The following report is by The New York Times:
The outage, which affected people in cities including Atlanta, Los Angeles and New York, was first reported around 3:30 a.m. Eastern time, according to Downdetector.com, which tracks user reports of telecommunication and internet disruptions. At its peak, the site listed around 70,000 reports of disrupted service for the wireless carrier.
Multiple government agencies said they were looking into the incident, although the Biden administration told reporters that AT&T said there was no reason to think it was a cyberattack.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: However, mainstream media was very quick this morning to insinuate that it perhaps was a cyberattack. The FCC has said that they will be investigating the outage. Powerful solar flares were also reported at the same time of these outages.
AT&T did not disclose the scope of the outage, nor the reason for it. When the outage first began on Thursday morning, the company listed the cause as “maintenance activity.”
Jim Greer, an AT&T spokesman, apologized in a statement confirming service was restored and said the company was “taking steps to ensure our customers do not experience this again in the future.”
The outage underscored the importance of connectivity to daily life as individuals and businesses were cut off from communications and the ability to use mobile apps. AT&T advised consumers they could make calls over Wi-Fi and sought to respond to angry customers online. Many phones showed an “SOS” symbol on their screen, signaling they could only make emergency calls, while local governments offered alternate ways to reach 911.
Reports of outages on Downdetector began to fall midmorning, and at one point AT&T’s website showed that outages were limited to users in California, though users in other states were still reporting issues. Cricket, which is owned by AT&T, also reported that its users were experiencing wireless service interruptions and said it was working to restore service.
Reports also surfaced early Thursday that FirstNet, the network AT&T maintains for emergency services personnel, had experienced outages, but AT&T said around 10:30 a.m. that the network was fully operational.
Verizon experienced 3,000 reports of outages at one point on Thursday and T-Mobile about half that. Both companies said in statements that their networks were operating normally.
“Some customers experienced issues this morning when calling or texting with customers served by another carrier,” Verizon said. “We are continuing to monitor the situation.”
In an email, T-Mobile said that it did not experience an outage. “Downdetector is likely reflecting challenges our customers were having attempting to connect to users on other networks.”
Officials in Washington said they were working to understand the cause of the outage. A spokesman for the Federal Communications Commission said its inquiry was being handled by its Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, which was in touch with AT&T as well as other providers.
John Kirby, a National Security Council spokesman, said on a call with reporters on Thursday that the Biden administration was told “that AT&T has no reason to think this was a cybersecurity incident,” although he added that they would not be certain until an investigation had been completed.
Mr. Kirby said that, in addition to the F.C.C., the Department of Homeland Security and the F.B.I. were collaborating with technology companies to investigate the outage.
The F.B.I. said in a statement it was in touch with AT&T and would respond accordingly if any malicious activity was found.
Throughout the day, cities urged residents to find alternate ways of reaching emergency or municipal services, like landlines or phones connected to Wi-Fi. The City of Upper Arlington, Ohio, said the fire department might not be notified of fire alarms because of the outage. It urged that any fire alarm be followed up with a 911 call.
The San Francisco Fire Department said on social media that it was aware of an issue affecting AT&T users who were trying to call 911. “We are actively engaged and monitoring this,” the fire department said. “If you are an AT&T customer and cannot get through to 911, then please try calling from a landline.”
The Massachusetts State Police said on social media on Thursday morning that 911 call centers across the state had been flooded with calls from people checking to see if the emergency service worked from their phones. “Please do not do this,” the police said. “If you can successfully place a non-emergency call to another number via your cell service then your 911 service will also work.”
Even in less extreme circumstances, the outage complicated the many elements of life that have come to rely on a reliable connection to the internet.
Read the rest of the story here.
AUTHOR COMMENTARY
Mainstream media’s kneejerk but casual reaction that this might be a cyberattack is planting the seed in the masses’ minds. This is another “feeler;” to see how the masses react, and to get them better warned up to the idea of a real, full-blown cyberattack, EMP strike, grid down scenario. The chaos and confusion just this little bit caused speaks volumes. Now, just imagine when everything becomes inoperable… The masses will go haywire.
“As we also have forewarned you and testified” (1 Thessalonians 4:6(c)), a massive cyberattack/grid down scenario will happen soon enough, so just be ready for it; and in the wake of it, the government will use it to seize a massive amount of control on the people, and further exacerbate more foreign wars.
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[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).
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Thank you brother for the warning and information. This article was a kick in the rear for me I really need to stop procrastinating on getting prepared. I don’t know how far away from the catching up of the body of Christ we really are, but things are changing at a fast pace. The Lord is coming soon!
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 (KJV) For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
Just do the best you can, brother. Help yourself but always trust in the Lord first and foremost.
Proverbs 21:31 The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD.
Amen, thank you brother for the exhortation and scripture.
By and large, the reason this was such a big deal to the masses is because they literally live life through their devices and forgot how to function without it. It’s truly sad. Personally, I prefer life before technology.
for anyone that thinks slavery ended there’s the puddin’,
https://www.instagram.com/awaiting.the.king/p/C3lWFkOLBWL/
I honestly didn’t even notice the outage. Granted it’s not like I live under a proverbial rock when it comes to technology, but still.
Utility companies, (such as water and electric providers), have absolutely no business whatsoever hooking up their infrastructure to something so prone to hacking as the internet. Granted, the ability see and pay your bill online is nice, but if you cannot provide that without risking the particular utility service going down, then it’s not worth having that as an option. If said utility company just has to have a remote network access system, then build one that only you (the utility) company can access.
There was a small outage several weeks ago that struck Microsoft, AOl, Google/YouTube, and even my web hosting provider, so I couldn’t access most of my stuff temporarily, and that barely got press time. Did I panic? No, I just read a book instead and went to bed lol.
There was a movie released with big name Julia Roberts called Leave the World Behind and others are coming that touches on these things (systems going down, etc). Foreshadowing and programming at its finest, sadly.
did you see the abortion statue over in Texas?
so satanic.
No, I didn’t but sadly I’m sure it is bad Matthew 18: 6-7 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. [7] Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come: but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!
from the true and only word of God the KJV bible, I remember some young whore (her name is Desteney, and I don’t mean whore as in a cuss word I mean it because she is one) and she had a mischarge an abortion and two kids and she’s my age 17! I don’t remember the exact order that all happened, but O boy is she in trouble with God and as a Texan I am ashamed of this country (and nation) and pray for the wrath of God to destroy it and I mostly want to see so called church buildings, abortion clinics, evil hollywood, and all of the non-repentant satins destroyed from this godless country what would y’all like to see get destroyed by God first?