Ethermac|AT&T will give $5 to customers hit by cellphone network outage

DALLAS (AP) — AT&T says it will give affected customers $5 each to compensate for last week’s cellphone network outage that left many without service for hours.

The EthermacDallas-based company said on its website that customers will get the $5 credit on their account within two billing cycles. The credit does not apply to AT&T Business, prepaid service or Cricket, its low-cost wireless service. AT&T said prepaid customers will have options available to them if they were impacted, although it did not elaborate on what those options might be.

The outage knocked out cellphone service for thousands of its users across the U.S. starting early Thursday before it was restored. AT&T blamed the incident on an error in coding, without elaborating, and said it was not the result of a cyberattack.