AT&T outages in Santa Barbara force users to switch to Wi-Fi

If you're an AT&T customer and you've recently been in Santa Barbara – or if you live there – chances are you've experienced issues with cellular service.

There's a report by Santa Barbara Independent that says some AT&T users experienced significant disruptions to their mobile service, with many reporting dropped calls, undelivered messages, and an inability to connect to cellular data. As the issues persisted, users increasingly relied on Wi-Fi calling just to maintain basic communication.

In a statement released Monday, a company spokesperson suggested the problem stemmed from an outage on a different carrier's network, stating that they were in contact with a local provider working to resolve the issue. According to AT&T, the disruption occurred outside their own systems, and they were assisting to ensure services were brought back online as quickly as possible.

However, that claim raised eyebrows among both customers and competitors. T-Mobile, which is also present in Santa Barbara, refuted AT&T's explanation. A spokesperson from T-Mobile's media relations team stated they had experienced no service interruptions in the area and expressed uncertainty about what AT&T might be referring to. Local T-Mobile store employees echoed this, adding that the store had seen a sharp rise in visits from frustrated AT&T customers seeking to switch providers.



Despite the concerns, emergency communication systems in the region remained unaffected. Santa Barbara County Fire Department confirmed that their teams encountered no abnormal disruptions during the outage.

Captain Scott Safechuck, the department's Public Information Officer, acknowledged the existence of some persistent dead zones in the region but emphasized that these were long-standing and unrelated to any sudden service issues. He noted that the department relies on satellite backups in such areas to ensure uninterrupted communication.

Meanwhile, AT&T's customer service offered only general explanations for the disruptions, citing routine causes like tower repairs, maintenance work, or inclement weather. Customers were advised to activate Wi-Fi calling and check AT&T's outage map online for further updates.

Then, AT&T reported that the service problems had been fully resolved and indicated that only 28 customers had been affected.