AT&T blames outages on hardware

Many in Louisville took to social media Tuesday reporting widespread Internet and cellphone network service outages.

Users bombarded the social media accounts of telecommunication companies AT&T, as well as Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint with complaints about the outage. By about 8 p.m., AT&T users were tweeting that service had been restored. Verizon and Sprint let customers know service was expected to be restored at close to the same time.

AT&T spokeswoman Cathy Lewandowski said the company identified their outage stemmed from a hardware issue.

"Wireless and wireline service has been restored for all customers in parts of the Southeast affected by a hardware-related network issue," she said. "Our engineers completed repairs and service is running normally. We apologize for any inconvenience."

Dana Spratt of MetroSafe in Louisville stressed the agency’s 911 operations were fully functional and able to receive and make calls during the outage.

MetroSafe began receiving reports of Internet-based communication service issues around 3 p.m. Tuesday, Spratt said.

MetroSafe activated its emergency procedures to assist other police departments in Jefferson County and surrounding counties that might have been hampered by the outages.

The Jeffersontown Police Department 911 system was hit by the service outage, the agency posted on Facebook.

Other major metropolitan areas were experiencing similar outages, including Evansville, Ind.; Bowling Green and Lexington in Kentucky; Huntsville, Ala.; and Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga, Tenn. However, Louisville appeared to be among the worst hit by the service outages, the Down Detector maps show.

Verizon tweeted, “We’re aware of a connectivity issue in the Alabama/Tennessee area. Our engineers are working to resolve quickly. Will update as we know more.”

T-Mobile responded to angry customers online, telling them, “We’re aware that customers across all carriers are affected in this region. Engineers are on it ...”

Sprint also joined the social media conversation Tuesday, writing on Twitter to customers, “Some customers in AL/KY/TN unable to access voice/data. Issue caused by a local exchange provider. Network teams working to restore ASAP.”

Reporter Matthew Glowicki can be reached at (502) 582-4989. Follow him on Twitter at @MattGlo.