AT&T and some Verizon cellular customers might find it impossible to call outside their service providers until the respective communications companies diagnose and fix problems experienced Tuesday afternoon.

AT&T officials on Tuesday announced its cellular customers were experiencing a "nationwide issue" that prevents them from calling non-AT&T customers.

"The carriers are working as quickly as possible to diagnose and resolve the issue," AT&T officials said.

The issue doesn't affect 911 calls or calls to other AT&T customers, and AT&T officials said the problem worsened after 1 p.m. EDT.

Verizon customers in the Northeast and Midwest also are experiencing service issues when trying to communicate with others outside of their network, too.

The issue affects Verizon customers who are trying to call or text people using other cellular service providers.

Verizon officials said they are monitoring the situation and working to fix it.

The Federal Communications Commission in a post on X said it is monitoring the situation with both communications technology firms.

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