File photo of Attorney General Letitia James on February 16, 2024. Image: Michael M. Santiago (Getty Images)
New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, announced on Thursday that she’s opened an investigation into the recent AT&T outage that left customers across the country without service. And if you live in the state of New York, James would like to hear from you.
“Americans
rely
on
cell
service
providers
for
consistent
and
reliable
service
to
help
them
with
nearly
every
aspect
of
their
daily
lives,”
James
said
in
a
statement
published
online.
“Nationwide
outages
are
not
just
an
inconvenience,
they
can
be
dangerous,
and
it’s
critical
that
we
protect
consumers
when
an
outage
occurs.
I
encourage
any
New
Yorker
who
was
affected
by
this
disruption
to
file
a
complaint
with
my
office,”
James
continued.
The
outage
started
the
morning
of
February
22
and left
wireless
customers
puzzled
about
what
might
be
happening.
Initially,
people
with
other
carriers
like
T-Mobile
and
Verizon
also
reported
their
networks
were
down,
though
we
learned
later
it
was
simply
a
product
of
so
many
carriers
piggybacking
on
top
of
each
other.
Just
because
you
pay
T-Mobile
each
month
doesn’t
mean
you’re
always
connecting
to
T-Mobile’s
towers.
Several
conspiracy
theories
started
to
circulate
online
during
the
outage,
with
many
people
comparing
it
to
the
Netflix
movie
Leave
the
World
Behind
and
Alex
Jones
even
insisting
it
must
be
the
Chinese
government
conducting
a
cyberattack
against
American
infrastructure.
But
AT&T
later
explained
there
was
no
cyberattack.
AT&T has offered a $5 credit to customers over the outage, though many on social media complained that wasn’t enough. And while you’re free to complain to anyone who will listen on Facebook and X, telling government investigators seems like it could be a more productive endeavor.
New
Yorkers
are
encouraged
to
file
a
complaint
with
the
Office
of
the
Attorney
General’s
online
portal.
Comments