We all hate outages. But AT&T wants to make up for them by paying customers if a service disruption occurs on its wireless or fiber networks.
The carrier’s new AT&T Guarantee pledges to automatically issue “a bill credit equaling a full day of service” for customers who suffer a network outage.
“In the event of a network interruption, we will work diligently to restore service and make it right for fiber customers who experience 20 minutes or more and wireless customers who experience 60 minutes or more of a covered outage,” the carrier said.
Offering credits for an outage is nothing new; AT&T issued a $5 credit for a February 2024 outage. Sometimes, customers have to request them, but AT&T says its guarantee program is designed to enshrine compensation as an automatic benefit for customers.
Residential AT&T fiber customers will receive either a credit or a “reward card” if the outage lasts more than 20 minutes. In addition, the carrier promises to issue reward cards “if your wait time for technical support exceeded 5 minutes and you’re not offered a callback or didn’t receive one, or you couldn’t schedule a same or next-day fiber technician appointment.”
For AT&T wireless customers, the outage must not only last 60 minutes or more but also be “caused by a single incident impacting 10 or more towers.” The guarantee also excludes events beyond AT&T’s control, such as natural disasters, weather-related events, or outages caused by third parties. Fiber customers also won’t receive a benefit if the outage is due to planned maintenance.
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“If outage lasts for more than 24 hours, customer will receive credit for each additional day of the outage,” AT&T adds. The program is slated to launch on Jan. 9.
Although AT&T says the program is the first of its kind, Charter Communications announced a similar guarantee in September for Spectrum customers. “If a neighborhood experiences an outage that lasts more than two hours, our agents will offer a credit for the full day,” Charter said at the time.
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About Michael Kan
Senior Reporter
