After nearly a week of silence, cell phones belonging to AT&T customers on the island’s North Side came to life again Wednesday morning after repairs to AT&T’s Crown Mountain transmitter finally revived service.
“It was some kind of problem at the tower,” said Kyle Garnett, assistant manager of the AT&T store in Crown Bay Marina. “We got the email this morning saying it was fixed and working.”
Since problems began on Feb. 11, phones using the 2G, or second-generation, network had been rendered all but useless on the North Side in communities such as Hull Bay, Caret Bay and Dorothea.
Managers at AT&T said subscribers using newer 3G devices, such as the latest BlackBerry Bold and iPhone models, were not affected.
Emergency calls to 911 were never affected by the outage, Garnett said. “911 always works,” Garnett said, “even if you don’t have a SIM card. It’s never an issue.”
Garnett said he was not sure how the company would handle requests for statement adjustments or refunds for the time customers were left without service.
“I’m sure it will be handled on a case-by-case basis,” he said.
Customer service for AT&T can be reached at (800) 331-0500.