Agencies in parts of Washington, Massachusetts, Missouri, Idaho and Arizona have reported outages, prompting the Federal Communications Commission to launch an investigation Friday.
Update 9:30 p.m. EST Dec. 28: CentruryLink said all services impacted by the outage have been restored.
"All consumer services impacted by this event, including voice and 911, have been restored, the company said on Twitter. "Any latency issues will clear in the next few hours."
CenturyLink has been dealing with a network event. All consumer services impacted by this event, including voice and 911, have been restored. Any latency issues will clear in the next few hours.
— CenturyLink (@CenturyLink) December 29, 2018
Based on the information we have available & reports from @CenturyLink, 911 capabilities have been restored and are operational across the State. We have not had any reports of additional failures since this morning. We are continuing to monitor the situation. #911Outage
— WA Emergency Management (@waEMD) December 29, 2018
Update 1:35 p.m. EST Dec. 28: Employees with CenturyLink said the company is aware that some 911 services have been disrupted by Friday's ongoing outage.
“In case of an emergency, customers should use their wireless phones to call 911 or drive to the nearest fire station or emergency facility,” company officials said.
We are aware of some 911 service disruptions affecting various areas through the United States. In case of an emergency, customers should use their wireless phones to call 911 or drive to the nearest fire station or emergency facility. Technicians are working to restore services.
— CenturyLink (@CenturyLink) December 28, 2018
Work continued Friday to fully restore CenturyLink services.
Update 11:30 a.m. EST Dec. 28: CenturyLink employees continue working to restore service nationwide, company officials said Friday morning.
We are seeing good progress, but our service restoration work is not complete. Our teams are continuing their efforts to resolve these issues and we will continue to provide updates throughout the day.
— CenturyLink (@CenturyLink) December 28, 2018
Update 10:55 a.m. EST Dec. 28: Ajit Pai, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, said Friday that the agency has launched an investigation into the CenturyLink outage.
“When an emergency strikes, it’s critical that Americans are able to use 911 to reach those who can help,” Pai said. “The CenturyLink service outage is therefore completely unacceptable, and its breadth and duration are particularly troubling.”
The nationwide @CenturyLink service outage and the delay in restoring critical 911 capabilities is unacceptable. I have spoken to CenturyLink to express my concerns and have directed the @FCC’s public safety staff to launch an investigation. My statement below. #publicsafety pic.twitter.com/HgQas1xtyB
— Ajit Pai (@AjitPaiFCC) December 28, 2018
Update 9:55 a.m. EST Dec. 28: Some law enforcement agencies in Washington state reported that their 911 services had been restored Friday morning, according to KIRO-TV.
The news station reported that by 9:55 a.m. EST, service had been restored to Tacoma, South King County, Lewis County and parts of Thurston and Pierce counties.
"Agencies say people with emergencies should use the alternate numbers should problems occur again," KIRO-TV reported.
CenturyLink employees said Friday morning that “additional technical problems” were uncovered. Work continues to fully restore service across the country.
We discovered some additional technical problems as our service restoration efforts were underway. We continue to make good progress with our recovery efforts and we are working tirelessly until restoration is complete. We apologize for the disruption.
— CenturyLink (@CenturyLink) December 28, 2018
Update 8:48 a.m. EST Dec. 28: Massachusetts State Police said the agency's 911 system was restored Friday morning.
UPDATE: Wireless 911 Issue Caused by Nationwide CenturyLink Outage Has Been Restored https://t.co/kc7whBjevz via @MassStatePolice
— Mass State Police (@MassStatePolice) December 28, 2018
Original report: Multiple law enforcement agencies in Washington state said on social media that emergency call centers were not accepting calls and gave alternative contact information.
Agencies in parts of Massachusetts, Missouri, Idaho and Arizona also reported outages.
CenturyLink said engineers identified a problem and are working on repairs to fully restore service within hours.
CenturyLink engineers have identified a network element that was impacting customer services and are addressing the issue in order to fully restore services. We estimate services will be fully restored within 4 hours. We apologize for any inconvenience this caused our customers.
— CenturyLink (@CenturyLink) December 28, 2018
An FCC official said the agency needed to investigate.
This is a nationwide outage. The @FCC investigation needs to start now.https://t.co/e0z22x7FwX
— Jessica Rosenworcel (@JRosenworcel) December 27, 2018
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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