Outage resolved after AT&T customers in DC, Maryland, face issues reaching 911

WASHINGTON ( DC News Now ) — Officials in D.C. and Washington County said some AT&T customers were facing issues calling 911 on Tuesday night.

In a post on X made just after 8 p.m., D.C.’s Office of Unified Communications (OUC) said AT&T reported network issues that might impact people’s ability to call 911 from a wireless device.

“If you are unable to dial 911, please use a landline phone, request someone call 911 on your behalf, or visit a local police or fire station to report the emergency,” the OUC wrote.

The issue in the District was resolved a short time later.

In Washington County, however, officials announced residents were dealing with a similar issue.

“AT&T Mobility has confirmed that their teams are actively working to isolate and resolve the issue. However, the specific cause of the service outage has not yet been determined. We understand the critical nature of this situation and are in constant communication with AT&T to ensure that this issue is resolved as quickly as possible,” Hagerstown officials said in a statement.

Residents facing issues were advised to use a landline or a different wireless carrier to dial 911, if possible.

In a statement to DC News Now, an AT&T spokesperson said, in part, “We are working to address a software issue that may affect the ability of a limited number of our customers to connect to our wireless network.”

FirstNet customers were not impacted, the company noted.

On Wednesday morning, the Emergency Communication Center (911) for Washington County announced that the network service outage had been resolved and that residents could resume calling 911 without any difficulties.

The center said residents are encouraged to test their devices and report any further issues.

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