We are working to restore service to our remaining customers as soon as possible.”
Earlier this month, another X-class solar flare caused shortwave radio interference across South America, Africa, and the South Atlantic.
“We can expect to see more solar flares and solar weather outbursts like this one as the sun approaches solar maximum, the high point of an 11-year period of solar activity driven by the sun’s magnetic field.” Tingley said. Added.
Correction: A previous version of this article said T-Mobile was affected by the outage. However, the carrier’s network was operating normally. This has now been fixed.
update
AT&T announced late Friday that it had restored three-quarters of its network and was continuing to work to restore connectivity for remaining customers. They also said that based on their initial investigation, the outage was caused by “the incorrect application and execution of processes used in expanding the network, rather than a cyber attack.”
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