AT&T network outage that disrupted 911 services underscores need for backup plan: 'A good hedge'

AT&T users in certain parts of the country on Tuesday reported system outages that, in some cases, impacted 911 services. 

While the extent of these outages and the number of customers affected is not clear at this time, Downdetector – a real-time online reporter of cellphone, internet and other outages – showed the surge began in major U.S. cities around 5 p.m. ET and declined around 10 p.m. 

Fox News Digital spoke with the National Emergency Number Association, which is a U.S. nonprofit organization focused on 911 operations, technology, education and policy issues, to understand the implications of the outage and what it means for 911 services.

NENA CEO Brian Fontes says it is imperative, particularly for wireless-only households, to consider alternatives in times of emergency. 

"And whether it’s looking at some IP VoIP [Voice over Internet Protocol] system or other network to utilize to access 911, you should at least start thinking about it. Have a 911 plan, if you will, to be able to reach 911," Fontes said, noting that 90% of 911 calls originate from a wireless device.

"These kinds of outages shouldn’t happen, and they shouldn’t be frequent, but it’s good to have backups for this sort of thing, even if it isn’t 911," NENA CTO Brandon Abley told Fox News Digital. "You might have some other kind of emergency. And it’s a good hedge to have a secondary means of being able to place a phone call. We do that on the public safety side. That’s part of our DNA."

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Fontes and Abley spoke to FOX Business in April to discuss the nation’s need to bring 911 emergency services into the 21st century. Both men reiterated the need on Wednesday.

NENA has been working to get funding passed through Congress to do just that. While other federal agencies, like the Department of Transportation and Federal Communications Commission (FCC), have acknowledged the need to update the nation’s 911 systems, no action has been taken, they said.

"Congress needs to fully fund [Next Generation] 911. This has always been a bipartisan issue," Abley said. "It just needs to finally happen so that the hundreds of 911 systems in the United States can get to an equitable level of service for everybody." 

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NG911 refers to efforts to update and modernize traditional 911 systems that are not equipped to handle receiving calls and data from new and emerging technologies.

"That could serve as a fallback to when your primary wireless service is out for most of us that live in wireless-only households. And as we move towards NG911, that will be sort [of] a more common-use case that should be able to mitigate these kinds of interruptions," Abley said.

AT&T told Fox News Digital on Tuesday it was "working to address a software issue that may affect the ability of a limited number of our customers to connect to our wireless network." 

"Keeping our customers connected is our highest priority, so we appreciate their patience as we work to resolve this issue," an AT&T spokesperson said. 

The FCC told Fox News Digital that it is looking into Tuesday’s outage and has "no further updates at this time."

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The outage came a day after the FCC announced a $950,000 settlement with AT&T. The settlement resolved an investigation into whether the company violated FCC rules by failing to deliver 911 calls to – and failing to timely notify – 911 call centers in connection with an outage AT&T experienced on Aug. 22, 2023, in parts of Illinois, Kansas, Texas and Wisconsin.

As part of the settlement, the FCC said, AT&T will implement a three-year compliance plan designed to ensure future compliance with the FCC’s 911 and outage notification rules.

Fox News Digital's Lorraine Taylor contributed to this report.