Law enforcement agencies in four states were thrown into disarray after a massive 911 call that left millions unable to contact authorities late Wednesday.
Most power outages reported in Nebraska, Nevada, South Dakota and Texas were restored by the evening. Officials have not disclosed the exact cause of the outage, but it comes after the Department of Homeland Security warned that the risk of cyberattacks on 911 services is increasing as the system transitions to internet-based systems.
So far, there is no indication that the overnight 911 outage was caused by a cyberattack or other malicious activity, a law enforcement official told NBC News Thursday.
“We are aware of reports of 911-related outages and are currently investigating,” the Federal Communications Commission wrote on Thursday morning.
Less than two months after AT&T's massive outage left thousands without service in multiple states and affected some 911 calls for several hours, the carrier He said this was likely caused by a process error rather than a cyber attack.
local law enforcement South Dakota reported a statewide power outage Wednesday just before 7 p.m. local time (9 p.m. ET). Rapid City Police Department provided local residents with an alternate phone number to call first responders, and service was provided. restored About 2 hours later.
South Dakota Department of Public Safety said on wednesday In the evening, “texting 9-1-1 is in place in most locations” as an option to contact authorities.
In Nevada, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department announced at around 7:00 p.m. local time (10:00 p.m. ET) that “911 is experiencing a power outage and is currently unable to contact anyone.'' Local residents were urged to dial 911 on their mobile devices so dispatch staff could check and return the call, he said, adding that calls from landlines “are not working at this time.”
Calls were working again by 9pm (midnight ET). “All those who called during the power outage were recalled and provided assistance,” the ministry said.
Del Rio, Texas, police said the issue was “with the carrier, not the City of Del Rio's systems.” Juan Hernandez, the department's communications director, said Thursday morning that the problem appears to be with T-Mobile's service.
“Anyone who is a T-Mobile customer has had issues using their cell phone,” Hernandez said. “It wasn't anything on our end. There was no 911 failure, it was T-Mobile's fault. “It was a communication range problem.”
He said T-Mobile received a call from a customer Wednesday night about the issue, which was eventually resolved. There have been no reports of injuries or serious issues related to the service interruption.
However, the Chase County Sheriff's Office announced that “911 has been suspended throughout Nebraska” for all cell phone carriers except T-Mobile, and landlines could still reach 911.
Kathy Allen, director of Nebraska's Douglas County 911, said in a statement that service was “fully restored” by 4 a.m. Thursday.
Lumen, a global communications service provider, told the ministry about the cause of the outage: “There was a fiber cut, but it did not specify the location of the damage,” Allen said.
An AT&T spokesperson said Thursday that the outage was “not a FirstNet issue,” referring to the national broadband network for public safety built by AT&T on behalf of the government. The network is overseen by the First Responder Network Authority, an independent agency within the Department of Commerce.
NBC News has reached out to other major cell phone companies for comment.
