Yesterday afternoon, I lost signal to my iPhone and my computer. (at&t) Living out in the country, it was a bit disconcerting. I tried a number of fixes, but nothing worked. DH's phone worked in town, but not when he got home. He was able to call that at&t 611 number and they weren't much help. They said something about a couple of the cell towers 3 and 6 miles from here were not functioning. I drove into the smaller town I live by, hoping to get a better signal, but didn't.
I listened to the TV, in case it was widespread, but nobody was talking about it....so I was pretty sure it wasn't Russia's doing. haha What added to my confusion was that it was totally quiet out here........no traffic sounds, no planes......sort of like on 9-11.
I have to say, it was pretty disconcerting living without the ability to call for help, if needed. The at&t lady said our 911 would still work.........but it didn't, when we tested it.
What would happen if we had a fire? Or had a medical emergency? Or had an intruder? I got rid of my landline because of all the problems we were having with it and they would have needed to put a cable in for 1000+ feet or more, through trees, the garden, the yard, etc. So I got an inexpensive Cellular One back-up phone........but of course, it didn't work either because it was wireless. I got it in case I lost my phone or it died......but I hadn't planned on such an all-encompassing problem.
It was quite disconcerting to think of how dependent this whole country is, with wireless things.
I was going to get a temp. phone, but decided to try the small at&t store in our small town......which wasn't very good the last time I went. But a smart guy was there and figured it all out for me. There's a way of pushing on the home button at the same time as the on/off button that can reset things. He told me at home, to take the battery out of our personal wi-fi device........and it worked! He said that at&t has been having trouble with their cell towers and it seemed to be connected to their getting rid of 3g transmissions. But he said that many times now, he can't get people's cell phones to work that come into his store. I used to hate at&t when we had the landline, so maybe they're getting bad with their wireless service too?
Anyhow.....a bit scary to feel so unable to connect, especially if there had been an emergency. Think of the damage that could be done to large areas if these towers were targeted?
Anyhow.......I'm glad it could be fixed for us.