AT&T says to use Wi-Fi calling as cell outage persists. How can you do that?

A cellular outage has impacted mobile phone customers nationally, leaving many users without the ability to place calls.

The outage, which began in the early morning hours of Thursday, Feb. 22, is affecting customers of AT&T, Verizon and many other cell service providers, according to DownDetector.com.

There are believed to be tens of thousands of outages, The Associated Press reported.

AT&T says there is a quick fix to placing calls by enabling Wi-Fi calling on your phone.

So how do you do that?

iPhone users

By using Wi-Fi calling, mobile phone users will be able to “make or receive a phone call if you have a Wi-Fi connection in an area with little or no cellular coverage,” Apple says.

To turn on the option, Apple says to go to “Settings” on your phone. Then, tap the “Phone” and then “Wi-Fi Calling.”

“If Wi-Fi calling is available, you’ll see ‘Wi-Fi’ in the status bar while viewing control center,” according to Apple. “Then your calls will use Wi-Fi Calling.”

Android users

The same setting can be applied for Android devices, according to Google.

To enable this option on Android phones, open the Phone app, tap “More,” then go to “Settings.” Then, Google says to tap “Calls” and then tap “Wi-Fi calling.”

Not all phone carriers support Wi-Fi calling, according to Google.

“Once you’ve set up Wi-Fi calling, you can make a call over Wi-Fi just like any other call,” Google said. “When you’re connected to the internet, you’ll see ‘Internet Call’ or ‘Wi-Fi calling’ on the notification screen.”