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AT&T Says Issue Affecting 911 Calls Resolved

Agencies were encouraging anyone with an emergency to contact the non-emergency line of their local police and fire departments

An issue that prevented some AT&T customers from reaching 911 dispatchers from their cellphones Wednesday appears to have been resolved, the company said late Wednesday.

Dallas-based AT&T tweeted that the "issue has been resolved that affected some calls to 911 from wireless customers. We apologize to those who were affected."

For nearly three hours, various law enforcement and government agencies in Texas and other states around the U.S. reported trouble with the service.

Several agencies provided alternate numbers on Twitter for people to call if they had an emergency, and many encouraged people to contact the non-emergency line of their local police and fire departments for assistance.

Ajit Pai, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, tweeted Wednesday evening: "We're receiving reports of widespread AT&T 911 call outages. @FCC public safety staff are investigating. I'll post more info once available."

Agencies in Florida, Tennessee, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., also sent out tweets saying they were affected by the outage and were providing different numbers to call.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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