T-Mobile Has Now Had Two Major Outages in Four Days — Here's What Happened

T-Mobile customers have now dealt with two separate network outages in less than a week, and the carrier still hasn't explained what caused either one.

The first and larger outage hit on Monday, July 27, starting around 4 PM Eastern and lasting until about 11:30 PM. According to The Mobile Report, more than 62,000 people reported problems on Downdetector at the outage's peak, with many phones showing "SOS" instead of normal signal bars. 

The outage wasn't limited to T-Mobile's own customers, either — prepaid brands and companies that run on T-Mobile's network, including Mint Mobile, Boost Mobile, and Google Fi, were affected too. T-Mobile confirmed service was restored that night but has not said publicly what caused the problem.

Just three days later, on Thursday, July 30, PhoneArena reported a second wave of issues hit, this time smaller but still widespread. Complaints spiked between 6 and 9 AM Eastern, with customers in Chicago, Atlanta, New York, and other cities reporting lost signal, SOS mode, or trouble connecting to T-Mobile's 5G Home Internet service. 

This second outage generated a few thousand Downdetector reports, well below Monday's numbers, but it raised new questions about whether the two incidents were connected. As of the latest updates, T-Mobile hasn't confirmed a link or a root cause for either outage.

For customers affected by the July 27 outage specifically, T-Mobile has been offering bill credits, though not automatically. Customers who contact support through the T-Life app, online chat, social media, or by phone and ask about the outage have reported getting anywhere from $5 to $20, depending on the representative, with a few people reporting more after describing a specific hardship. Customers on prepaid brands or other companies riding T-Mobile's network are unlikely to qualify for any credit.

With two outages in the same week and no official explanation for either, it's a rough stretch for T-Mobile's network reputation, even as the company continues rolling out new plans and promotions elsewhere.

Source: The Mobile Report, PhoneArena