If you’re on T-Mobile – or an MvNO like Mint Mobile that uses its network – and experienced no service, dropped calls, or no connectivity on November 12, 2024, it likely wasn’t just you.
Just a few weeks after a major Verizon outage, T-Mobile experienced a smaller outage in the Salt Lake City region of Utah. At the peak, reported outages for T-Mobile shot up to over 19,500 on Down Detector—an online tool used to track service outages from user reports—with many frustrated customers leaving comments on the site.
Similarly, impacted customers are taking to X (formerly Twitter) and Threads to express frustration and seek answers from T-Mobile about the lack of service in Utah. Unlike Verizon, which impacted customers nationwide, T-Mobile only hit a smaller region due to a “brief mechanical issue” at a facility in Salt Lake City.
Ahead, you can read our live reporting on the T-Mobile outage and see the carrier’s full comment on the service disruption.
Judging by social posts from impacted T-Mobile customers, this network outage is pretty widespread but also has some hotspots. More than a few folks have posted to Threads and X (formerly Twitter), calling out service issues in Utah, specifically Salt Lake City.
From Down Detector’s interactive map, we can see that service disruptions are being reported in Utah as well as Los Angeles, Phoenix, Atlanta, and New York City.
Along with T-Mobile’s core customers, this outage is impacting MvNOs – aka mobile virtual network operators – like Mint Mobile. These carriers use T-Mobile’s network – or another major carrier like Verizon or AT&T – to provide service.
TechRadar’s Editor-at-Large Lance Ulanoff noted this in a post to X (formerly Twitter) and Threads. At the same time, we’re seeing Mint Mobile customers flag network issues.
Raise your hand if @TMobile (or one of its MVNOs like @Mintmobile ) is out for youNovember 12, 2024
While less than the surge of over 19,000 reported outages for T-Mobile, Down Detector is currently showing over 1,000 reported issues for Mint Mobile. In the comments on the site, many are reporting no or minimal service in Utah.
Along with various reports on social media and Down Detector reporting T-Mobile issues in Utah as a whole, CBS affiliate KUTV in St. George, Utah, reports that a ‘major event’ is impacting service for the carrier and CenturyLink customers.
T-Mobile reportedly confirmed the service outage, and KUTV wrote that “the event impacted four cell towers,” but additional details are not yet available. There is also no estimate for service restoration, but judging from previous outages for AT&T and Verizon, it can take several hours to return to normal.
While T-Mobile has yet to comment publicly on the ongoing network issues, customers are attempting to get support on X via the @TMobileHelp account. It’s currently being flooded with many messages and mostly canned, scripted responses asking the customers to “direct message” them.
Many of these are about issues in Utah, specifically Salt Lake City, with @TMobileHelp even trying to figure out why one customer is on WiFi calling versus cellular. That’s a good thing in the event of a cellular outage, as with the feature enabled, you’ll still be able to make calls on WiFi.
Hi, let’s see what’s causing you to have to be on Wi-Fi calling in Salt Lake City, Utah. Meet us in DM with your address. We’ll review the coverage in your area right away. Thanks. ^ShannonRobinson https://t.co/8DIvLVByJjNovember 12, 2024
While reports on Down Detector did surge to over 19,000 for T-Mobile, reported outages for the wireless carrier are beginning to slow down. As of 3:23 PM ET, there were above 5,600 reported outages—a smaller sum, but still indicating a larger pool of issues than to be expected on a normal day.
The site’s comments still point to service disruptions in South Salt Lake City, West Jordan, Ogden, and Sandy City Utah. Signaling that this state, along with the earlier report of four cell towers being impacted, is the main affected area.
Even with many reported outages and folks commenting on social media about issues with T-Mobile, others note that it is business as usual.
It’s likely that if you have a newer iPhone or Android phone and are experiencing T-Mobile’s outage, you might have noticed that your network bars in the top right corner have been replaced by the word “SOS” and an icon depicting a satellite. This means your device has no cellular connectivity, but if you need to reach emergency services or send a message, you can use the device’s satellite connectivity to get through.
You can see our guide to using satellite messaging here, but there is a good chance you’ll see this icon for the first time during a network outage.
After a flurry of reported outages, reaching nearly 20,000 on Down Detector, it seems that T-Mobile’s network is returning … for some. Several commenters on Down Detector and social media platforms like Threads and X have noted that service is returning.
One customer, Kent J Barnes, wrote, “Back on line in Murray, UT Hope it lasts” on Down Detector, with others saying service is back in Salt Lake City. These reports of service returning come as reports on the site continue to drop, sitting at 1,848 as of 3:52PM ET.
T-Mobile is back up
T-Mobile has responded to TechRadar and confirmed that the network issue is now resolved. The carrier has noted that it was not a “major outage” and only impacted customers in the Salt Lake City area.
Here is the full statement from T-Mobile: “A facility in the Salt Lake area had a brief mechanical issue that impacted connectivity for some customers in that market, but this is now resolved and service is restored. We apologize for the inconvenience.”
It seems the culprit for the outage was a mechanical issue, but the good news is that the service is restored. If you’re on T-Mobile, it can’t hurt to restart your phone.