Cellular outages affect local wireless customers, emergency dispatch

The nationwide service outages hitting cellular users also affected the local emergency dispatch service and made for a challenging morning for suburbanites relying on their service to connect with co-workers, customers and patients.

In a response on social media to the interruptions affecting AT&T, Cricket Wireless, Verizon and T-Mobile customers, Batavia hospice nurse Tammy Wheatley wrote she is “extra busy trying to figure out workarounds to care for patients.”

AT&T, the nation’s largest carrier, reported more than 73,000 of its 240 million subscribers had their service interrupted. Chicago, Atlanta and Houston are among the cities affected.

The company is working to restore service, according to a prepared statement, and encourages subscribers to use Wi-Fi calling until service is restored.

There has been no explanation for the outage which also affected emergency dispatch agencies, including the Northwest Central Dispatch System which provides 911 service for nearly 500,000 northwest suburban residents.

In a Facebook post Thursday, the NWCDS advised users to access their cell phone’s “SOS” feature in case of emergency. The social media post cautioned against dialing 911 to test a line or restore coverage.

“We are asking that you save the 911 calls for true emergencies, as every test call pulls a telecommunicator away from a potential real emergency,” the NWCDS post read.

More than 13,000 Cricket Wireless customers reported outages. according to the Downdetector website which tracks outages. Verizon reported more than 4,000 outages, T-Mobile had more than 1,800 and Boost Mobile had about 700.

Verizon reported some of its customers had issues calling or texting with customers served by another carrier. The company continues to monitor the situation, a spokesperson said.

T-Mobile reported no outages.

“Our network is operating normally. Downdetector is likely reflecting challenges our customers were having attempting to connect to users on other networks,” according to a prepared statement.

Some iPhone users have seen SOS messages displayed in the status bar on their cellphones. The message indicates that the device is having trouble connecting to their cellular provider's network, but it can make emergency calls through other carrier networks, according to Apple Support.

— The Associated Press contributed to this report.