Getting a 502 Bad Gateway error on AT&T? Here's what it means

Brandon Girod, Pensacola News Journal
·3 min read

Many AT&T users are rushing to figure out how to enable essential cell phone features amid a nationwide outage impacting upwards of 57,000 people as of 10:26 a.m. CT.

AT&T is encouraging its users to enable Wi-Fi calling in the meantime, which makes phone calls via supported Wi-Fi networks. However, some users are experiencing a 502 Bad Gateway error when attempting to turn the feature on.

Here's what a 502 Bad Gateway error means.

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What does 502 Bad Gateway mean when turning Wi-Fi calling on?

On a technical level, a 502 Bad Gateway error is when a server assigned to act as a gateway or proxy fails to receive a valid response from the upstream server.

In this case, the servers needed to communicate to turn on Wi-Fi calling can't communicate with each other, thus the feature can't be enabled.

Unfortunately, 502 errors typically require a fix to be implemented by the web server or proxies in question and can't be fixed by a user.

What can you do if you receive a 502 Bad Gateway error?

Unfortunately, there is little users can do to fix a 502 error during an outage, and an influx in requests could be overloading AT&T's servers, further exacerbating the issue.

Users on AT&T Community Forums are seeking answers but are coming up mostly dry.

If you are in a position where you're receiving intermittent signal, your best chance at enabling Wi-Fi calling is doing so while connected to AT&T's network.

Users experiencing a complete outage will likely have to wait until AT&T is able to stabilize its network.

Troubleshooting Wi-Fi calling

If you're not seeing a 502 Gateway Error but still unable to turn Wi-Fi calling on, here are some steps to help troubleshoot the problem:

If you can't turn on or use Wi-Fi calling, make sure the feature is supported by your carrier and that your device has the latest software.

If your device is up to date and your carrier does support Wi-Fi calling, but you still can't turn it on, contact your carrier for technical support.

If you contacted your carrier and can't turn on Wi-Fi Calling or make a Wi-Fi call, follow these steps. Wait two minutes before you go from one step to the next.

  • Go to Settings > Phone > Wi-Fi calling and double-check that the feature is enabled

  • Restart your phone

    • On newer devices, you can do this by pressing and holding either volume buttons and the side button until the power-off slider appears

    • On older devices, press and hold the side button until the power-off slider appears

  • Connect to a different Wi-Fi Network. Not every Wi-Fi Network supports the feature.

  • Turn Wi-Fi calling off and on again (Yes, we know how this sounds, but it works a good deal of the time)

  • Go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset

  • Tap Reset Network Settings

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: AT&T outage: 502 Bad Gateway error plaguing users using wifi calling