AT&T Says It Will Now Credit You for Outages and Long Customer Service Wait Times

AT&T says it wants to improve customer service, and one way to do that is by giving customers credits for internet outages and long phone wait times.

The company said Wednesday that going forward, customers will receive a full day’s bill credit for any fiber outage lasting more than 20 minutes or wireless outage longer than one hour. If a customer calling customer service by phone has to wait more than five minutes, they will receive a $5 Visa gift card.

It’s not much—and customers should be vigilant to make sure AT&T is actually paying—but the costs could increase for AT&T and prompt it to improve its performance. Spectrum made a similar commitment last year.

The initiative is reminiscent of European laws that require airlines to compensate passengers for delays. improved on-time arrival.

AT&T has experience some widespread network outages in 2024, which could be incredibly disruptive in a world that relies on always-on connectivity. Job interviews can be cut short via Zoom, homework will have to wait, and of course, sports broadcasts are becoming increasingly popular. let’s move on to streaming can be interrupted at the most inopportune moment.

It doesn’t help that ISPs like AT&T have a stronghold across much of the US—in some parts of the country, especially rural areas, consumers only have one or two Internet providers to choose from. Services like SpaceX’s Starlink are helping to alleviate this problem to some extent, and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) continues to direct capital to develop broadband in rural areas as part of the Rural Broadband Accountability Plan.

According to New York TimesAT&T’s new policy is part of a $750 million investment the company has made in customer service over the past four years. AT&T Chief Marketing and Development Officer Kellyn Smith Kenney said network outages have not been more frequent in recent years.

AT&T also plans to launch a dedicated website where customers can check the status of outages so they don’t have to go to social media to find out if they’re alone or not.