GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) Cellcom customers across Wisconsin and the Upper Midwest are entering the sixth consecutive day of a widespread service outage that has disrupted voice and SMS capabilities. While the company has restored some functions, many users remain without full service and are expressing growing frustration over the lack of clear answers.
Cellcom announced that phone conversations between Cellcom and Cellcom have been restored as of Monday afternoon. However, calls between Cellcom users and those on other networks are still not functioning. The company described its progress as being “at the five-yard line” but has yet to provide a timeline for full restoration or disclose the root cause of the outage.
Toggling airplane mode on and off may momentarily allow calls between Cellcom subscribers, according to a workaround that has been making the rounds on social media. WBAY tested this method and confirmed its effectiveness, though it does not resolve the broader connectivity issues.
Cellcom has refused to provide interviews or make public comments about the outage in response to WBAY’s persistent requests. When reporters visited the company’s corporate headquarters in Howard, representatives stated that they would not provide further information at this time.
Curt Esser, an IT expert from Esser Consulting, noted that if the outage were due to a cyberattack, a thorough investigation would be necessary before releasing details. He emphasized the importance of due diligence in such situations, even as customer frustration mounts.
Cellcom cautioned consumers over the weekend to exercise caution as scammers may take advantage of the outage.The company advised users not to share personal or financial information in response to unsolicited communications claiming to be from Cellcom, emphasizing that it would not request sensitive information via calls or messages during the outage. According to Cellcom, there is no proof that any customer information has been hacked.
The prolonged outage has left many customers feeling frustrated and in the dark. With limited communication from Cellcom and no clear timeline for resolution, users are calling for greater transparency and accountability from the company.
As the situation continues to unfold, customers are advised to monitor official Cellcom channels for updates and to exercise caution regarding unsolicited communications.
