AT&T service restored to mobile users after U.S.-wide outage Thursday

(FOX 2) - It's hard to separate life from the tools and techniques that people use every day when they become a part of fabric that makes up our livelihoods.

But that's exactly what some had to do Thursday when they awoke to an AT&T outage that appeared to afflict those across the U.S. who use the service provider. When mobile users discovered zero bars on their phone along with an "SOS" at the top, it ushered in a slew of other problems.

"I noticed at 8 o'clock, I wasn't getting any calls, any text messages," said Alize Martin. "I needed my GPS and I was lost in the world for two hours. It was bad."

And when Martin got connected to a wi-fi signature, she said it was glitchy. Her service wasn't restored until around midday.

For Jeff Asmar, much of his job is done on the road. Without any way of taking calls or messages from client, he was stuck.

"I use my phone to email, send texts, take phone calls from accounts, customers, and stuff so it was a challenging morning," he said.

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AT&T confirmed it restored everyone's wireless service by 3:10 p.m. on Thursday. In a note posted on its website, the provider apologized for the outage. "Keeping our customers connected remains our top priority, and we are taking steps to ensure our customers do not experience this again in the future."

The website Downdetector, which tracks outages on websites and among other companies first reported problems around 3:30 a.m. Thursday. The number climbed as more discovered issues, eventually peaking around 9 a.m.