AT&T’s network is down, here’s what to do when your phone service has an outage

Customers of AT&T, the country’s largest wireless provider, reported widespread outages on Thursday.

Some AT&T customers saw SOS messages displayed in the status bar on their cellphones. The message indicates that the device is having trouble connecting to their cellular provider’s network.

That can be a big problem in an emergency. AT&T urged customers to connect to Wi-Fi to use their phones.

Wi-Fi calling is a built-in feature on most Android devices and iPhones and can be turned on under the phone’s settings.

“Some of our customers are experiencing wireless service interruptions this morning. We are working urgently to restore service to them. We encourage the use of Wi-Fi calling until service is restored,” AT&T said in a statement.