T-Mobile outage in Houston causes issues for Rockets fans

A T-Mobile outage in Houston wreaked havoc on some Rockets fans prior to Game 5 of the team’s second-round playoff series against the Utah Jazz.

On Tuesday, T-Mobile CTO Neville Ray shared the news that a “major fiber” had been cut, which was impacting service in the Houston area for T-Mobile and metroPCS customers.

We’re seeing impact to our service in the Houston area due to a major fiber cut. Engineers are engaged and working with our transport partner to get this resolved as quickly as possible. Thanks for your patience. — Neville (@NevilleRay) May 8, 2018

The timing was unfortunate because many fans in the Houston area use the digital ticket marketplace Flash Seats to purchase tickets for Rockets games. Due to the outage, many T-Mobile customers were unable to access tickets on their phones and had problems entering Toyota Center for the game.

It’s a mess outside of Toyota center. Data line got cut so no T Mobile customers can get into arena w flash seats. — sterling (@SterlingB126) May 8, 2018

The Rockets provided some advice to ensure entry into the arena.

T-Mobile voice and data services are currently down throughout the Houston area. All T-Mobile users coming to the game should ensure an ID has been added to your Flash Seats account for entrance into the arena. https://t.co/ix1ZDuvDIO pic.twitter.com/Av20Ri3mio — Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) May 8, 2018

The attendance early on for Tuesday’s game was a talking point on social media.

I don't know if I've seen the lower bowl this empty… and it's the Western Conference Semifinals. pic.twitter.com/yW7XuQ8cJT — ClutchFans (@clutchfans) May 9, 2018

Were Rockets fans aware there’s a close out game tonight? Looks like there’s a couple seats available. pic.twitter.com/MbZrWEGnE0 — Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) May 9, 2018

While the T-Mobile outage does not account for every empty seat that was spotted pregame and during the early portion of the game, it appears it did have an impact.