AT&T says some customers will receive credits as a result of network outage

AT&T said that it plans to reimburse customers for the nearly 12-hour network outage that took place Feb. 22.

The company announced in a news release late Saturday that it will issue a $5 credit to “potentially impacted” AT&T Wireless customers, which it says is the “average cost of a full day of service.”

“We recognize the frustration this outage has caused and know we let many of our customers down,” the company said late Saturday. “We understand this may have impacted their ability to connect with family, friends, and others. Small business owners may have been impacted, potentially disrupting an essential way they connect with customers.”

The release added that “we’re also taking steps to prevent this from happening again in the future. Our priority is to continuously improve and be sure our customers stay connected,” it said.

The credit will not apply to customers under AT&T’s Business or Prepaid plans or those who have Cricket Wireless accounts, according to CNN.

Outage tracker Downdetector noted that outages, which began at about 3:30 a.m. on Thursday, peaked at around 73,000 reported incidents. AT&T had more than 58,000 outages around noon, in locations including Houston, Atlanta and Chicago. The carrier is the country’s largest, with more than 240 million subscribers. By 9 p.m., the reports on AT&T’s network were fewer than 1,000.

There was some fear that the outage was caused by a cyberattack, but that was eventually ruled out.

On Sunday, AT&T ‘s CEO in a letter to AT&T employees apologized for the outage that knocked out service for thousands of customers, calling it a “challenging day.”

“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,” he wrote. “We are investing billions to grow our network and deliver an even more exceptional customer experience. This is both a point of pride and a challenge that always requires care and focus.”