A woman on TikTok recently shared how she attempted to get help after a national AT&T cell phone outage left her without service.
Brianna Gomez (@bbriannagomez) recorded the video from her car, visibly shaken. She was apparently driving early Thursday morning, which is when some customers first began experiencing service disruptions. As of Saturday evening, her video had over 5.4 million views.
“Shoutout AT&T outage for getting me lost in the middle of nowhere with no directions/phone service in the middle of the night so i resort to crying for help outside a closed drive thru,” Gomez wrote in the text overlay.
Then she doubled down on her anger in the accompanying video caption. “Worst nightmare thx for the traumatic experience AT&T! survival skills rlly shined last night,” Gomez wrote.
In her video, Gomez parked her car in front of a Jack in the Box drive-thru and expressed hope that it was still open.
“Hello? Excuse me? I don’t want to order anything. I just need help,” Gomez said through tears.
Eventually, a worker spoke through the speaker.
“I don’t want to order anything; I just need help,” Gomez pleaded. “I’m lost and my phone is not working. Do you guys have a phone?”
@bbriannagomez worst nightmare thx for the traumatic experience @AT&T!!🥰 survival skills rlly shined last night ✨ #attoutage #imjustagirl #poweroutage #storytime #att ♬ original sound – bri ˚୨୧⋆｡✧
Gomez explained that she wanted to use the restaurant’s phone to contact her boyfriend, but said the worker was hesitant to let her inside. He did, however, explain the outages to Gomez and direct her to the nearest freeway.
“Luckily I have gas,” Gomez said and she did end up making it home OK. In a follow-up video, Gomez said that the worker’s instructions were helpful enough to guide her back to a familiar part of town.
“I have never had to navigate anywhere without my phone,” she said. “I cried the entire way home because I was so overwhelmed.”
On Thursday, AT&T’s network went down for many of its customers, leaving many unable to place texts, texts, or access the internet. It took roughly 11 hours for the company to restore service to all affected customers.
@bbriannagomez Replying to @liz 🧸 we made it folks (never driving anywhere new ever again😀) #attoutage #storytime #poweroutage #orangecounty #imjustagirl ♬ original sound – bri ˚୨୧⋆｡✧
In the comments of Gomez’s video, many viewers expressed concern at our reliance on phones for many basic services.
“It’s kinda sad that nobody would know what to do if all of our phones just went out,” one person said.
“Gen z wouldn’t survive the apocalypse,” another quipped.
“Not knowing how to get home is crazy,” a third person wrote.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Gomez via TikTok comment.