AT&T; Says Monday Was Busiest Calling Day in Its History
Americans set a long-distance calling record this week that broke the one set the day after last year’s San Francisco earthquake, AT&T; said Tuesday.
American Telephone & Telegraph has only theories to explain why 148.4 million long-distance calls were made on its lines Monday.
On Oct. 18, 1989, the day after the San Francisco earthquake, AT&T; handled about 144.7 million long-distance calls, said spokesman Herb Linnen. On an average day, the company handles 115 million to 120 million calls.
“Traditionally, the Monday after the Thanksgiving weekend is busy, although there has never been one like this,” Linnen said. “It was the busiest calling day in the history of AT&T.;”
Linnen speculated that people were trying to catch up on business or perhaps discussing the possibility of war with Iraq.
But then there were a lot of calls to toll-free “800” numbers, and that could mean people were doing more Christmas shopping by phone, he said.
AT&T; handles 70% or more of the nation’s long-distance calls. There was no similar announcement from the other two major long-distance companies, US Sprint and MCI.
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