Consumer Protection Failures- Lessons from Recent Business or Government Incidents

Consumer Protection Failures- Lessons from Recent Business or Government Incidents

The prolonged network outage among T Mobile users in June 2020 is one of the most notable consumer protection failures in the US in recent history. The outage affected calls, text messages, and 911 emergency call services. The 2020 network outage led to a public outcry among T Mobile users.

The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) established that the network failure resulted from T Mobiles’ normal upgrading processes. As the company was installing new routers in the East US, it misconfigured network traffic to a defective link (Shepardson, 2020). Besides, the company filed to conduct a fail-safe process to secure a functional link in case of mechanical failure. Even after it was clear that there was a network outage, the company still failed to notify its network engineers to work on a backup plan.

T Mobile users in Atlanta were the most hit as a result of the network outage. Long Term Evolution (LTE) users in Atlanta lost their connectivity entirely (Shepardson, 2020). Also, the outage affected other network actions in other parts of the country. For instance, there was a persistent software error notification for network users trying to register into specific systems over WIFI.

To prevent or mitigate such occurrences in the future, T Mobile ought to abide by established FCC best practices. T-Mobile failed to take the problem seriously even from the outset. The company should also consider notifying its users when it intends to carry out network upgrades. Awareness will prepare users for any eventuality in case there is a total network breakdown. Another possible solution is to add other permanent safeguards, including partner vendors. Henceforth, the company can redirect traffic to such vendors in case of an outage.

Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident as far as T Mobiles’ network troubles are concerned. The company has continually faced network outage problems over time (Hollister, 2020). As such, I do not think it is a reliable network.

References

Hollister, S. (2020, June 17). T-Mobile explains why its network went down hard and claims only a fifth of calls were lost. The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/17/21293950/t-mobile-outage-june-explainer

Shepardson, D. (2020, October 22). June T-Mobile U.S. network outage disrupted more than 250 million calls: FCC. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-t-mobile-us-outage-

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A recent or current event in which a business or government failed to protect consumers. What were the failures?

Consumer Protection Failures- Lessons from Recent Business or Government Incidents

Who were the victims? What can or could be done to prevent such failures in the future? Do your findings change the way you will support the company in the future?