AT&T Reports Highest Ever Spike in Text Messaging on Election Night

Posted on November 8, 2008 at 4:26 am (PST)

AT&T reports they experienced the largest spike in text messaging in company history on Tuesday during the election. The company reports that in the hour following the announcement that Barack Obama had won the election, text messaging traffic across its network surged about 44 percent - the highest spike in company history.

This smashed New Years Eve, which was the previous record holder. A recent Nielsen study indicates that U.S. consumers now use their cell phones for text messaging more often than for talking. In third quarter 2008 earnings, AT&T reported more than 64 billion text messages across it’s network.