AT&T to Credit Customers After Internet Outages

AT&T announced Wednesday it will begin crediting customers for internet outages and long wait times, the latest initiative in the company’s years-long effort to revamp its customer service.

Starting Thursday, individual AT&T customers and small businesses experiencing a fiber outage lasting more than 20 minutes or a wireless outage lasting more than an hour will automatically receive a full day’s bill credit. Customers who call the company’s technical support line and wait more than five minutes will receive a $5 Visa gift card.

The new policy is part of a $750 million investment the company has made in customer service over the past four years, said Kellyn Smith Kenney, AT&T’s chief marketing and development officer. AT&T customers will also be able to check the status of their outage on a newly created website.

The announcement follows a year of high-profile Internet outages involving AT&T and other companies. Last February, tens of thousands of AT&T customers nationwide there was a clock failure. In September Verizon there was a malfunction this affected more than 100,000 customers.

The most devastating incident occurred in July when cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike released a software update that temporarily disabled most of the world’s computer systems.

Ms. Kenney said AT&T outages have not become more common in recent years and that they still affect a small percentage of customers.

A major focus of the company’s investment in customer service is automation, including the use of artificial intelligence for customer service, as well as allowing customers to communicate with AT&T representatives through messaging apps such as iMessage and WhatsApp.

Verizon, for its part, announced last year saw the introduction of a new batch of artificial intelligence-powered customer service tools.