Thousands in metro Atlanta without cell service after AT&T outage

• It is unclear what led to the outage or when service will be restored.
• Verizon and T-Mobile customers also reported outages Thursday, but at a much lower scale than AT&T.

Why it matters: The outages left customers unable to place calls, send texts or use the internet on their mobile phones, prompting safety warnings from authorities, Axios' Ivana Saric writes.

• Mayor Andre Dickens said in a statement Thursday morning that Atlanta's E-911 system was not affected by the outage. Non-emergency 911 and 311 were down, the AJC reports.

The city was "actively gathering information to determine how the City of Atlanta can assist in resolving this issue," Dickens said.

• Cobb County officials say the E-911 system is operational but are advising people to text 911 or use Wi-Fi calling alternatives, the AJC said.
• In Gwinnett County, people experienced difficulties contacting the county's on-demand transit services like paratransit and microtransit, per the AJC.

What they're saying: "We are working urgently to restore service to them. We encourage the use of Wi-Fi calling until service is restored," AT&T told Axios in a statement.

Editor's note: We will provide updates as they become available.