When AT&T subscribers tried to use their cell phones in North Georgia this afternoon, they got a message saying “Emergency Calls Only.”
On Signal Mountain, a terse “Network Busy” message popped up when they tried to use their phones.
They are not alone.
According to news reports in The Tennessean in Nashville and numerous other news sources, AT&T customers in Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama were all experiencing outages Tuesday afternoon.
Outages also affected customers in some areas, WAFF-TV in Huntsville and other sources reported.
But by Wednesday morning, AT&T said all service was back on.
On downdetector.com, an online site which monitors problems experienced by wireless networks, more than 11,000 complaints regarding AT&T were reported Tuesday.
“Recent reports mainly originated from Louisville, Lexington, Nashville, Evansville, Knoxville, Bowling Green, Huntsville, Chattanooga, Owensboro and Jeffersonville,” the site noted.
The site said it also received about 1,000 complaints each from T-Mobile and Verizon customers in some areas, including Huntsville.
Many of those complainants were from the Tennessee Valley area.
“Out in Ringgold, Ga,” Sara Pankau reported, and Rhonda Mulkey at Northwest Whitfield High reported “No service in Cohutta, Ga. or Cleveland, Tn.”
“Down in the town of Signal Mountain, Tn,” according to a complaint by Chris Cole of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Likewise, “No service in Chattanooga,” Sharla Osborne of Chattanooga reported to downdetector.com readers.