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AT&T Has To Pay Up Millions After Two Major 911 Outages Last Year (gizmodo.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the drop-in-the-bucket dept.

AT&T has been fined $5.25 million for an outage last year that resulted in 12,000 callers not being able to reach 911. The FCC's Enforcement Bureau made the announcement on Thursday, stating that "such preventable outages are unacceptable." Gizmodo reports: Aside from the fine -- which is really a drop in the bucket for the billion-dollar behemoth -- AT&T must also make changes and enhancements to its systems to mitigate and soften the blow of future outages, as well as "regularly file compliance reports with the FCC." According to FCC rules, AT&T was required to "transmit all wireless 911 calls" as well as let emergency call centers know about outages if they last longer than 30 minutes. The two AT&T 911 outages investigated by the FCC, which occurred on March 8 and May 1 of 2017, lasted about five hours and 47 minutes, respectively. Around 12,600 users were unable to complete 911 calls during the March outage, with 2,600 failed 911 calls during the May outage.

37 comments

  1. Oh no, not $5M by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They just hiked the regulatory fee they charge their customers by $1B per year. I think they'll be able to cover the $5M fine.

    1. Re:Oh no, not $5M by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Makes me miss the old days when the Bell System was guaranteed a "reasonable rate of return" (single digits, if I remember correctly) and their stuff was designed and built to work. (Their equipment had a design life of 40 years, which is probably an appropriate depreciation schedule if your rate of return is single digit percentages but you are guaranteed to stay in business.)

    2. Re:Oh no, not $5M by Nutria · · Score: 3, Informative

      I don't miss the old days when you had to schedule long distance calls for 10:01PM on a Saturday night.

      --
      "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
    3. Re: Oh no, not $5M by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was gonna say, this is just going to be passed straight on to the customers. Fees like this are pointless.

    4. Re:Oh no, not $5M by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Haha, forgot about that. So true. Thanks for the memories.

    5. Re:Oh no, not $5M by arth1 · · Score: 2

      I actually miss that. Long distance calls were expensive enough that people didn't call long distance just to try to sell you something or try to scam you.
      Emergency calls got through, because Peggy at the exchange would make sure they did.

    6. Re:Oh no, not $5M by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I actually miss that. Long distance calls were expensive enough that people didn't call long distance just to try to sell you something or try to scam you.
      Emergency calls got through, because Peggy at the exchange would make sure they did.

      Geeze! How OLD are you guys?!?! I'm 52 and I barely remember rotary phones!

      I do remember my parents getting pissed at me once for calling a friend that was less than 40 miles away because it was "long distance" and AT&T charged rates accordingly.

      How did that work? If the area code wasn't the same, it was long distance?

    7. Re:Oh no, not $5M by Nutria · · Score: 1

      I'm 54, and we had a rotary phone up until around 1974ish.

      Regarding long distance, even in the Ma Bell era, different Bell companies had different rules for long distance. Where I lived, and when I was young, half the state had the same AC, so very definitely you had long distance calls within the same AC.

      --
      "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
    8. Re:Oh no, not $5M by arth1 · · Score: 1

      How did that work? If the area code wasn't the same, it was long distance?

      If it was a jack on the same switchboard, it was local. If it had to be patched through, it was distance. If it had to be patched through more than one exchange, it was long distance. That could take a couple of minutes to set up.

      And there wasn't necessarily any area code. You could ask the operator for Somewhere County 1234.

    9. Re:Oh no, not $5M by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I used to work for a local phone company in the rural Midwest. As soon as your phone call left our equipment for that of another phone company, it was long distance. There was a town 10 minutes up the road from us that was a long distance call because it was served by somebody else. Another 15 or so minutes past them was a town we did serve, but because the boundary was crossed the first time, calling there would be long distance too.

    10. Re:Oh no, not $5M by dsgrntlxmply · · Score: 1

      Circa 1963 my Southern California next door neighbor was a toll call. I had been given a couple of old wooden box crank ringer phones by a friend of my grandfather, who was at an East Texas rural phone company. My friend and I (I was around age 9) ran some speaker wire between our bedroom windows and connected these phones and an ordinary dry cell battery. It worked fairly well.

    11. Re:Oh no, not $5M by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm 54, and we had a rotary phone up until around 1974ish.

      I'm born 1981 and I remember making calls on a rotary phone.
      The button phone was in the kitchen so the rotary phone was the only way to have some semblance of privacy.

      I suspect many did something similar and moved the old phone to another room when they upgraded.
      If you only are going to use it to receive calls then a rotary phone is good enough and having a bedroom phone so that you don't have to get up when some asshole calls on a Saturday morning or having a phone in the laundry room where you might not hear the regular phone is kinda neat.

    12. Re:Oh no, not $5M by spaceman375 · · Score: 1

      I used a bluetooth to POTS gateway to plug in my old rotary phone from college. I could actually dial a number and somewhere upstream of the bluetooth connection it would be properly interpreted and get me the right connection. I don't think my cell phone was doing the conversion, but I have no proof. This was just 2 years ago

      --
      On the one hand you take life too seriously, and on the other, you do not take playful existence seriously enough. Seth
  2. Be concerned. by olsmeister · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So AT&T was awarded $6.5 billion by the government to build out a wireless first responders network for FirstNet. I guess they'll just take a little bit of that and give it back. Yeah, this will probably end well.

    1. Re:Be concerned. by grep+-v+'.*'+* · · Score: 1

      to build out a wireless first responders network for FirstNet

      Well you see, AT&T had to first implement ZeroNet and make sure it's implemented properly and works successfully. Sounds like it's a SUCCESS! Now all they have to do is rename it and their work is done.

      --
      If the universe is someone's simulation -- does that mean the stars are just stuck pixels?
  3. that's a fine of $437/person by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    It seems very low, considering how critical 911 can be when you're in danger.
    By comparison, a parking fine is around $70,

    1. Re: that's a fine of $437/person by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's assuming that those were all different people, and none of them tried again after the first attempt failed.

  4. Add to the list of reasons.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

    ...why you NEED a firearm, and why the 2A ought not to be infringed.

    When seconds count, you might not even be able to contact the Police.

    1. Re: Add to the list of reasons.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, people might need to drive themselves to the hospital too, but we seem to do just fine with reasonable restrictions on drivers licenses and car ownership regs

    2. Re:Add to the list of reasons.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      IMO "self defense" should not be an affirmative defense against manslaughter.

      Here's how I think it should work: If you kill someone in self defense, congratulations you get to live... in prison.

    3. Re: Add to the list of reasons.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, people might need to drive themselves to the hospital too, but we seem to do just fine with reasonable restrictions on drivers licenses and car ownership regs

      Where are driver's licenses a guaranteed individual right in the Constitution?

    4. Re:Add to the list of reasons.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      IMO "self defense" should not be an affirmative defense against manslaughter.

      Here's how I think it should work: If you kill someone in self defense, congratulations you get to live... in prison.

      Sooo, a woman has no reasonable defense against rape by an NFL football player?

      "Woman spends rest of life in jail for defending herself against a 320-lb 'roid-raging sex-crazed maniac!"

      Didn't think about that, did you, dumbass?

    5. Re: Add to the list of reasons.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hope you never get savagely attacked... but then again you can let the other person kill you just to stick with your principles.

    6. Re: Add to the list of reasons.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How about you post your address. I am certain that there are several unscrupulous people around who would be glad to know that you would not fight back as they relieve you of property or something else that you hold dear. Just a thought...

    7. Re:Add to the list of reasons.... by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      ...why you NEED a firearm, and why the 2A ought not to be infringed.

      When seconds count, you might not even be able to contact the Police.

      Similarly, every household should maintain a 24/7 working hospital and fire station, as wasting a few seconds calling 911 and waiting minutes for a so-called paramedic or fireman to turn up could be disastrous.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    8. Re: Add to the list of reasons.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Freedom of assembly? Congress shall build postal roads? How about whatever bogus argument the court made in Roe v Wade? Privacy! Otherwise people can search my Uber receipts.

    9. Re:Add to the list of reasons.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lemme guess. You think it's okay for police to murder unarmed people by shooting them in the back and claiming self defense though.

    10. Re:Add to the list of reasons.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I do believe every household should maintain basic medical equipment (think first aid kit), have basic knowledge to bandage wounds and should have at least a single fire extinguisher.

    11. Re:Add to the list of reasons.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, the government should not be allowed to prevent people from installing sprinkler systems and defibrillators in their homes.

  5. that should show by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All the jews that own at&t that the govt isnt messing around... Oh wait, yeah nevermind.

  6. NetNutered by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is just payment for the NT laws in their favor. You didn't think the money would under the table did you; that would be illegal. Dam greasy palms everywhere! Wash your hands blue-suits.

    Off topic: My dns is silly. ATT is to blame. I think. Need more smarts; I do.

  7. Get Used To It by dohzer · · Score: 1

    911 will have to purchase priorty bandwidth from now on.

  8. Big whoop by p51d007 · · Score: 1

    5.25 million? To a multi-BILLION dollar company like at&t, that would be like a $20 dollar parking ticket.

    1. Re:Big whoop by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yep.

      Hopefully it is a "warning fine" that will be raised if it happens again but I suspect it is more of a "cost of operation" fine that at&t can just add to a spreadsheet that only will lead to offsetting the "OK, now the cost of maintenance is lower than the cost of operation" threshold.

  9. It doesn't matter by volodymyrbiryuk · · Score: 1

    In the end it's the customers who get fucked either way.

    --
    sudo rm -r -f --no-preserve-root /
    1. Re:It doesn't matter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They just raised rates on their BS “admin” fees they charge everyone. I had to make a quick international call and they billed me $2.00 a minute for that. Since monopolies are okay here they can carry on bleeding everyone dry as long as they bribe the right officials.

      This fine is less than a slap on the wrist to them.

  10. The price of a life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It turns out that for AT&T, the loss of a single life is worth $416.67

    This is such a steep penalty that a major telecom corporation may even have one of its lowest rung of beancounters actually notice it. It won't be large or important enough a number to warn anyone important for, but somewhere, someone will know.
    Maybe.

    We're all disposable when soulless companies own our country.