911 emergency services disrupted in US after CenturyLink outage

Services appear to have been disrupted in states like Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Arizona, Missouri, and elsewhere

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Emergency 911 services have gone out in several states across the US after a major power outage at a CenturyLink data centre.

The disruptions began just after 12pm ET on Thursday, and have continued into Friday. Efforts to restore power are continuing according to CenturyLink.

Some areas have seen restored services, but the most recent notice on the status page indicates that several areas are still facing disruption.

“Restoring impacted services for our customers is very important to us. We are seeing good progress, but our service restoration work is not complete,” a status updated posted just after 11am on Friday reads.

The message continues: “Our teams are continuing their efforts to resolve these issues and we will continue to provide updates throughout the day”.

CenturyLink is one of the largest telecommunications providers in America, and helps to bring internet and phone services to cell phone carriers like Verizon and AT&T. The data centre issues have only impacted emergency calls made from cell phones, and have not impacted calls from landlines.

In a tweet, the company urge customers to continue to try to use mobile phones for emergency calls, but to use other means of communication if necessary.

“We are aware of some 911 service disruptions affecting various areas through the United States,” the tweet reads. “In case of an emergency, customers should use their wireless phones to call 911 or drive to the nearest fire station or emergency facility. Technicians are working to restore services”.

Several states impacted by the outages have sent emergency notifications to residents to warn them of the issues.

Included in the areas affected are major cities like Salt Lake City and Seattle. Local news in Idaho, Missouri, Oregon, Massachusetts, and Arizona have also reported disruptions related to the outage.

The Federal Communications Commission has announced that it is investigating the outages.

“When an emergency strikes, it’s critical that Americans are able to use 911 to reach those who can help,” Ajit Pai, the chairman of the FCC, said in a statement.

“The CenturyLink service outage is therefore completely unacceptable, and its breadth and duration are particularly troubling,” he added. ”I’ve directed the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau to immediately launch an investigation into the cause and impact of this outage. This inquiry will include an examination of the effect that CenturyLink’s outage appears to have had on other providers’ 911 services”.