Cell phone service outage: 911 call centers report few issues in Cincinnati area
Cincinnati area 911 centers have been largely unaffected by the nationwide cell phone outage Thursday.
While some departments across the country were advising people to text 911 using a WiFi connection, four of the largest centers around Cincinnati reported Thursday morning that they were conducting business as usual.
Texting 911 is a service that is available in much of the area. Officials said those in need of emergency services are welcome to use it.
Officials at the Hamilton County Communication Center said its services were not affected and that it did not see an influx of "Rapid SOS" calls. Cincinnati's Emergency Communication Center also reported no specific issues.
Some phones automatically go into SOS mode when disconnected from normal cell service. The SOS mode only allows for calls to 911.
What does SOS mean on an iPhone? AT&T cellphone outage creates confusion for some
San Francisco officials reported that some people in that area may be unable to call 911, but also reminded citizens to not use 911 as a test to see if their phones are working.
In Upper Arlington, Ohio, the outage affected some fire alarm systems as well.
A nationwide AT&T cellular outage is affecting fire alarms in #UpperArlington where the Fire Division may not be notified of an activation. It's unclear how long this situation will last. Therefore, any fire alarms should be followed up with a 911 call for the foreseeable future. pic.twitter.com/Xd8plvH85M
— City of Upper Arlington (@CityofUA) February 22, 2024
At the Butler County Dispatch Center, officials said there were no problems but a few people had called in trying to figure out why their phones were working. Dispatchers were unable to offer much assistance with that problem.
The Butler County Regional Dispatch Center ( 9COM) is fully aware that there are nationwide cellular outages occurring with Verizon, AT&T and other service providers. The Butler County Regional Dispatch Center (9COM) is fully operational.
Please avoid using 9-1-1 for…— Richard K. Jones (@butlersheriff) February 22, 2024
The Kenton County Emergency Communication Center also reported that operations there are normal.
Downdetector, a website that tracks different online services, began reporting widespread outages for AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Cricket Wireless on Thursday morning.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: AT&T cell service outage: Cincinnati area 911 calls not affected
