Our system detected unusual activity on our network on May 14, and we took down the network in line with our protocols. We determined this unusual activity was a cyber incident executed by a third party. We informed the FBI and state officials and enlisted the assistance of experts in this field. We began working on an investigation into how the incident occurred and at the same time implemented our restoration plan to get voice and SMS services back as quickly as possible.

If your phone isn’t showing service yet, you may need to re-register it with the network. A quick way to do that is by turning Airplane Mode on and off: 

• Turn Airplane Mode ON. Wait about 10 seconds.
• Turn Airplane Mode OFF. Your phone should reconnect to the network.
• Still not seeing service? Try restarting your phone. If you haven’t restarted your phone in the last 24 hours, another restart may be required.
• If you are still having issues, please contact customer care via links below and they will work with you on a solution. Customer Care hours are 8am-8 pm CST weekdays, 8am-5pm CST weekends.

Our porting and provisioning systems have been restored and number transfers are now processing as expected. If you are looking for a porting pin, please contact our Customer Care team via links below.

911 access remains a top priority. During any carrier outage, federal protocols ensure emergency calls are rerouted to other carrier networks. Sometimes the call connection can take a moment, and success depends on the performance of the other networks. We've followed all protocols and our systems remain in compliance. 911 service remains active and available, and we’ve confirmed that 911 calls have been working and continue to work on our network.

As a gesture of goodwill, we’re applying an automatic adjustment for your outage time on July bills – no action needed.

And because our care goes beyond the expected, eligible customers can also activate our Double the Downtime offer – an additional adjustment that matches what we’re already applying, totaling 2x the outage value.

Opt-in for the Double the Downtime offer or view more FAQs here.

We know our customers may have questions about automatic adjustment and Double the Downtime offer eligibility. Eligibility is based on account details, and our Customer Care team can confirm if your account qualifies. Contact them via the contact information below. 

Services, including both inbound and outbound calling and text messaging, are performing well for most customers following recent restoration efforts.  9-1-1 service and cell phone data services (as well as popular messaging apps like WhatsApp) remained available despite this incident. 

If your services have not been fully restored, please reboot your phone and test your service again. If still not working, please reach out to our support team via contact information below. 

The incident was concentrated on an area of our network separate from where we store sensitive information related to customers. While it will be some time before we have the certainty we would like, at this time, we have a high degree of confidence that information related to you (e.g., your name, your address, your financial information) was not involved in this event. If we learn otherwise, we will provide appropriate notice.

May 20 was the first time we were in a position to state what happened due to the ongoing investigation and restoration activities. We had anticipated that voice services would be down for only a short time. We had hoped to announce its restoration together with the conclusion that the outage resulted from a cyber incident, but the restoration did not happen as quickly as we would have liked. We heard our community’s concerns, and we determined the right thing to do was share what we know rather than wait for full restoration.

We wish we had more specific information. Unfortunately, these incidents are complex matters, and not all the facts are at our fingertips the moment we want answers. 

This is false. There has already been a good deal of misinformation online about this incident. Automatic updates are generally recommended.

Currently, majority of voice services and text messaging are performing well for most customers. If you are having issues with these services, restarting your phone may help resolve these issues. You may need to reboot your phone multiple times to regain service. 

No, Cellcom will never send a text message to you asking for financial information. If you ever have any doubt that any communication you received is both from Cellcom and legitimate, we encourage you to contact us here or use other contact methods below.