Cell provider outages affects people nationwide

BY HAELEY CARPENTER / Digital Media Director

Thousands of people woke up today to see the SOS symbol on their phone due to cell service provider outages. 

AT&T, the largest provider in the United States, has had the most outages but other providers including Verizon, T-Mobile and Cricket Wireless are also being affected according to Downdetector.com.

"We are working urgently to restore service to them," AT&T said in a statement. "We encourage the use of wi-fi calling until service is restored."

So far, emergency 911 calls in Erath County are still working fine but it is not recommended to call just to see if it works so as to not flood call centers. 

Those who have FaceTime on their phone are in luck because those calls are still working as long as the user has wifi. 

Tarleton State University sent an email to students, faculty and staff acknowledging the outages and clarifying that it is not a university issue.

As an alternative, people can use social media like Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat to communicate.

Students are frustrated. Arianna Rodriguez wanted to spend the day running errands.

“I had things to do today,” Rodriguez said. “I can't get in contact with my bank or work.”

To check if your internet services are having ongoing problems, visit Downdetector.com.