How Cell Service Outages Impact The Freight Economy
Image: New York Post
Freight brokers and truckers using AT&T networks might be facing bumpy roads – not literally, but digitally.
A widespread AT&T outage on Thursday caused issues with back-end TMS and visibility systems used by Motive, Samsara, and Trimble, according to reports.
These systems rely on cellular data for driver tracking, messaging, and dispatching, so the outage could disrupt communication for drivers on those platform.
🛡️ Impact:
Luckily, not all platforms are affected. Omnitracs and Verizon Connect seem to be operating normally. But for those using AT&T-connected ELDs, things could get tricky.
ELDs either use the device's cellular connection or link to the driver's phone, and an outage can lead to data gaps and potential log errors. This can cause headaches for fleets and safety departments, as incomplete logs might appear falsified during inspections, leading to penalties.
While there haven't been widespread reports of driver connectivity issues yet, it's important for fleets and drivers to be aware of the potential impact of the AT&T outage on their ELDs and back-end systems.
Thermo King updated their customers via email about the outage and how it was impacting their telematics systems.
Image: Cellular outage affecting Thermo King tracking on X.
🤡 Carriers Trolling Brokers:
No shock, carriers took the opportunity to troll brokers with AT&T.. and of course you can't forget to take a cheap shot at TQL.
Image: Timothy Dooner shares notes from carrier load board postings on X.