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How a dumb software glitch kept thousands from reaching 911 [telecom]

How a dumb software glitch kept thousands from reaching 911

By Brian Fung

Who ever thinks that their call to 911 would go unanswered? But in a terrifying incident this spring, thousands of Americans found themselves in need of help - and got none.

For six hours, emergency services went dark for more than 11 million people across seven states. The entire state of Washington found itself disconnected from 911. The outage may have gone unnoticed by some, but for the more than 6,000 people trying to reach help, April 9 may well have been the scariest time of their lives.

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Reply to
Bill Horne
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It's not that 911 can't be routed through "VoIP". E911 is a service, and different technologies can be used to deliver it. But the FCC doesn't know what "VoIP" is, uses the term loosely, and doesn't want to deal with the difficult questions about the nature of the network and the nature of their rules that it raises. The ILECs, especially ATT, use 911 as a competitive weapon, configuring it in such a manner that other carriers need to jump through expensive ATT hoops to meet the requirements. Companies like Intrado perform a useful service by simplifying access. Software bugs happen; E911 systems however should be built to a standard of reliability that we rarely see nowadays.

Reply to
Fred Goldstein

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