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Padre Island residents, businesses deal with spotty cell service for more than 24 hours

Kaziah Crawford, assistant manager of Island Joes Coffee, said she was so overwhelmed with patrons looking for Wi-Fi she resorted to writing the password on napkins.

PADRE ISLAND, Texas — Padre Island residents with AT&T have experienced cellular difficulties ranging from little to no service for the last 24 hours. 

While not all residents experienced the loss of signal, local businesses were nonetheless impacted. Kaziah Crawford, assistant manager of Island Joes Coffee, said she was impacted by the spotty cellular service as it became an obstacle to get in touch with her staff.

"It did cause some issues with sending out large group texts to the staff and stuff like that," Crawford said. 

Crawford also said the local coffee shop ended up providing free Wi-Fi for patrons to use for the time being.

"Thankfully we haven't had any issues with that," Crawford said. "With slowing down checking people out, or people who are coming to study and work on stuff during the slow season." 

Wi-Fi proved to be a hot commodity as other businesses around Padre Island started experiencing similar issues, one such establishment being Hardknocks Sports Bar & Grill.

Faith Neel, who isn't an AT&T customer, said although her service wasn't impacted she was quickly overwhelmed by the amount of people looking for Wi-Fi service at her restaurant.

"We definitely saw it impact the restaurant," Neel said. "In the manner of I was bartending and I was getting people just dropping in to use the Wi-Fi signal."  

Neel said at one point she resorted to writing the Wi-Fi password on napkins so she could quickly help customers out.

"We had women coming in. We are right by a school," Neel said. " They were concerned about not being able to get in touch with their kids. A sick child or a nurse trying to get a hold of them. It can be very scary." 

3News reached out to AT&T for comment and they released the following statement:

"We've restored wireless service to customers in the North Padre Island area. We appreciate the patience of our customers as we made equipment repairs." 

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