AT&T announced Wednesday that it will begin crediting customers for internet outages and long wait times, the latest initiative in a yearslong effort to revamp the company's customer service.
Starting Thursday, individual AT&T customers and small businesses who experience a fiber outage lasting more than 20 minutes or a wireless outage lasting more than an hour will automatically receive a full-day bill credit. Customers who call the company's technical support line and wait on hold for more than five minutes will receive a $5 Visa gift card.
The new policy is part of a $750 million investment the company has made in its customer service over the past four years, said Kellyn Smith Kenny, AT&T's chief marketing and growth officer. AT&T customers will also be able to check the status of their outages on a newly created website.
The announcement follows a year of high-profile internet outages involving AT&T and other companies. Last February, tens of thousands of AT&T customers across the country suffered hours of outages. In September, Verizon had an outage that affected more than 100,000 customers.
The most damaging incident occurred in July, when cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike released a software update that temporarily shut down much of the world's computer systems.
Ms. Kenny said AT&T outages have not become more common in recent years and still affect a small percentage of customers.
A major focus of the company's investments in customer service has been on automation, including using artificial intelligence to handle customer service, and letting customers communicate with AT&T representatives through messaging apps such as iMessage and WhatsApp.
For its part, Verizon announced a new set of AI customer service tools last year.
