All depends on where you call from, who you are calling, the carrier the end user has, the service you are calling with, how many calls are currently being made on that tower.
You were lucky. SPRINT is having major problems for the last couple of days. I am willing to bet they are going to keep having it for another few. Getting contractor repair vehicles to mountain towers is not a priority when almost all contractors are in the City trying to get life back in order there.