Local first responders address nationwide cellular outages, report no issues with inbound 911 calls

AUSTIN (Talk1370.com) -- As AT&T and other wireless providers dealt with a large-scale service disruption Thursday morning, local first responders were doing their best to deal with the impacts on those calling for emergency assistance.

Austin-Travis County EMS, in a post on X, said there were no issues with 911 receiving calls. However, dispatchers were noting some issues connecting back with people whose calls to 911 were disconnected.

"Do not hang up, unless you are certain the call has been disconnected," ATCEMS wrote. "If the call is disconnected, call 911 back."

"When calling into 911, provide the most important information at the beginning of the call: specific details about the location, name of person calling, and alternative way to reconnect."

Many AT&T customers were having success using Wi-Fi Calling on their phones, even when normal cellular calls would not go through. "If this outage is impacting you and you need to call 911, try calling from a landline, using another phone with a different carrier, or if you are connected to Wi-Fi, switch to Wi-Fi Calling."

AT&T, in a statement, said the carrier was "working urgently to restore service" to its impacted customers.

Williamson County emergency officials were reporting similar impacts, urging those who need to call 911 to use a landline if they were having issues from a cell phone.

UT-Austin Police said their emergency call boxes on campus were also unaffected by the carrier outages.