Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Verizon's NYC 911 System Shutdown

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the risks-digest dept.

Dead Nancy writes "A combination of human error and software that didn't anticipate it brought down New York City's 911 emergency line for several hours on Friday night."

4 of 346 comments (clear)

  1. Monopolies and software by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I think this is a shining demonstration of why monopolies shouldn't be allowed to run the phone system. Speaking of monopolies, I wonder what the 'software' concerned was?

    1. Re:Monopolies and software by the+eric+conspiracy · · Score: 5, Interesting
      When the phone companies were truly a regulated monopoly (AT&T) you got *real* quality of service, plus an R&D organization that invented the laser, transistor and was awarded:
      • 6 Nobel Prizes in Physics shared by 11 scientists
      • 9 U.S. Medals of Science
      • 7 U.S. Medals of Technology
      • 1 Draper Prize
      • 6 Marconi International Fellowship Awards
      • 7 C&C Prizes shared by 12 scientists and engineers
      • 27 IEEE Medal of Honor winners
      Now I don't think monopolies are a good idea in the general case, however AT&T's results were at least halfway decent.
  2. Re:interesting name... by CallMeCal · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Let's hope nobody wound up failing to get emergency services as a result.

    My wife,daughter and I happened to be wandering around Brooklyn during the outage. We noticed an increase in the number of uniformed officers on the street. This made us slightly nervous in a 9/11 (not a 911) sort of way. It wasn't until we read Saturday's NYT that we realized what was up. To increase visibility during the outage, NYPD had ordered all plainclothes officers to put on uniforms.

    As we strolled through some of the city's busiest commercial sectors, everybody as oblivious as we were.

  3. I've had that happen! by p51d007 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I worked 911 for 14 years........here in the midwest, we have tornados around this time of year. The warning sirens usually go off to warn the public. Ok, I'm sitting at my console, waiting for people to call about wind damage etc......and the line rings....911, do you have an emergency?....yeah, can you tell me what the sirens are going off for?.........it's a shame that the line is recorded....there have been times, when we get idiot calls like that, that you really really want to say....well, I'm sorry to tell you this, but the russians have changed their minds, the bombs will be here in 10 minutes. And then, hang up on them LOL.... Heck, we've had calls from people that ask us where Bass Pro Shops is.....(Springfield Missouri)