San Francisco and the Peninsula are experiencing AT&T cell phone service outages since December 10 and continuing. AT&T blames it on "degraded" equipment (whatever the hell that means), heavy iPhone use of Internet access, and an increasingly scarce resource: bandwidth. Apparently Verizon is not having the same problems. Click Comments below to register your complaints and to see what other Pacificans are reporting.
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/12/att-outage-has-san-francisco-users-in-a-tizzy/
My cell service came back on around 7 p.m. I noticed a helicopter flying around the top of Montara Mountain yesterday afternoon. Also noticed lights on the top tower.
Posted by: jim alex | December 18, 2009 at 08:01 AM
After 9 days of no service, my service finally came back on this afternoon. A couple hours ago I saw 2 heavy equipment AT&T trucks driving west on Linda Mar Blvd ... I thought this might be a good sign. Looks like the Linda Mar Valley is back in service!
Thanks to everyone for pushing AT&T to get it together and get the tower fixed!
Posted by: Patricia Delich | December 17, 2009 at 03:55 PM
Good Job, Kerry!!!
Posted by: jim alex | December 17, 2009 at 02:31 PM
I contacted the Chron and the TV channels. The Chron and 7 on Your Side contacted AT&T and Channel 5 covered it on air last night. According to KTVU:
"AT&T spokesman John Britton had an update. "Late today, our friends at the Forest Service called us with the good news," said Britton. "They want to meet us in the morning and try and help us get our repair equipment up there. That's plan A; get up there and fix it. If that doesn't work then we're going bring in a helicopter, send some people up there and see what we can do."
http://www.ktvu.com/news/21989411/detail.html
At least the media is paying attention. I was shocked at the response I got. Channel 5 came to the house and interviewed my husband.
I don't think AT&T can ignore us anymore.
Posted by: Kerry Jones | December 17, 2009 at 10:17 AM
KPIX Channel 5 was doing a live feed from Park Mall yesterday around 6. I also saw them in front of the ATT store in Linda Mar around 3 pm
Posted by: jim alex | December 17, 2009 at 09:06 AM
I'm also having problems ... the last time I was able to make a call on my cell was on 12/9. I called AT&T on 12/12 and the phone tech told me my phone needed a new SIMM card. I told the tech I doubted that was the case since I had gotten a new SIMM in the last year. But I went down to the AT&T store to get a new one anyway. The in-store tech said I didn't need a new SIMM card but wanted to sell me a new phone. He said that getting a new phone would make it all work again. (right). Of course, it didn't help. On 12/14 I called AT&T again and complained a second time. They said we didn't have service because of the bad storm. Bad storm? I told her we didn't have a bad storm, just some rain.
Today (12/16) I called AT&T a third time and really pressed for answers, asking to talk to each person's manager. I was finally told that the road to the tower was out and needed to be repaired. So I called San Mateo County Public Works and they told me the road isn't out. AT&T feels they can't get their equipment through on the muddy road and wants to wait until it dries out! Good Lord ... we're in the middle of winter ... when will the road dry out?!? Will we ever have service again?!?
BTW, here is AT&T's after hours support line: 866-801-3600.
Posted by: Patricia Delich | December 16, 2009 at 09:34 PM
Welcome to the world near Terra Nova where is never any coverage for 2G cell phones. If you look at their coverage map there is a big donut hole of no coverage there. They claim there is 3G coverage for newer i-phones, but most people still have trouble back here. Go to their website http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/welcome/index.jsp,, click on the listing for "coverage" and you will see it. Put in an address like the one for Terra Nova, and you will see the big white nothing that is the coverage for most cell phones in that area. Verizon is the only one that works back here.
Posted by: Karen Fields | December 16, 2009 at 09:14 PM
I have not had service since Friday at 8am....what gets me is that they knew how inaccessible this road was yet they wait until someone contacts the SF Chronicle before they decide to take a helicopter up to the tower to "assess the situation". The problem is there are not enough customers in Pacifica for ATT to give a rats ass about.
Today while in Linda Mar Shopping Center, I noticed ABC and CBS news trucks at the ATT store....about time! If it were SF...they wouldnt have waited 5 days to make it a news story.
We will be lucky to have service by this weekend, I predict it will be weeks...ATT could care less about us in Pacifica.
ATT should reimburse all of my potential business that I lost along with a month of free service.
Everyone keep calling otherwise they will forget about us. Call Tech support directly.
1 877 998 5175
Good Luck
Posted by: Sandy S | December 16, 2009 at 09:01 PM
The tower they're trying to get to is on top of Montara Mountain. Try the hike to the summit - up the backside from Montara - on the road they have to drive. I'm surprised vehicles can make it up there in the summer time, let alone in the winter!
Posted by: Tim Brand | December 16, 2009 at 04:47 PM
I spoke with tech support AGAIN (my twice daily call) regarding the outage in Linda Mar. The field people tell them that the road is inaccessible due to bad weather, that they can't make it "up the mountain."
It's been dry here for days and there is no mountain. I offered to take them to the tower in my Jeep. A swampy road on a non-existent mountain? Ridiculous.
So far I have gotten $30 off my bill and 500 extra minutes. Who cares? I can't use the phone at home.
I keep demanding to talk to someone who is actually in the field, in the imaginary swamp. So far no luck, but I intend to continue to call every two hours starting tomorrow.
1-877-970-6660
Posted by: Kerry Jones | December 15, 2009 at 06:26 PM
I have had the same problem with ATT. Their service has been below acceptable levels for several months and now there has been no service since Friday 12/11. I called them several times and get ticket numbers from them, only to find out when I call them back to follow up on the ticket numbers that I do not have a valid ticket number and they have no record of my previous calls reporting service disruptions. It sounds like ATT doesn't want to keep records of their poor services so they lie to their customers by claiming they have no record of a reported problem. This all sounds like a scam....ATT is either too broke to fix their degraded towers or feel this area isn't important enough for them to fix in a timely fashion. I'm going to cancel ATT and get a Verizon account.
Posted by: Jeff | December 15, 2009 at 11:16 AM
Just spoke with rep from AT&T. Expect outage until Thursday. Call 800-331-0500 to get a ticket number so that you can get credit on your next bill for days that you did not have service.
Posted by: Kerry DeMartini | December 15, 2009 at 11:10 AM
Still no service today in Park Pacifica. Service worked great in the City and Oakland yesterday.
Customer Service offered a $25.00 credit.
When Cingular merged with AT&T, service was horrible in Park Pacifica. I went through the changing towers; that did not help.
Posted by: jim alex | December 14, 2009 at 03:38 PM
I am in Linda Mar and have had no service since Thursday. Occasionally I have gotten one bar on Edge for about a minute or two, and then the call quality was useless. I contacted AT&T on Saturday and they said they were aware and working on it. I also used AT&T's new iPhone app to report the outage yesterday (uses wifi connection). This is totally insane.
Posted by: Connie Hyde | December 14, 2009 at 10:57 AM
Our AT&T phones have been out also. AT&T call centers don't know what the problem is. Caution to people considering Verizon: It has intentionally redirected towers away from Pacifica before. After eight tickets and two weeks of no service at home (Rosita near San Pedro Valley Park), we dropped Verizon.
Posted by: Jason Fiala | December 14, 2009 at 09:15 AM
my phone worked all weekend and i live in linda mar ..never lost service but the signal was weak given the storm cover...i am also an AT&T customer
Posted by: Michael Collins | December 13, 2009 at 10:02 PM
You are correct, Verizon is not having a problem.
Posted by: Bruce Hotchkiss | December 13, 2009 at 06:26 PM
Same issue here -- no service since mid-afternoon Friday. Plan on calling to get monthly fee adjusted. Had some service when in Linda Mar shopping center, but nowhere else in the valley.
Spoke to a woman from Montara who reported the same issue.
Posted by: Maureen Torres | December 13, 2009 at 03:52 PM
Our AT&T cell phone has been out since Friday. My daughters said that it is not working at Terra Nova. We called Friday to say that the service was not working and were told that it was under repair. Today, Sunday, my wife called and said that the service was still not happening. The person in Customer Service said that we did not call on Friday and that there are 4 towers in Pacifica, of which 3 are degraded, but that we should still have service. AT&T Customer Service is the worst. He said we did not call on Friday, which we did, so he called my wife a liar. Then he argued that we should have service despite the fact we have not had service for three days. I guess they are misrepresenting themselves and their ability to deliver quality service. We were also told that they give NO SERVICE GUARANTEE, but they do guarantee to cash your check despite no service!!
Go To Verizon; they are not having issues.
Posted by: Mike O'Neill | December 13, 2009 at 02:04 PM