The ongoing Cellcom service outage, which has impacted residents, schools and businesses, began sometime on the night of May 14 and continues to hamper communication in northeastern Wisconsin.
But Cellcom announced the evening of May 16 that a portion of its voice services has been restored.
“While this update may not yet impact all customers, it is a meaningful step forward — and a sign of the real momentum happening behind the scenes,” the company posted at 6:35 p.m.
It said it “still can’t provide a firm timeline” for full restoration of services.
The statement directed customers to Facebook and its website, cellcom.com/service, for further updates.
When did Cellcom service go down?
The outage began at about 9 p.m. on May 14.
Just after 11 p.m., Cellcom posted on Facebook that an outage was affecting its voice network.
Cellcom said it continues to experience problems with voice, SMS messaging and number porting are still unavailable.
However, “911 emergency, data services, iMessage and RCS messages are not affected,” the company said on its website.
“We know how essential reliable communication is and want to assure you that we’re dedicating all necessary resources to restore full service as quickly and safely as possible,” the website’s message said.
Customers shared mixed reactions to the outage and the company’s communication
On Facebook, many are expressing frustration over the outage and the company’s limited updates. Others show understanding and are seeking alternatives to keep their businesses running
Marie Vanderberg, who owns Rural Families, a web-based business helping rural families find the events happening in the area of Clintonville, said she is an “old school,” long-time Cellcom customer and has a landline and other cellphone options.
“Being rural, I’m used to spotty cellphone and internet coverage,” Vanderberg said.
She also offered her landline to community members and dropped an extension phone to help out another business.
“It’s inconvenient, but as business owners, we’re supposed to have contingency plans to keep running,” Vanderberg said.
Overall, she said the company has gone “above and beyond” and is doing everything possible to fix the problems.
“They’re in the weeds with the rest of us,” she said. “I appreciate their open and honest communication.”
Jacob Borley, a Green Bay-area resident who works in the city, said the outage makes communicating with employees and colleagues very difficult.
“I think Cellcom’s communication has been terrible,” Borley said. “They provide updates but it’s the same lame excuse.”
He said it’s understandable that these issues can happen, but customers would be more understanding if the company would be “upfront with why there’s an outage and why it’s taking so long to resolve it.”
In the comment section of Cellcom’s 9 a.m. Facebook post, several users had similar complaints and requested that the company share more details about what is causing the outage.
“We remain committed to transparent communication, to our customers, and to doing more than just getting service back — but making it right,” Cellcom said in its 4 p.m. May 16 statement. “We are incredibly grateful for the patience and support we’ve received from our community.”
Ariel Perez is a business reporter for the Green Bay Press-Gazette. You can reach him at APerez1@gannett.com or view his Twitter profile at @Ariel_Perez85.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Cellcom works to restore services amid ongoing outage; 911 services available
Reporting by Ariel Perez, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
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