AT&T customers can get a $5 credit if they were affected by the major network outage last week. The company announced the reimbursement in a post on its website titled “Making it Right,” giving the particulars on how the refund will be distributed as well as a further explanation of the outage. The company is also trying to prevent this from happening again.
“We want to reassure our customers of our commitment to reliably connect them – anytime and anywhere. We’re crediting them for the average cost of a full day of service,” read the post. Customers don’t need to do anything to get the refund – AT&T is determining who was impacted by the outage and issuing credits accordingly. They should begin showing up on customers’ statements within one or two billing cycles. Of course, customers can reach out to AT&T customer service with questions or issues if they do not see a refund within that time.
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AT&T saw a widespread outage impacting thousands of customers around the U.S. on Thursday, Feb. 22. It lasted several hours but was resolved by 3 p.m. ET for all those affected. There was a flurry of reports about the possible causes of the outage. Some naturally worried that it was a cyber attack and that customer data might be compromised. However, AT&T now believes it was caused by a technical issue on their end.
“Our initial review of the cause of Thursday’s outage indicates it was due to the application and execution of an incorrect process used while working to expand our network, not a cyber attack,” read the statement. “We are investing billions to grow our network and deliver an exceptional customer experience. This is both a point of pride and a challenge that always requires care and focus.” As for data security, the post said: “We have not seen any evidence and have no reason to believe the Feb. 22 outage involved a third-party or that customer data was compromised during the event.”
The refund will not be given to customers of AT&T Business, AT&T Prepaid or Cricket. The post explained: “For the portion of consumer and small business customers most impacted by the outage, we are automatically applying an account credit to compensate them for the inconvenience they experienced. We are also working closely with our Business customers and will address their concerns as those discussions take place.”
AT&T customers who were impacted by the outage should see a $5 credit on their statement within one or two billing cycles. At the time of this writing, there are no signs that an outage like this will happen again any time soon.
