Welcome, Mark!
Interesting request, but you'll find that the amount of time the AH servers are off-line is so miniscule, it would rarely be used. Judging from the announcement about AT&T, you just happened to join at the 'wrong time'..lol
If you suspect there is a down server, check the 'General Discussion' forum here and you'll most likely see somebody posting about it.
I've been playing AH for 4 solid years and I can probably count the number of extended down times on 1 hand... ok, it may take part of the 2nd. .. and the ones when I locked up the Special Events Arena don't count..
Good luck in there!