FCC Says It is Investigating CenturyLink 911 Outage

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said on Friday the agency had launched an investigation into a nationwide CenturyLink outage that has affected 911 service for consumers across the country. In a statement, he said [PDF]: "When an emergency strikes, it's critical that Americans are able to use 911 to reach those who can help. The CenturyLink service outage is therefore completely unacceptable, and its breadth and duration are particularly troubling. I've directed the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau to immediately launch an investigation into the cause and impact of this outage. This inquiry will include an examination of the effect that CenturyLink's outage appears to have had on other providers' 911 services. I have also spoken with CenturyLink to underscore the urgency of restoring service immediately. We will continue to monitor this situation closely to ensure that consumers' access to 911 is restored as quickly as possible." The outage, which lasted all day Thursday and is still ongoing in certain states, knocked out 911 emergency call services in parts of western Washington state. News outlet KOMO reported that some CenturyLink customers reported receiving busy signals when dialing 911. Other areas of the country also experiencing 911 outages included parts of Missouri, Idaho and Arizona. Some ATM machines weren't working in Idaho and Montana. And additionally, Verizon said it had service interruptions in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and parts of Montana as a result of issues with CenturyLink.

Comments

Thursday?

[nwaack]

Ummm...it's still out for certain cell phone carriers here in Wisconsin.

Re:Thursday?

[olsmeister]

Why are you not heading for your nearest bank? Woohoo CRIME SPREE TIME!

Not a problem

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

I think that all reasonable friends of free enterprise can agree that this was merely some 911 prioritization; which is both a celebration of the first amendment rights of CenturyLink and will assuredly encourage further investment.

911 for consumers?

[pele]

"CONSUMERS"????
I thiught 911 was emergency service number for those in immediate need of assistance? What "customers"?

This is what Ajit asked for...

[MikeDataLink]

They just decided to make 911 the lowest priority on their network until the government pays more money to put them in the fast lane. :-P

In the Olden Days

[Anonymous Coward]

Telephones would always work. The central stations had battery backups, etc., and there was just a wire and some relay contacts connecting you to another phone. Today, we have fancy VOIP that doesn't work.

Re:In the Olden Days

[CrimsonAvenger]

Telephones would always work.

Umm, no. The telephone didn't work during Camille, for instance.

Re:In the Olden Days

[Holi]

Pretty sure, during an emergency, long distance calls aren't going to be a priority. Can't see how calling the fire department in Kansas City is gonna help me in Rhode Island.

And here is a reason

[pgmrdlm]

To have your local police, fire, and emergency service numbers someplace instead of calling 911. I called 911 the other night on people fighting in the street, they just transferred me to the city police. Shoot, I could have just called them straight up.

Re:And here is a reason

[eth1]

People fighting on the street is an emergency? Maybe you don't understand that the non-emergency numbers should ALWAYS be used for non-emergencies.

You should use 911 for any in-progress situation. It's the dispatchers' job to prioritize, not yours. The non-emergency number should be use for calling in reports after the fact (i.e. "someone stole my bike sometime last night"), or nuisances like noise complaints (even this one is debatable). This almost verbatim from our PD's public information officer.

"Just a fight" is always one hit away from someone being seriously injured or killed.

Improper Centralization of Services

[mysidia]

911 is a service that Has to Work --- A local outage of 911 in one market might be explainable as multiple circuit or equipment failures, but having a national outage of 911 is unacceptable.

Having a "national outage of 911" means that the system/communications paths providing City X's 911 service have been consolidated or centralized in - order to cut costs or save money by having a smaller number of shared equipment (or single point of failure) required for City Y and City Z's 911 service to function ---- Contrary to a Telecommunication provider's obligation to provide reliable 911 service, which includes protecting customer access to the local 911 PSAP against failures of equipment that aren't in the same region as the PSAP.

Emergency Alert on North Western Oregon 911 Down

[DallasTruaxxx]

There was an emergency alert pushed out to cell phones on northwestern oregon saying 911 services were down. The message provided another number to call in case of emergency.

Re:Emergency Alert on North Western Oregon 911 Dow

[Holi]

Just got one in RI, It truly is coast to coast.

Re:Title I Information Service

[sjames]

Because, as we see here, leaving it in the hands of our angelic corporate masters will serve us without fail.

Re:Why does 911 not have redundant ISPs?

[Kurotaka]

In most of the places where 911 was taken offline, the 911 centers are already utilizing every single provider available. All 1 of them.

Re:What is that?

[Ol Olsoc]

I have not been able to dial 911 for months

Can't find the 11 key?