A widespread outage affecting AT&T and Verizon customers has left thousands of Americans across at least 24 states without access to critical services, including 911 emergency calls. The disruptions, which began around 12:26pm ET, escalated significantly four hours later, according to DownDetector, a website that monitors online outages.

Customers have reported a range of issues, including dropped calls, no internet connection, and difficulty hearing the person on the other end of the line. Some AT&T customers have also been unable to make calls to non-AT&T users.

The outage appears to be affecting Verizon customers primarily in the Northeast, including New York, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, and Seattle, while AT&T customers are experiencing issues in Tampa, Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, and Phoenix.

This is the second major cellular outage this year, raising concerns about the vulnerability of US infrastructure to hackers. The cause of the outage and the exact number of affected customers are currently unknown.

In the meantime, customers who are unable to reach 911 are advised to contact their local emergency services directly.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)