Nearly two weeklong AT&T outage hurts businesses in South Dallas

DALLAS — The phones are quiet at Two Podners Restaurant in South Dallas. They're not ringing at Walker Auto Body down the street either. It's not because no one is calling. "Since we returned from Christmas, there’s been no phone," Mark Walker explained in the office of his auto body shop.

"I’m very unhappy at this moment." AT&T service is down for a swath of South Dallas and businesses said the now nearly two week long outage has started to impact their revenues. "Because of that, my cash register not ringing at all too. As much as it would be," said Fred Conwright, who runs Two Podners.

The outage to his service means he can't take called in takeout orders and, for a time, couldn't process credit cards either. "I can’t tell you how many people live by the card and walked back out [of the restaurant]," he said. He now has an internet hotspot to access credit card payments.

Walker fears he's losing out on the busy post holiday rush of car repairs because insurance companies and customers can't reach him to inquire about availability. "This time of year we’re looking to get new business to launch the New Year," he said. The impact of the outage was first reported by the Dallas Morning News .

In a statement, an AT&T spokesperson said: "There were damages to multiple pieces of equipment in multiple areas and we are working around the clock to restore service for our customers." Conwright said adding to his frustration was the feeling his part of South Dallas can just not catch a break.

"Because every time we have an issue in this part of the city, we don’t get a response like other parts of the city do and this is a plight that we’ve been fighting for a long time," he said. AT&T denied that the location or demographics of the area have impacted service restoration.

"We treat all outages with urgency and handle them as quickly as possible," the spokesperson said. Conwright said the company told him this week it could take more than two weeks to get the phone back. "I said no. No, we gotta do something better than that. I won’t survive that long," he said.

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