If you woke up to a weird text that seemed totally out of place, you arent alone. A mysterious wave of missives swept Americas phones overnight, delivering confusing messages from friends, family and the occasional ex.
Friends who hadnt talked to each other in months were jolted into chatting. Others briefly panicked.
A telecom vendor called Syniverse said a server failed on Feb. 14, and nearly messages from multiple carriers didnt go through. When that server was reactivated Thursday, those messages got sent.
Syniverse initially estimated about 170,000 messages, but the company now says its higher, without saying how many. Syniverse said it is reviewing internal procedures so this doesnt happen again. Syniverse typically deletes messages that dont go through.
The sudden release of messages sometimes had a dramatic effect.