Local 911 dispatch impacted AT&T landline, wireless outage Tuesday

This outage map shows the number of phone outages reported on the website DownDetector.com. The number of reports of outages in the AT&T network peaked at about 4 p.m.

NC GAZETTE / WBRT RADIO
STAFF REPORT

Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2015, 8 p.m. — Landline and mobile customers of AT&T — and any wireless carrier that uses the AT&T wireless network — found themselves without service Tuesday afternoon as part of a widespread AT&T outage.

The outage affected users in Kentucky and other states including Tennessee, Alabama, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois and Georgia

Users were unable to make phone calls from their mobile devices, or the calls would be garbled, or interrupted by noise and static.

According to a statement from AT&T issued Tuesday afternoon, “Some customers across parts of the Southeast are experiencing wireline and wireless service issues. Engineers have pinpointed a hardware-related issue and are working to restore service as quickly as possible. We apologize for this inconvenience.”

Another statement said the problem was with AT&T’s landline network, which affected all four major wireless networks in the Southeastern U.S.

The outage affected local landlines as well, including phone lines going to 911 Dispatch. For a time, 911 calls in Nelson County were being routed to MetroSafe in Jefferson County, which were then relayed to the local dispatch by cellular phone.

The dispatch center used the CodeRED service to alert its users to the fact phone lines were down, and also when they were operational again.

At the time this story was posted, cellular service in Nelson County remained intermittent, with some text messages delayed or simply not getting through.

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