Regional districts across British Columbia sent out alerts on the afternoon of Monday, May 30, saying that there was a disruption to 911 service for Telus and Koodo cell phone customers.
Kaila Butler, a spokesperson for E-Comm 911, which runs 911 services for 25 regional districts in B.C., said as of 4:50 p.m. the Telus disruption had been resolved by Telus technicians.
The alerts directed people to use alternate cell providers or a landline if they can’t get through to 911 on their cell phones, though now that the problem has been resolved, people are “encouraged to dial 911 so we can get them the help they need as quickly as possible,” Butler said.
Butler confirmed that they became aware of an issue at about 2:20 p.m. and issued an alert about a problem with the Telus network.
Some customers were connecting, but unable to be heard, others couldn’t hear operators and some were getting failed message notifications, Butler said.
For those who were able to connect, E-Comm was able to get their contact information and call them back, Butler said.
A statement from Telus said the problems with the 911 service affected customers in some locations in B.C. and Alberta.
“Upon learning of the degradation, our team immediately conducted a thorough investigation and have now resolved the issue,” the statement said. “We take our responsibility to provide safe and uninterrupted access to emergency services extremely seriously, and we know how critical this access is for our customers. We sincerely apologize for the service interruption and thank our customers for their patience and understanding.”
More as it becomes available.
